James Leidel
James Leidel has been involved in the energy and energy management industries since his graduation from the Purdue University mechanical engineering department in 1990.  He has worked in various positions with Invensys Building Systems, Detroit Edison, and now Oakland University.  Following a masters degree in mechanical engineering at UM - Dearborn, he is presently completing his PhD dissertation at Oakland, which will optimize a building-integrated hybrid thermal-electric solar collector. 

Recently, James has been researching, home-brewing, and promoting the use of vegetable oil based biodiesel.  At Oakland, he designed and installed a 10kW roof integrated photovoltaic system, a small hybrid wind/solar installation, and is now working on a utility sized wind power project in conjunction with a central campus bioenergy cogeneration plant.

James has teaches an Environmental Studies course on energy, and has been lecturing on biodiesel and alternative energies throughout Michigan and rural Haiti.  https://files.oakland.edu/users/leidel/web/ENV312/index.htm

James published a Society of Automotive Engineering paper and holds a US patent regarding a low heat rejection automotive engine design.

James has received state, federal, and university funding for many projects over the past years including:

Biodiesel promotion and business planning ($12,000)

Photovoltaic demonstration installations ($130,000)

Utility scale wind power development ($50,000 study only, project is out for bids)

Bioenergy combined heat and power plant development ($40,000 study only, project is out for bids)

3.5 MW dual fueled diesel generator project ($1.3M project)

University campus sub-metering system ($650,000)

Energy and deferred maintenance performance contract ($11M)