Clean and renewable energy, and what can be done to develop more of it, were the topics of discussion Wednesday as environmental advocates met with business people and others.
“We have to have better strategies for sustainability within our city,” said Kalamazoo Mayor Hopewell.
“We’re doing some significant work,” he said, mentioning the city now having 11 hybrid buses, a green roof on city hall, a more efficient heating and air conditioning system, and plans to conduct an energy efficiency audit on all city buildings.
But he said having a true strategic plan over the next three years is something that is necessary in order to outline goals and objectives.
“Those are the things that we have to have a stronger focus on,” said
Hopewell, who was one of a three-person panel to lead a discussion, held at midday at Boatyard Brewing Co., 432 E. Paterson St.
The discussion was a program of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, a nonpartisan organization that strives to protect the state’s air, land and water, and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a national network of business leaders working “to promote sound environmental policies that grow the economy.”
The panel included Jack Schmitt, deputy director of Michigan League of Conservation Voters; and Gail Parson, Midwest states advocate for Environmental Entrepreneurs.
Parson’s organization is promoting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which includes ways for each state to reduce carbon emissions. She said, “It will also create jobs and create market consistency to really grow the clean energy economy.”
She is encouraging businesses to look at the organization’s website (cleanenergyworksforus.org) to learn more about where Michigan is in relation to the Clean Power Plan.
“But we would love to work with businesses so they can advocate on behalf of this rule by submitting public comments,” Parson said.
She said her organization, which tracks clean energy job announcements in the United States, issued a report last week that found that Michigan was third in the nation during the second quarter in clean energy job creation. It created about 1,450 such jobs, she said, trailing only Arizona, which announced 3,060 jobs, and California, which announced 2,512.
“This isn’t a surprise,” Parson said, “because the state has a policy in place called the Renewable Portfolio Standard that encourages the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy.”
Schmitt said Michigan has been largely successful in moving toward cleaner energy sources and reducing its energy consumption thanks to a bi-partisan bill that was put in place in 2008. The state is on track to meet a goal of getting 10 percent of its energy from renewable resources by2015. It should reach that goal by the end of this year, he said. It has also managed to reduce its energy consumption by 1 percent per year, another goal.
“The results have been job creation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
But that bill expires at the end of 2015 and a new plan has not yet been forged. The Michigan League of Conservation Voters is trying to encourage businesses to contact their legislators and ask them to take action on putting a new energy policy in place.
“We really need to get something in place before 2015, so businesses that have come here and created jobs, can get a sense for how to plan,” Schmitt said.
In particular, he suggests that people contact state Sen. Mike Noffs, R-Battle Creek, and Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton. Nesbitt is chairman of the House Energy and Technology Committee. Noffs chairs the Senate Energy and Technology Committee.
“If you’re a business, you like to project five to 10 years out, and have a plan that helps you reach those projections,” Schmitt said. “We’re creating an atmosphere where we don’t have any definition from a state policy perspective what’s going to be happening next.”
Why do we need more sustainability?
“It’s no different than why it’s necessary to help every child be successful,” Hopewell said. “If we want a future that’s sustainable — I mean sustainable in the broad sense of the word — if you want a community that is growing and developing, you invest and you invest in areas that can help do that.”
How does it help the region’s economy?
“If I’m a business owner — which I am — if my facilities, my operations become more energy efficient, than certainly that’s dollars,” Hopewell said. “This is the triple bottom line. It affects our society and (us) socially. It affects our bottom line and then our environment. These are all the pieces that if you’re doing sustainability right, if you’re hitting the triple bottom line, you see business grow, you see community improvement and you see our environment cleaner, healthier and whatever.”
Among about 30 people to attend Wednesday’s gathering were: Mark Lee, of Better World Building, a business that retrofits residential and commercial properties to make them more efficient; Dan Always, of Four Elements Energy, a renewable energy design and installation company; and Mike Linsea, owner of Solar winds, a specialist in photovoltaic solar arrays and domestic hot water and hit air systems.
Harold Glasser, executive director for campus sustainability and professor of environmental studies at Western Michigan University, helped lead the discussion.
Source: Mlive.com
