Rising waters are prompting property owners to invest in costly shoreline protection projects. But the flood of permit applications has alarmed some, who say that these projects can have a lasting impact on the environment. The uptick of shoreline protection applications tracked by the Michigan Department of...
TRAVERSE CITY - Weeds and broken concrete once greeted those who strolled alongside the Boardman River between Union and Cass streets 20 years ago.The arsenic-polluted soil underneath scared developers away until a ground-breaking state and federal concept lured them back with tax credits, cleanup assistance,...
TRAVERSE CITY - Tim Burden brightens up around light-emitting diodes. And why shouldn't he? The CEO of CooLED, Inc. is in an industry that experts say is poised to explode: By 2020, 70 percent of public lighting is predicted to be LED lighting."We expect to...
Just turning the lights on every day sucks up to 50 percent of a business' electricity consumption, meaning big dollars are lighting that lobby. Michigan Saves aims to change that to pennies.The Michigan Saves program has helped homeowners finance energy efficiency improvements since 2010 and...
Following changes in state law this year, it appears that waterfront landowners remain confused about what type of beach grooming is allowed under the legislation."What I've found is that people find it confusing," said Michigan Department of Environmental Quality District Representative Robyn Schmidt of the...
TRAVERSE CITY - Green is the new black at area automotive service shops, several of whose environmental footprints are a little lighter after launching new processes along with other friendly nods to Mother Nature.At Marathon Automotive's recently expanded location, almost two-dozen large windows provide natural...
American Waste's new facility is first in the nation - and expandingTRAVERSE CITY - When you spend $12.5 million on something, it seems kind of odd to call it garbage. That's just semantics though, say the people behind American Waste's innovative new 4.5-acre facility off...
According to IEEE Spectrum magazine, the world consumes more than a cubic mile of oil per year; that's one trillion gallons! The U.S. consumes a quarter of that, of which 70 percent is used for transportation. Developing nations are creating significantly higher demand due to...
The most recent statistics1 about Michigan's forest resources reveal that there are more than 20 million acres of forest land in the state. Of this vast resource, well over 50 percent of acreage is owned by non-corporate and individual forest landowners. In addition, there is...
How past development has affected Kids Creek, what future development may do, and why the Slabtown neighborhood keeps going underwater.TRAVERSE CITY - The last time Kids Creek overflowed was fall of 2010. Residents in the Kids Creek Commons neighborhood remember it well. They also remember...
