Michigan awards nearly $1.9m for industrial decarbonization

By Daniel Okafor

Michigan awarded nearly $1.9 million in late September to five organizations to study ways to cut emissions from heavy-duty industrial operations. The grants fund engineering and planning for zoo cooling, brewery heat, vehicle assembly and cement production rather than finished pollution-control systems.

What does Michigan’s $1.9 million buy?

The industrial-decarbonization initiative is one of four green-energy grant programs backed by outgoing Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, supporting Michigan’s goal of becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2050. The studies will also provide evidence for future state policies and funding opportunities.

Alessandra Carreon, chief climate officer for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, said the state first needs to identify barriers across different industrial applications. That evidence will guide how the department delivers support to facilities.

The grants buy planning evidence, not finished emissions cuts.

Can the Detroit Zoo cut cooling demand?

The Detroit Zoological Society will use a $260,000 state grant to develop a campus-wide model for decarbonizing heavy-duty energy loads and distributing them more efficiently. Its polar bear and penguin centers need industrial levels of cooling from energy-intensive equipment.

Andy McDowell, the zoo’s director of sustainability and systems planning, said large heat pumps could remove warm air from frigid exhibits and transfer it to nearby buildings that need heat, including the chimpanzee habitat.

Geothermal loops beneath grassy outdoor exhibits could supply zero-carbon heating and cooling, provided they avoid locations where clawed animals dig into the dirt.

McDowell said: “Our 100-year anniversary is coming up in 2028, and I really want this to influence our next campus master plan.” He also said the zoo wants to do more healing than harm over its next century of operations.

The study can now feed the zoo’s next campus master plan.

Why is heat the main battleground?

States have expanded renewable energy supplies and electric-vehicle use, but factories and large energy users have generally been slow to electrify or clean up industrial processes because of complex engineering hurdles. Natural gas also often costs less than industrial electricity.

Heat-intensive sectors include food, beverage, chemicals and construction materials. Breweries typically use gas-fired boilers to generate steam for boiling wort, the sugary liquid fermented into beer, and for sterilizing glass bottles and cleaning equipment.

New Belgium Brewing’s Walker Modic, senior director of environmental programs, said the company has spent at least four years trying to reduce the greenhouse-gas burden of its thermal energy use. The brewer targets a 55% cut in direct carbon emissions by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. Expansion has made that target harder to reach, and Modic said cutting heat-related pollution is the only way to meet it.

Bell’s Brewery, which New Belgium acquired in 2021, will use a $350,000 grant for extensive engineering design at its Comstock brewery. The work will assess thermal-energy reductions, waste-heat recycling and electrification without increasing operating costs.

New Belgium has already piloted a steam-producing heat pump built by startup AtmosZero at its Fort Collins, Colorado, brewery. Modic said the deeper Michigan study would have been fiscally prohibitive without state support.

Modic said: “We’ve got the space to do the homework and make sure that we’re making the right decisions before we try and pursue anything, from an actual capital execution standpoint.”

The grant covers study costs, leaving the brewery to decide on later capital spending.

Who else is in the grant round?

The other three recipients are Ford Motor’s large vehicle-assembly plant in Wayne, the Michigan Green Building Collaborative in Grand Rapids and Michigan Technological University. Michigan Tech will partner with cement maker Amrize to explore producing low-carbon material in Monroe County.

Together with the Detroit Zoo and Bell’s, the five recipients span very different industrial energy loads.

The state has spread its industrial studies across five distinct operating sectors.

What must happen by August 2027?

Michigan also launched the Michigan Industrial Clean Innovation Partnership, a public-private coalition that includes the five awardees, state agencies, outside research organizations, technology providers and potential investors. The network aims to outlast any single funding cycle and maintain momentum after participants finish their studies at the August 2027 deadline.

Carreon said the best outcome would be roadmaps within a year, with participating companies using the partnership’s resources and more companies joining as suppliers and market demand for decarbonization become more visible.

The next milestone comes in August 2027, when the studies must yield roadmaps that can guide state support and private investment. Until then, Michigan has funded options, not finished emissions cuts.