News & Events
July 18, 2007
We've Got the Power
Like anyone living in Michigan who worries about the state of our economy, I’ve been thinking constantly about Michigan’s next renaissance. More and more, my mind is turning to energy. I read this morning that a new bipartisan effort to bring clean energy to the country is underway in Congress, and the major push is coming from representatives who anticipate that it will catalyze billions in new investment.
Here in Michigan, we’ve been considering similar legislation for similar reasons. Meanwhile, I’m wondering if we can’t take a little faster action and bring some personal dollars to bear on the issue by buying some of that clean, green energy for ourselves.
Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m pinching pennies just like the rest of you, and the thought of my electricity bill going up is not really that intriguing. But you can get into some green energy programs for as little as $2.50 a month. If you want, you can offset your entire electricity usage with green sources for 2 cents per kilowatt hour (in my leaky old house, that’s about twelve bucks a month, or a third of the cost of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
So, I’m signing up for DTE’s Green Currents program. It’s just my size. My friends and colleagues at the Ecology Center have pointed out that this is not the best program we could design—in fact, a significant flaw is that DTE will import the majority of its green energy from other states. I agree with them. We can do better. And we can start by making more clean energy right here at home.
We need what’s called a “Renewable Portfolio Standard.” This is a policy adopted by state lawmakers or regulators that requires a portion of the power generated in the state come from renewable resources like wind, solar, biomass, hydropower and geothermal sources. Twenty-four states have renewable energy goals—some, like Minnesota, requiring 25 percent of all energy come from green sources by 2025.
A requirement for locally generated renewables will help transform our energy economy and clean up our air. Jim Croce, the innovative and industrious CEO of NextEnergy, reminds us regularly that there’s money to be made in green energy. His mission is to implement an economic development strategy for the state centered on the Alternative Energy Technology (AET) industry. At NextEnergy, they’re testing fuel cells and thermal recovery for local electricity generation. They’re helping define wind energy opportunities and bring all these options to market.
That market, however, isn’t terribly strong in Michigan right now. We, as citizens, haven’t been very demanding when it comes to clean energy. Maybe it’s a product of generations living with a handful of energy monopolies that provided consistent, reliable power. We didn’t have to think much about it. Today, we know better. We’re concerned about our impact on global warming, about the rising rates of childhood asthma, about the irreplaceable mountains demolished by coal mining. So we have to take the next step and build a market for green energy and clean fuels.
Our cities have a role to play in generating excitement and investment opportunities for green power. The Suburbs Alliance is working with state lawmakers and regional leaders to create a joint energy office to help catalyze excitement and investment in new energy solutions. There are huge savings our cities can realize through energy efficiency and major economies we can boost by buying into alternatives (like Michigan’s nascent wind power industry). City by city we might have only a small impact, but by aggregating our buying power and sharing costs across a region, we can be real players in designing Michigan’s energy future.
Beyond that, there’s a real opportunity to transform our region’s image across the state and the country. For too long, we’ve been cited as the heart of the rust belt, while our neighbors in Chicago and Pennsylvania embrace green building and the AET industry to create jobs and realize millions of dollars of new investment in their states. Working together, creatively and aggressively, we can showcase southeast Michigan as the nation’s leader in green energy—including production and consumption as well as the home of the manufacturing industry that supports it.
Some of these issues seem huge—beyond the scope of an individual resident or city leader. The truth is, however, we all do our part every time we turn off a light, spend a penny on green power or demand that efficiency and renewable energy take the lead in the development debate. This is one case where, really, every one of us has the power.
Take it in your hands. Tomorrow’s economy doesn’t have to be built on clean fuels and innovative technologies.
ut it should be.
