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Ohio company looks to use captured CO2 to make bioplastic

By Andy Balaskovitz

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CARBON CAPTURE: A northeast Ohio waste-to-energy company is among seven recent recipients of federal funding from a program aimed at developing new ways to incorporate captured carbon into products. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: Investors see an opportunity to make Michigan a leader in carbon capture and storage based on geological formations in its northern Lower Peninsula. (Detroit News, subscription)

BATTERIES: Residents in a southeastern Missouri community were told to evacuate after a fire broke out at one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery processing facilities. (Missouri Independent)

UTILITIES:

  • Illinois consumer advocates say a Peoples Gas plan to replace iron pipelines in Chicago with plastic ones will cause unprecedented rate hikes, and that it overestimates costs for other options. (DeSmog)
  • Yearly rate increase requests from Michigan’s two largest electric utilities despite continued sub-par grid performance are an ​“abuse of the ratemaking system,” the state attorney general’s office says. (MLive, subscription)

GRID: The Southwest Power Pool approves a slate of 89 transmission projects totaling $7.7 billion as load demand is forecasted to rise across its 14-state footprint. (Utility Dive)

POWER PLANTS: Missouri regulators approve Ameren’s plan to build a $900 million gas plant near St. Louis but will require the utility to take steps to add more wind and solar. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, subscription)

SOLAR:

  • Minnesota regulators hold a hearing on a developer’s proposal for a 200 MW solar project in the southwestern portion of the state. (West Central Tribune)
  • Missouri regulators approve Ameren’s plan for a third community solar project under a program that has so far attracted nearly 5,000 of the utility’s customers. (Daily Energy Insider)

ELECTION:

  • Students at the University of Illinois Chicago say climate change is a top issue for them in this year’s presidential election as the effects of climate change become clearer. (ABC 7)
  • The Democratic incumbent in a northeast Ohio congressional district says working with manufacturers to reduce their fossil fuel use can be a key way to reduce emissions. (Ideastream)
  • If Republicans take control of Congress next year, provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act could be clawed back to pay for tax cuts enacted under former President Trump, political analysts say. (Utility Dive)

EFFICIENCY:

  • Michigan launches a $211 million home energy rebate program that aims to help up to 15,000 households reduce energy costs through efficiency upgrades. (Center Square)
  • The more than $500 million that Michigan utilities spent on energy efficiency programs last year expects to generate $1.4 billion in customer savings, according to state regulators. (MLive, subscription)

BIOFUELS: A Michigan company will use a $4.2 million federal grant to boost its biofuel storage and dispensing capacity at seven fueling stations in central Michigan. (MLive, subscription)

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