From zoos to craft brews, Michigan looks to spur decarbonization

Re-creating polar habitats in Michigan is no small feat. Just ask the Detroit Zoo, where the polar bear and penguin centers require producing industrial levels of cooling from energy-intensive equipment. For the zoo, figuring out how to keep animals comfortable using less, and cleaner, energy is key to meeting its long-term climate goals and cutting utility bills.

One potential approach is to install large heat pumps that remove warm air from the frigid exhibits and transfer it to nearby buildings that need heat, such as a chimpanzee habitat, said Andy McDowell, director of sustainability and systems planning at the Detroit Zoological Society. Geothermal loops built beneath grassy outdoor exhibits could similarly supply zero-carbon heating and cooling — provided they’re not placed near clawed animals that dig into the dirt.

The zoo is actively exploring such strategies thanks to a $260,000 grant it recently received from the state of Michigan. The funding will help the organization develop a campus-wide model outlining different ways to decarbonize and more efficiently distribute its heavy-duty energy loads — work that McDowell says may not have been financially possible otherwise. 

“Our 100-year anniversary is coming up in 2028, and I really want this to influence our next campus master plan,” McDowell said. He added that the Detroit Zoo is thinking more broadly about how it can do ​“more healing than harm” over its next century of operations.

The zoo was one of five organizations to win nearly $1.9 million in industrial-decarbonization grants in late September. The awards will help participants chart a path to cutting pollution — and inform future state policies and funding opportunities that could bring such plans to life. The initiative is one of four green-energy grant programs under outgoing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) meant to accelerate the state’s efforts to become fully carbon-neutral by 2050.

“We wanted to make sure that we were really clear on what the barriers were to decarbonization for a variety of different industrial applications,” said Alessandra Carreon, chief climate officer for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. ​“That will give us the data we need to continue refining the way we deliver support to facilities.”

Curbing industrial emissions represents one of the thorniest climate challenges for Michigan and the rest of the country.

States have made significant strides in recent years to build renewable energy supplies and put more electric vehicles on the road. But factories and large energy users have generally been slow to electrify or otherwise clean up industrial processes, owing to complex engineering hurdles and the fact that natural gas prices are often significantly lower than industrial electricity rates.

That’s particularly true for facilities that require lots of heat to make food, beverages, chemicals, and construction materials. Breweries, for example, typically use gas-fired boilers to create lots of steam for boiling wort — the sugary liquid used to ferment beer — and for sterilizing glass bottles and cleaning equipment.

“We’ve been puzzling with the thermal energy question for at least four years now, trying to find ways that we can reduce the greenhouse-gas burden of using thermal energy in our process,” said Walker Modic, senior director of environmental programs for New Belgium Brewing, which acquired Bell’s Brewery, a Michigan-based grant winner, in 2021.

New Belgium aims to curb its direct carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline, a target that’s become even harder to reach as the company expands, Modic said. Slashing heat-related pollution is the only way to meet that metric.

In Colorado, New Belgium piloted a novel steam-producing heat pump built by the startup AtmosZero at its Fort Collins brewery. In Michigan, Bell’s Brewery will use its $350,000 decarbonization grant to complete extensive engineering design work at its facility in Comstock, which will allow the brewer to see how best to curb thermal energy use, recycle waste heat, and electrify systems without jacking up operating costs. Modic said that kind of deep dive would have been ​“fiscally prohibitive” without the state support.

“We’ve got the space to do the homework and make sure that we’re making the right decisions before we try and pursue anything, from an actual capital execution standpoint,” he added.

Other award recipients include Ford Motor’s massive vehicle-assembly plant in Wayne, the Michigan Green Building Collaborative in Grand Rapids, and Michigan Technological University, which will partner with cement-maker Amrize to explore producing low-carbon material in Monroe County. 

Along with the one-time grants, the state also helped launch the Michigan Industrial Clean Innovation Partnership, a public-private coalition that includes the five awardees, state agencies, outside research organizations, technology providers, and potential investors. The goal is for the network to outlast any particular funding cycle and to keep momentum going once participants have completed their studies by the August 2027 deadline, Carreon said.

“The best outcome I can see is that, within a year, these companies have road maps that they can act on, they’re leveraging the resources of the partnership, and additional companies are coming on board because now we’re seeing suppliers and market demand for decarbonization,” she said.