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Green Initiatives in Peoria Area
Ways of making energy that are easier on the environment - and on the bank account - are more in fashion than ever. And some of the ideas are coming from an unlikely place: Peoria.

The USDA research lab there is developing a bacterial strain as a catalyst to turn biomass sugar into ethanol. And a proposed biofuel plant in the Peoria County town of Mapleton could eventually use oil from pennycress to make its product. Both of these developments would free up corn and soybeans for food production, and possibly bring their price down, too.

The company EcoThermics is headquartered in the PeoriaNEXT Innovation Center. Chairman-CEO Merle Rocke has visions of a thermal heat pump that would use captured carbon dioxide to make heating and cooling your home less expensive.

And Firefly Energy, another beneficiary of the PeoriaNEXT mission of turning technology into commerce, is working on a battery that could make mowing the lawn truly “green,” and as inexpensive as using the conventional gas-powered mower.

(Illinois Radio Network)
04 06 09 by Newsroom
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