If there is a way to save energy and use green alternative energy options,
Metropolitan Alternative Energy in Midtown probably knows about it.
The 8-month-old start-up specializes in everything green from selling and installing E85 conversion kits for cars to geothermal heating and cooling systems for homes. It hopes to hire a few people within the next couple of years as the business continues to expand.
"We have lots of avenues we're looking at," says Lena Thompson, one of the firm's co-founders. "We're just taking our experience and working off of it."
Lena Thompson has a 20-year history in automotive work and focuses on selling E85 conversion kits that allow vehicles to use fuel that is made up of up to 85 percent ethanol. The flex-fuel kits, which sell for about $500 a pop, can be easily installed by a professional like Thompson and let motorists use the normally cheaper ethanol-based gas.
Thompson would also like Metropolitan Alternative Energy to play a part in building the E85 infrastructure by bringing more E85 pumps into the city.
"There are only two pumps in the city of Detroit," Thompson says. "The rest are in the burbs."
Her partner Sybil Hill specializes in the systems normally associated with alternative energy, like geothermal systems and wind energy. She is also certified to install solar panel systems.
Source: Lena Thompson, co-founder of Metropolitan Alternative Energy
Writer: Jon Zemke
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