• Collaboration:
  States, Cities and Suburbs Join Forces to Win $70M in Federal Energy Funds
   

Collaboration /
State, Cities and Suburbs Join Forces in Effort to Win $70M in Federal Energy Funds

While they might have been competitors, the State, its two largest cities and Michigan suburbs have instead come together in an uncommon partnership. They have put together a shared application to win $70 million dollars in federal energy funds that, if successful, will be used for energy efficiency projects in 39 neighborhoods.

“The heart of this grant proposal is a game-changing approach to widespread energy efficiency opportunities for our state,” said Amy Butler, bureau director of Michigan’s Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, one of the collaborative partners on the grant.

Along with DELEG, lead partners include the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), the City of Grand Rapids, the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office (SEMREO) and Michigan Saves, a nonprofit that finances energy work.

As an alliance, they applied for a share of the $400 million in grant money that the U.S. Department of Energy is offering nationwide through the Recovery Act Energy Efficiency and Conservation block grant program.

Each of the collaborative partners initially intended to file individual applications. By partnering on a single application, its chances of being successful are greatly enhanced.

“Not only does this unprecedented partnership increase our chances of being successful (with this proposal), the process of working together is in itself an example of progress in Michigan,” said Luke Forrest, project director of the SEMREO.

SEMREO, which is itself a unique collaboration of nonprofits, offers tools for cities to become more energy efficient and reduce their global warming impact, while transforming the region’s image from “Rust Belt” to “Green Belt.”

“Rather than competing with each other, we are able to activate on a common vision,” Forrest added.

This partnership, pending grant approval, will conduct “deep retrofits” in 39 Michigan neighborhoods over three years. SEMREO will oversee the residential part of this work in Detroit and suburbs in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. Meanwhile, DEGC will handle the commercial building retrofits; they will work together on government buildings.

A special focus of the energy retrofits will focus on enhancing the Detroit Institute of Arts—an institution that, as an asset to the region and state, is symbolic of the shared interests that catalyzed the partnership.

“Neighborhood sweeps” are proposed in the grant application to introduce the programs to residents, including heavily subsidized energy audits and weatherization upgrades, as well as innovative financing for more substantial energy efficiency projects.

In southeast Michigan, the partners intend to focus energy efforts on communities on transit corridors, with the intention of creating neighborhoods that will support regional rail proposals with intensified green redevelopment. While it is not officially part of the collaborative grant, the partnering applicants put their proposal together with the awareness that 30% of carbon emissions come from the transportation sector.

George W. Jackson, Jr., DEGC’s president and CEO, said that this broad partnership is a meaningful step in the positive transformation of Detroit.

“We are pleased to participate in this statewide collaboration that will demonstrate several different approaches to promoting energy efficiency,” Jackson said. “In Detroit, this partnership will not only contribute to an environmentally sustainable city, but will leverage significant redevelopment efforts from commercial, public and institutional stakeholders.”

For Jacob Stevens Corvidae, green programs manager of WARM Training Center, this partnership is expansive enough to signify progress for Michigan as a whole.

“This collaboration shows the promise of Michigan: under adversity we can come together, not only to save ourselves, but to realize a bold vision that can improve our communities and show the nation how it's done,” said Corvidae. WARM is a lead partner in the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office.

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Photography by Christina Drane. Images are of the Detroit skyline, viewed from Belle Isle, and of the Millennial Mayors Congress' December tour of Detroit. If you are interested in purchasing a print of these images, email Christina@suburbsalliance.org.