Powering the brewery with biodiesel instead of natural gas will cut the utility bill in half, said Bobby Mason, owner of the Michigan Brewing Company.

“It’s an opportunity to make our own fuel and use it, too,” he said. “You can save money and be green, and do the right thing.”

It takes about two days to make 50 gallons of biodiesel. It takes a couple thousand gallons a month to operate the plant’s boiler, which creates steam to brew the beer, Mason said.

Biodiesel is an alternative, clean-burning fuel that can be made from switchgrass and grease.

The Michigan Brewing Company is one of the latest examples of the growing renewable fuels boom, said Max Dortflinger, senior manager of operations at Next Energy, a Michigan nonprofit that advocates for energy diversification.

“Renewable fuel isn’t a direct replacement for fossil fuels, but it can make a dent,” he said. “We would like Michigan to be the alternative fuel industry Mecca.”

MSU has been a major player in the renewable fuels industry. The university received $125 million in funding from the federal government to establish the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center with the University of Wisconsin.

As soon as this fall, MSU plans on opening a training facility at the company where Michigan residents and students will be able to learn how to make renewable fuels.

Paul Hunt, associate vice president of research at MSU, said he expects the facility to provide on-site and virtual training to 600 workers in its first two years of operation.

“What one has to do is see the bioeconomy as a value chain from plants to factories,” he said. “MSU will seek to help Michigan compete at all stages along that chain.”

It is important for the state and Mid-Michigan to have workers who are qualified to fill jobs in the growing alternative fuels sector, Hunt said. Having a skilled workforce will help attract businesses to the area.

“The long-range plan is there will be services available for high school students, and on the other end of the spectrum there will be classes available for master’s students,” he said.

MSU was able to create the facility thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant money is meant to help Michigan overcome its economic woes by helping spur growth in emerging fields such as alternative energy and renewable fuels.

“We want to show Mid-Michigan there is hope for the future,” said Irma Zuckerberg, director of the Mid-Michigan Innovation Team, an organization created to help select businesses to distribute the grant money. “We see it as an opportunity for a jump start to get the economy moving.”

The state currently has four ethanol plants that annually produce as much as 200 million gallons of the fuel, said Robert Craig, director of the agricultural development division at the Michigan Department of Agriculture. That number is expected to jump to 250 million gallons annually when a fifth plant opens in October.

Each plant annually pumps an estimated $110 million into the state’s economy, Craig said.

“It’s proven to be quite a nice industry contributing to our state’s economy,” he said.

Renewable fuels are important to both the state and the nation because they are slowly helping to wean the U.S. away from its dependence on foreign oil, Craig said.

“Not only are we slowly becoming independent, but we’re also helping our economy here in Michigan,” he said. “As we get more involved in alternative energy, we’ll have more investments, more plants and more jobs.”

Diane Katz, director of science, engineering and technology for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said she fears the rise of alternative fuels and ethanol are being driven by state and federal investments, not market demand.

“The demand for ethanol isn’t market-driven, it’s driven by subsidies,” she said. “If there was a demand for this, if it made economic sense, it should be attracting private capital investment.”