Look to power plant to save energy on campus
(Last updated: 01/29/09 7:41pm)The MSU Power Plant made a temporary change last week from burning coal to burning gasoline to generate power. The reason was simple — gasoline prices have fallen below coal prices and MSU is taking the opportunity to save money on energy costs. In the short term it makes sense to switch to gasoline, but we can’t help but think about MSU’s long-term energy problems.
MSU has improved its energy and environmental policies over the years, but most of its solutions have been low-cost, short-term fixes. MSU has found few concrete solutions to the major energy and environmental issues we face, and we can expect these problems to only get bigger with time. Officials have expressed interest in biofuels, but energy-efficient biofuels are still years away and MSU needs to make changes sooner rather than later.
So, if MSU policy makers are unsure where to start, why not start with the power plant?
The plant is still one of the biggest pollutants in the state and burns 250,000 tons of coal a year, which emits more than 70 different hazardous chemicals. Any other policy changes, no matter how environmentally friendly, will still be undermined by the effect of the power plant.
Demolishing the plant is not a viable option, because it’s a significant part of MSU’s ability to produce its own energy. But MSU officials should acknowledge that, yes, the power plant is a serious polluter and, yes, they are working to try and fix it.
Every penny that is saved from switching fuels this month should be used to help update the power plant and reduce its harmful emissions. It will be a symbolic gesture more than a financial solution, but the action will speak loudly. The money saved needs to go towards setting real deadlines to reduce emissions, not just empty promises. It’d be nice to hear MSU officials say, “We plan to reduce our emissions X percent by X date,” and send a message that the environment is a serious concern to this university.
MSU officials should not wait to take action. It’s understandable that it’s going to be difficult to make long-term financial decisions when Michigan has an unreliable economy, but if MSU is not going to start making changes now, then when? The auto companies have proven short term solutions only postpone the inevitable. Eventually, MSU is going to have to make real adjustments.
MSU prides itself on being one of the premier land grant universities in the country. So why wouldn’t MSU want to cater to a group of future students and staff who, by all indications, will have the environment as a main concern?
Not to mention, giant smokestacks that still say “MSC” don’t exactly give off the impression that we’re on the cutting edge of “new” energy.
Originally Published: 01/29/09 7:15pm
MSC Smokestack
01/30/09 6:26amHey that smokestack is cool
Alum2002
01/30/09 7:40amThat smokestack is a ficture on campus just as much as Beaumont Tower. I hope it stays there for years to come. Besides, nothing has come out of that smokestack since 1975…
Really?
01/30/09 8:17amTerrible article. 275,000 pounds of coal is NOTHING in comparison to what is burned by DTE and Consumers to power your parents’ air conditioners all summer long. Monroe power plant burns literally millions of tons of coal each year.
I’m sure you weren’t on campus during the 2003 Blackout… but MSU stayed brightly lit due to our T.B. Simon.
Also… Editors… I sure hope you know that the MSC stack is NOT the power plant. The MSC stack is a great piece of history on MSU’s campus.
Solutions
01/30/09 8:26amWhat is it with libs, they have all these problems not yet one solution. What would you like them to do with the CF powerplant that not only provides power but steam across the entire campus for heating in the winter.
There are some clean coal technologies out there, but nothing that is going to be put in place within a sane amount any time soon.
MSUAlum2001
01/30/09 8:34amAnd since when do you burn gasoline for a power plant? It’s natural gas you dimwitted editorial staff. You even had an article on it a few days ago that said natural gas! And I thought last summer’s and fall’s editorial boards were bad…these guys are just woefully stupid.
Marcus
01/30/09 9:44amI’m going to concur with a couple of earlier comments.
1. They’re burning natural gas to generate power, not gasoline. How do you get that one wrong?
2. The building with “MSC” on the smokestack is the old power plant, built before we were MSU. The one that powers campus now is on Service road.
Perhaps both of these mistake could have been avoided if you actually knew anything about the MSU power plant. Go take a tour of the plant, and ask staff questions. You’ll learn a lot, and you just might be able to write an informed article next time.
Senator Government
01/30/09 3:11pmThink about how much energy can be saved if this article was not written…or for that matter if the SN did not exist —> “It will be a symbolic gesture…, but the action will speak loudly.”
To all liberals: If you hate fuel and energy so much and think the planet will die if it wasn’t for your causes, just stop using it NOW! Take one of your own steps, by following your own growth-and-quality-of-life prohibitions
common sense
01/30/09 4:54pmSen. Gov’t, if it wasn’t for people demanding improvement and progress, we’d all be stuck in the relative stone ages with you, content to live with primitive technology and incredibly poor reading comprehension. Smoking during pregnancy doesn’t work for anyone, or so the evil liberal scientists say.
While the article is flawed in many aspects, I don’t see a single point where it lectures anyone to not use energy, rather only that there is room for improvement and efficiency (long term cost reduction). I am so terribly sorry that the idea of efficiency and streamlining, core concepts for any enterprise, escape you.
Another_02_Alumni
01/30/09 8:02pmThis is yet another knee-jerk anti-coal editorial with little foundation. This editorial criticizes the use of coal, yet does not provide a viable alternative to produce energy for the MSU campus.
By comparison, the MSU plant is not that large. There are several coal plants in the state that dwarf the MSU plant.
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rachel
01/30/09 10:50pmleave granola out of this, another_02_alumni.
Alum
01/31/09 5:04pmSince the other comments have all shown how amazingly idiotic this article is i’d just like to point out that if you think this is bad, you may want to realize that most of their articles on a wide range of topics have the same number of errors. Its unfortunate when people and groups are made to look bad when its really just a poor understanding of the facts.
While you are a Student newspaper, thats not an excuse. Please try and step it up a notch over there. I am sure you’re capable, you just have to put in the extra effort.
Good Luck.
Ummm???
02/03/09 2:23pmSo, you want MSU to freeze tuition costs, but you also want them to take on take on the enormous cost of changing their power production ASAP? Interesting. The money they’re saving right now (which I can’t imagine is that significant) is helping them with the huge losses they’ve had during this economic crisis. Hopefully this will keep tuition from going up another 9%.
I do believe that MSU is working on solutions, but you can’t expect them to happen right now and you can’t also expect tuition to stay the same. You just can’t have both.