Barn

New Day Dawning On The Knapp's Building

Derelict Farm

The Wrigley Building - Day & Night

Square Beam, Round Log

Rusty Hinge

To The Point

Interior Of Detroit's Guardian Building

New Steam & Electric Plant

On Tuesday, Valerie and I had an opportunity to visit the new Board of Water and Light Cogeneration Plant in Reotown.  The "co" part in cogeneration refers to both the steam and electricity production capabilities of the plant.  The giant natural gas turbines primarily generate steam for homes and businesses in Lansing.  The General Motors Grand River plant uses over a third of the steam.  The plant recycles the excess heat to generate up to 138 megawatts of electricity that helps power Lansing.  The turbines are fast starting and can generate electricity very quickly compared to their older coal powered predecessors, which take 6 to 10 hours to start.  This allows the power plant to get power back on the grid should a blackout occur.

Old Ottawa Power Plant

Last Friday night I took some long exposure photographs of the former Lansing Board of Water &Light Ottawa Street Power Station, now the headquarters for the Accident Fund insurance company.  Construction on the building began in 1937 and culminated two years later.  At one time a smoke stack and big neon "Board of Water & Light" letters topped the building.  They were removed in 2007.  You can see a series of photos showing the stack removal below.