The ninth annual sustainability conference, Sustainability Strategies for People, Profit & Planet, will be held at Lawrence Technological University on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28. The conference is jointly presented by Michigan Interfaith Power & Light and Lawrence Tech’s Center for Sustainability.
Two nationally recognized sustainability leaders will serve as keynotes to bookend Friday’s seminars presented by local and regional experts. For more information and to register for Friday’s seminars, go to www.sustain4p.ltu.edu. No registration is required for Saturday’s complimentary tours and movies.
William Spratley, Executive Director of Green Energy Ohio since 2001, has led the statewide, non-profit organization, Green Energy Ohio, whose membership includes more than 600 individuals and businesses. Last year he was appointed to the American Solar Energy Society Board of Directors. An attorney since 1973, Spratley was Ohio’s first consumers’ counsel from 1977 to 1993. His office represented four million residential ratepayers in more than 1,200 public utility proceedings. He has served on U.S. Secretary of Energy advisory boards under three presidents.
Terry Gips, CEO of Sustainability Associates, based in Minneapolis, is a business consultant, agricultural economist, ecologist and author of “Breaking the Pesticide Habit” and “The Humane Consumer and Producer Guide”. He has worked as a White House assistant, aide to US Reps. Abner Mikva (IL) and John Krebs (CA), Executive Director of the International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and is co-founder of the Sacramento Community Garden Program of the University of California Cooperative Extension. Sustainability Associates works with business, government, congregations, healthcare organizations, schools and nonprofits to save money, improve performance and become sustainability leaders.
Friday’s seminars will feature the latest information on: Energy Efficiency Tips/Techniques, Urban Gardening, Efficient Lighting Options, The Living Building Challenge, Interfaith Theories on Faith and Sustainability, Resource Reuse in Detroit, EPA Portfolio Manager Utilities Tracking Workshop, Solar Detroit: Going Beyond Net Zero and much more. Saturday attendees will be treated to two inspirational sustainability movies, tours of the on-campus Storm Water Trail, 10kW Photovoltaic System, A. Alfred Taubman LEED Silver Student Services Building (with green roof, geothermal heat pump system, rain water flushed toilets and waterless urinals) and more.
“This year’s conference has something for everyone—whether a professional, student or homeowner”, remarked Janice Means, Conference Chair and Associate Professor at LTU, “Friday’s seminars will bring together architects, engineers, faith community members, entrepreneurs, homeowners, educators, students and those responsible for both profit and non-profit buildings. Saturday’s tours and movies are open to the public at no charge.”
Michigan Interfaith Power & Light (Michigan IPL), a non-profit organization started in 2002, is geared toward assisting Houses of Worship (HoWs) make the connection between faith and the environment; primarily through energy efficiency (EE) education, efficient upgrades, and behavioral changes, with the main goal of reducing utility bills and encouraging additional sustainability measures. Michigan IPL members include more than 190 Michigan congregations of various faiths including: Catholic, Episcopalian, Evangelical Christian, Jewish, Lutheran, Muslim, Quaker, Sikh, United Methodist, Unitarian Universalist and various other faiths.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. Lawrence Tech is listed in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 7 percent of universities for return on undergraduate tuition investment and highest in the Detroit metropolitan area. Lawrence Tech is also listed in the top tier of Midwestern universities by U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Students benefit from small class sizes and experienced faculty who provide a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 102-acre campus include over 60 student clubs and organizations and a growing roster of NAIA varsity sports.
Click here to be introduced to Michigan Interfaith Power & Light
Click here to be introduced to Lawrence Technological University
Source: LTU