January 17, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 17, 2003
LANSING -- Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services (CIS) Acting Director Dennis Sykes announced today that the CIS Energy Office has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Calhoun Conservation District to educate Michigan teachers, students and farmers about biomass energy. Sixty percent of the land in Calhoun County is farmland, which provides the area with a tremendous potential for biomass energy production and use.
The Calhoun Conservation District will be expanding an existing renewable energy education program to include biomass energy information. The program enhancement will include developing resource packets, conducting biomass education workshops for farmers and teachers, and conducting surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Biomass is any organic matter, which is available on a renewable basis through natural processes or as a by-product of human activity. Agricultural crops and crop residues, wood and wood waste, and municipal solid waste are all types of biomass. Biomass can be used to generate electricity, and to produce transportation fuels and other consumer products. Approximately 3 percent of the energy generated in the United States is from renewable sources and majority of this is from biomass.
“This program is an important effort to promote renewable sources of energy, such as biomass, and their benefits,” said Sykes. “There are many advantages to using renewable sources of energy. They can be produced domestically thereby reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and they can keep more profits in our communities through local economic development.”
The grant will be administered by the CIS Energy Office through the Michigan Biomass Energy Program (MBEP). For additional information, please contact the MBEP Program Coordinator-Kelly Launder at 517-241-6223 or by email at klaund@michigan.gov or Calhoun Conservation Executive Director-Tracy Bronson at 269-781-4867. The MBEP website is: http://michiganbioenergy.org.
