Three Michigan cities are trying out new technology to make their buses greener thanks to $538,000 in federal stimulus funds and an Upper Peninsula company. Engineered Machined Products, based in Escanaba, MI, is installing mini-hybrid thermal conversion kits on 19 buses in Bay City, Battle Creek, and Saginaw. The technology, originally developed for the U.S. Army to make its fleet more efficient by reducing engine overheating, increases fuel economy by 3 to 10 percent, according to Engineered Machine Products. Fuel savings alone can amount to as much as $2,000 per bus annually, the company says.
Author: Howard Lovy
Howard Lovy is a veteran journalist who has focused primarily on technology, science and innovation during the past decade.
In 2001, he helped launch Small Times Magazine, a nanotech publication based in Ann Arbor, MI, where he built the freelance team and worked closely with writers to set the tone and style for an emerging sector that had never before been covered from a business perspective. Lovy's work at Small Times, and on one of the first nanotechnology-themed blogs, helped him earn a reputation for making complex subjects understandable, interesting, and even entertaining for a broad audience. It also earned him the 2004 Prize in Communication from the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank.
In his freelance work, Lovy covers nanotechnology in addition to technological innovation in Michigan with an emphasis on efforts to survive and retool in the state's post-automotive age. Lovy's work has appeared in many publications, including Wired News, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, The Scientist, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, Michigan Messenger, and the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
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