Friday, October 17, 2008

Flint's Swedish Connection

Flint Expatriate Mike Martin hard at work in Sweden.


Linköping, Sweden has been in the news since Flint teamed up with Swedish Biogas International to build a plant in the Vehicle City that will convert human waste from the city's wastewater facility into biogas for use as vehicle fuel, heat and electricity. The King of Sweden even stopped by Flint for a visit.
"Linköping, the fifth-largest city in Sweden, now operates public buses and trash-collecting trucks, as well as a train line and some private taxis on biogas [made] from methane produced from the entrails of slaughtered cows," writes Edward M. Gomez on sfgate.com.

Luckily, Flint already has its own representative in Linköping.
When he's not fly fishing and watching hockey, Flint Expatriate Mike Martin is working on a Ph. D. and conducting research at Linköping University. He lived at 118 Orville Street and attended Cody Academy, McKinley Middle School and later Swartz Creek High School. He went on to major in mechanical engineering at Michigan Tech and was able to study sustainable development on a project in Norway. That led to a master's degree in Sustainable Development and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

"Linköping can provide GREAT examples to Flint as I personally know," he writes on his blog, Mike in Sweden. "Much of the reports you'll see on TV are not made up, they are true. We recycle, use wastes, drive small cars with biogas and have heated streets and bike everywhere. Its just life here, period. It can be done! So, Flint, DO IT!"

Mike's research deals with making biofuel production better by "using by-products and energy to collaborate and make biofuels from other biofuels."

"There are so many ways the Swedes benefit from environmental technology, and it is a big money maker and earth saver. It doesn't have to be depriving anyone of anything, it helps everything. "



2 comments:

  1. Wow, what a nice fish...

    Thanks for the post Gordie, I'm happy to spread my "knowledge" back to Flint and hopefully get some funding for more research to develop Flint sustainably.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just checked this site out and again read Mike's comments. Mike is successful on so many levels. We are very proud of him.

    Mike's grandparents in Flint MI

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.