Not to be too cute, but a lot of farms are energy hogs. Joe Tesar, a longtime engineer turned entrepreneur, is trying to do something about it with his start-up, Quantalux.
The Ann Arbor-based firm makes small, family farms more energy efficient by helping them maximize their power usage and by installing alternative energy generators. It's focused right now on a small-scale bio-gas generator meant to help turn manure and food scraps at dairy farms into energy naturally. The idea is to create a home-grown energy source that can make small family farms more viable.
"The farmer can say, 'Why throw my manure on my fields when I can make bio-gas?" says Tesar, president of
Quantalux.
The 4-year-old firm has received Phase 2 funding from the Small Business Innovation Research program and a contract from the U.S. Dept of Agriculture to develop the generator. Tesar and his team of six people plan to develop this and a few parallel programs over the next two years. During that time, he hopes to hire 2-3 more people.
Source: Joe Tesar, president of QuantaluxWriter: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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