The glacial-but-steady move to renewable-energy sources by Indiana’s coal-dominated electric utilities is picking up speed
and could spur demand for locally manufactured power-plant components.
In an effort to preserve Indiana woodlands , some property owners are transferring development rights to Central Indiana Land
Trust Inc., a not-for-profit environmental group. Owners can grant a so-called conservation easement in exchange for an impressive
array of tax benefits.
With the gospel of global warming raising the call for “green-ness” to a near-hysterical pitch, there’s a growing sense that
creating an earth-friendly image will bring companies a strategic advantage. Yet the contradictions between what companies
do day in and day out and what they do to improve the environment can create a marketing minefield.
Records show 17 percent of the 51 billion gallons Indianapolis Water treats and pumps from its plants never so much as moves
a digit on customers’ water meters.
A cold snap wiped out at least half of Indiana’s honeybee hives over the winter. For some beekeepers, the loss was as high
as 80 percent. Fortunately, most don’t look to bees for their livelihood.
The state’s 30-or-so independent payphone operators–a conveyance nearly made extinct by wireless phones–may begin receiving
refunds next month from AT&T Indiana and Verizon for excess charges the phone companies billed independent payphone operators
for dial tones from 1997 to 2004.
Citizens Gas & Coke Utility has revived its pitch for a regulatory plan that would fundamentally change the way it bills customers,
helping it cover rising expenses as gas sales fall. The plan would create an expanded energy conservation program that could
include rebates for customers who buy gas-efficient furnaces and appliances.
Utility ratepayer groups say House Bill 1496, which is stuck in committee, is typical of what they see as a disturbing trend:
allowing utilities to pass the cost of mandates directly to consumers. HB 1496 would require Indiana’s coal-reliant electric
utilities to generate at least 10 percent of their power from renewable energy sources like wind and landfill gas.
The Time Factory founder and CEO Jim Purcell wants to erect a 150-foot-tall wind turbine above his calendar factory near 62nd
Street and Georgetown Road. Purcell figures the $200,000 contraption could power 60 percent–if he’s lucky, maybe 80 percent–of
his 22,000-square-foot facility.
In manufacturing and industrial-heavy central Indiana, companies are beginning to realize that “going green” can translate
into another kind of green–money. Reaching beyond the standard glass, paper and metal, markets are developing for a variety
of materials, from tiny bits of processed rubber to leftover cornstarch.
Indiana recyclers concerned that waste-burning firms could gain status as recyclers–and vie for state grants and loans they’ve
relied on for years–now have a potential competitor on the radar.
I Power Energy Systems, which makes natural-gas-powered electric generators that are the primary power source of corporate
and college campuses, is a novelty in Indiana. After all, coal is still a cheaper source of electricity than is natural gas.
But I Power is developing applications for electric generators that burn biogas from sources ranging from garbage to ground-up
corn.
World War II could have been fought seven times over since Ralph Reed and sons first tried to build Mallard Lake Landfill
outside of Anderson. The Reeds’ dream of big cash from trash has
upset hundreds of residents in subdivision-dotted fields since the family asked Madison County to rezone their 254-acre farm
in the 1970s.
The cost of a pollution-control project at Indianapolis Power & Light’s Harding Street generating station has soared over
budget by $60 million, or 38 percent, and the utility wants its 465,000 customers in Marion County and nine others to help
foot the bill.
Indiana’s plan to become the Middle East of biofuels could be a boon well beyond the rural towns that will welcome more than a dozen refineries . Firms that make and supply parts and expertise needed to build the $1.8 billion in ethanol and biodiesel plants–and related infrastructure–are gearing up.
Electric customers would gain new payment options and more access to “green power,” and Indianapolis Power & Light would have more opportunities to profit, under a plan the utility filed Aug. 23 with state regulators.
The architectural firm Schmidt Associates Inc. wants to persuade clients to build greener buildings. So a couple of weeks ago–during a heat wave and under scorching sun, nonetheless–workers erected a solarpanel awning in front of the company’s 320 E. Vermont St. offices.
