is the trimtab the MECLC and the Center are striving to demonstrate. The MECLC and the Center recognize that the Shift in direction must be global, and propose that the self-contained, alternate energy system-combined with citizen ownership of land and energy revenues-can be seen as a trimtab to move societal infrastructure from its petro-oil race-track to oblivion.

The context for this trimtab emerges from the earlier concepts known as Old Man River City (OMRC) developed by R. Buckminster Fuller during his work with East St. Louis; Fuller’s work is documented on pages 315-323 in Critical Path. The project broadly spreads all of the technologies originally proposed by Bucky Fuller for OMRC. MECLC is embarking upon the design, construction, and long-term educational responsibilities of a $60 million project to redevelop Metro East St. Louis communities. The proposed project that includes 90,000ft2 of industrial space for manufacturing replication components will feature the E-Macrosystem power plant comprised of complex waste-to-total energy solar methanol hydrogen fuel cell regeneration. The project architects’ goals are to implement and evaluate the integration of two proven technologies into one system to provide “premium power”, the quality of which is required for many industries’ production processes, e.g. pharmaceuticals. The E-Macrosystem will provide 100% of the redevelopment project’s industrial energy demand with surplus energy available for sale along with other by-products of the system.

Bucky’s devotees in East St. Louis have worked together, endeavoring for over thirty years to arrive at this point – taking concepts first proposed by Fuller, including photovoltaics and thermal composite materials - producing a design science solution capable of generating revenues for the people and community who believed that Old Man River City was possible. Community planning activities included a 1995 “Syntegration” co-sponsored by Representative Wyvetter Younge and Bill Perk at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville (SIU-E). The Syntegration utilized a Stafford Beer approach presented by Team Syntegrity International. Plans for a design charette include analyzing the “universal environment”, weighing inputs against higher and lower systems, to produce “a glowing dynamic” improvement. The analysis will employ the principles of Dr. Howard Odum proposed in his work The Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policies, 2001.

During MECLC’s design and construction phases, the Center and its educational program will be temporarily located on MECLC’s E-Macrosystem lot. (The later-stage Center will be comprised of a resulting E-Microsystem showcasing MECLC’s proposed plans for the future of the Metro East Mississippi Riverfront, including a model of proposed residential 50-unit solar apartments utilizing an E-Microsystem plant for power, waste handling, and water). The MECLC Management, the non-profit Center for Economic and Social Justice of St. Clair County (CESJ-SCC), staff and volunteers will coordinate for the Center's several regional and statewide educational workshops on the processes used for “Linking People to Land and Technology through Ownership”.

The Center’s education program will offer ARES construction workshops on the site and hand out materials specifically developed for industrial, commercial, and homebuilding industries. The Center’s marketing, workshops, and on-site tours will reach architects, engineers, contractors, owners, lenders, and elected officials during the grant period. This grant request for $100,000 will be used to equip and staff the Center's Mobile Display and Interpretive Center; broad and mobile education is seen as a trimtab to the bigger MECLC-Equitech trimtab. The MECLC has an agreement with Washington University School of Architecture for assistance in the design of the display. The request is part of a $3,000,000 3-year budget that will support major activities of the Center for a period of 36 months. The Center’s expenses will also be underwritten by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Employment Opportunity (grants), U.S. Congress (Appropriations), and other sources being pursued by the CESJ-SCC. (To date, a $100,000 grant has been awarded and is pending for a Long-Term Master Plan for the Center, the E-Macrosystem industrial campus, an international cultural arts amphitheatre emphasizing African and African American performing arts, and a fresh water aquarium, “Aquatron”, to support an international focus on anticipating scarcity of water and related sciences.) The MECLC/CESJ-SCC/Center team will coordinate all outreach and workshop efforts with other advanced renewable energy systems organizations. An entire proposal for the Center's 3-year educational program, timeline, and budget is available upon request; please contact Laura with the information provided in this application.

MECLC in partnership with EQUITECH INTERNATIONAL, LLC (EI, LLC) propose constructing and demonstrating two innovations of national significance; 1) integration of two proven advanced renewable energy systems into one stand alone emission-free power plant, the E-MACROSYSTEM, and 2) for-profit community investment corporations (citizen land cooperative) for the benefit of citizen owners, citizen-shareholders. The proposed models enrich every household while meeting the needs of East St. Louis communities to demonstrate an integrated means of (1) converting the area’s toxic medical, biomass and sewerage waste into renewable energy, operate without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and (2) distributing ownership shares and governance rights in land, basic infrastructure and infrastructure profits into every household in the demonstration area as a fundamental right of citizenship.

A.INNOVATION 1: The E-Macrosystem is correctly called a complex waste-to-total energy solar methanol hydrogen fuel cell regeneration system. It is a modular 7.5 MW Advance Renewable Energy (ARE) power plant with sheltered space to support the manufacture of ARE components for export. Each E-Macrosystem has approximately 90,000 square feet of sheltered space. The E-Macrosystem produces by-products of water, methanol, medical oxygen, glass / metal ingots, hydrogen, heating and cooling, wireless telecommunications (at 100 to 999 kW in sizes). Pure de-ionized water is produced @ 1 gal/7kWhrs. EI envisions the use of carbon thermal composites for all structures from coal and waste. As mentioned, this innovation combines two systems. One system is a Solar Fuel Cell Regeneration (SFCR) power plant and the second is a Waste Steam Reforming System (WSRS) power plant. Patents are held by EI LLC, Leslie Dean Price, Chairman, Architect AIA AUA Emeritus, www.Equitechllc.com.

B.INNOVATION 2: MECLC is a for-profit community investment corporation within St. Clair County, Illinois. Every citizen of the county is an owner and shareholder of the MECLC’s assets and will receive annual distributions from the net profits of land and infrastructure it leases and / or sells. The MECLC lead attorney (and economist) is Norman Kurland, president and managing director of Equity Expansion International, Inc. (EEI) that he co-founded in 1982. Kurland serves as president of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), an all-volunteer, non-profit think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. He is considered one of America's pioneers in participatory ownership law and ESOP credit institutions. MECLC is incorporated to conduct business in the State of Illinois.

C.ROLES: MECLC with its citizen-shareholders will be the majority owner of the E-Macrosystem and the land on which it is built. The goal for the MECLC is to produce, test and refine a functional wealth-producing asset and professionally-managed enterprise for the shareholders of the citizen land cooperative, a combination of innovative 21st century technology and innovative 21st century ownership and entrepreneurial opportunities nationally and globally. MECLC wishes to demonstrate a new approach to meet the challenge of Buckminster Fuller “to make the world work for 100% of humanity” through advanced renewable energy systems and profitable free enterprise.

EI, LLC will be providing turn-key master architectural / engineering support firm that packages projects as joint ventures in partnership with local professionals and contractors-as-professionals of record to implement projects.

D.MECLC and EI, LLC wish to pair the community investment corporation model that demonstrates the positive effects of expanded ownership on consumerism and savings on a regional economy with the national ARE exemplar of independent emissions-free power. The ARE innovation is proposed for construction in an East St. Louis national demonstration that can be replicated and exported via the region’s ice-free Mississippi River ports to other ports anywhere in the world. The partners have manufacturers ready to build replications of the demonstration immediately. Implementation of this exemplar is expected to be followed by ARE business expansions to meet the increasing demand for advanced renewable energy system components.

The facility is anticipated to cost $60 million to build and provide 2300 jobs. The sale of premium power and numerous by-products of E-Macrosystems are projected to provide a two-to-three year return on the debt-service of future replications.

The E-Macrosystem:
· Offers premium power capable of being independent of (or linked to) the utility grid and capable of supporting battery-powered “plug-in” vehicles.
· Supports needs in remote locations; solar fuel cell regeneration produces electric power, heat and water from recycling of all forms of organic waste, including biomass.
· Can be mobile, including marine capabilities when replicated on a ship.
· Can be applied to reduce the costs of penal systems by enabling prisoners to produce marketable components and profits for victim restitution, family support, prison operations and related enterprises in the communities in which they locate.
· Has been proven to have tunnel-safe transport implications through the use of its solar fuel cell regeneration power – no threat in tunnels, non-combustible.