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The Big U.P. Deal

Blog Archive | October 11, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

The Nature Conservancy and the State of Michigan said this week that new conservation easements and acquisitions would protect 271,000 acres of wilderness and natural area, including the Fox and Big Two-Hearted Rivers....

Utilities, State Plug Fast Car-Charger Incentives

Blog Archive | October 5, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

But if you’re driving one of those new, very cool electric vehicles, GM’s Volt, or Nissan’s Leaf, which will start rolling off assembly lines later this year, where will you “fill up” with electricity instead of gas?...

TCL&P’s Good First Step

Blog Archive | September 3, 2010 | By Brian Beauchamp

Traverse City Light and Power just took a step toward unleashing a powerful jobs and income machine: It installed a new “net metering” policy, allowing TCL&P’s customers to generate limited amounts of renewable energy and sell it back to the utility....

Creating a Community Climate Action Plan

Blog Archive | July 23, 2010 | By Alicia Pettys

There is widespread consensus that real action must be taken now to decrease the impact we are having on our environment and combat climate change. To help guide the actions our community takes, SEEDS is launching a Climate Action Planning Survey....

To Be a Star, Hire an Energy Czar

Blog Archive | July 6, 2010 | By Jim Dulzo

So far, our answers to Traverse City Light & Power’s questions about our “20-20″ proposal have explained that saving a watt is the same as generating a watt and is much cheaper, so spending on efficiency makes way more sense than spending on new power plants....

Moving Beyond Coal, from Kentucky to Michigan

Blog Archive | June 9, 2010 | By Janice Benson

During that time, I was immersed in the glories, the sorrows, and the constant that is coal. ...

Please, Help Us Save the Wild U.P., Now!

Blog Archive | June 2, 2010 | By May Erlewine

I want to tell you about a place called the Yellow Dog Plains, way up north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Its waters are pure and true and they run into the Great Lake, mother Superior....

Rogers City Coal: Malfeasance?

Blog Archive | May 26, 2010 | By Tom Karas

Air permit denied! I had long thought that when I finally read those words I would be filled with happiness and joy. The reality was that I cried. And then I got really angry. ...

Coal Plant Killed, What’s Next for Rogers City?

Blog Archive | May 26, 2010 | By Jim Dulzo

Those first and last points won the day with the state, which determined that Wolverine has other, cheaper, cleaner options for obtaining power, and that the plant would increase the cost of its customers’ electricity by close to 60 percent....

Learn the Business of Community Wind

Blog Archive | May 13, 2010 | By Tom Karas

My understanding of how best to grow renewable energy in Michigan-and across the country-keeps me climbing up some pretty steep learning curves....

Decoupling for Fun and Profit

Blog Archive | May 3, 2010 | By Jim Dulzo

The cheapest way for Traverse City Light & Power to meet much of its customers’ future demands for electricity is, as I wrote last time, to flat-out buy them things that significantly reduce their demand for electricity....

TCL&P and the Three-Dollar Car

Blog Archive | April 15, 2010 | By Jim Dulzo

The most crucial thing Traverse City Light & Power folks asked us about our new special report, 20-20 by 2020: A Clear Vision for Clean-Energy Prosperity, was its call for helping customers cut their energy consumption by 20 percent in just 10 years....

TCL&P and the Invasion of the Negawatts

Blog Archive | April 8, 2010 | By Jim Dulzo

As they thumbed through their copies of our hot-off-the-press report, 20-20 by 2020: A Clear Vision for Clean-Energy Prosperity, board members asked us all sorts of things....

A Closer Look at Our 20-20 Vision

Blog Archive | April 2, 2010 | By Brian Beauchamp

But we call for much stronger energy efficiency efforts, more wind power, inclusion of solar power, and promotion of local energy entrepreneurship, particularly among our region’s schools, community investment groups, and private concerns.
...

For Biomass, Get It in Writing

Blog Archive | March 16, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

The debate over a proposed biomass facility in Traverse City has caused a great deal of concern among many Traverse City-area environmentalists, and rightfully so....

Going Local’s Good for Utilities, Too

Blog Archive | March 16, 2010 | By Brian Beauchamp

There’s been a lot of controversy recently in Traverse City about whether the local electric utility, Traverse City Light & Power, should build a wood-burning biomass plant as part of its plan to make 30 percent of its electricity using renewable sources....

A U.P. Sulfide Mining Rush?

Blog Archive | March 2, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

Sadly, I’m blogging about this because the glorious Menominee River, like the Salmon Trout River near Big Bay, is now under attack....

Roger City’s Coal Ash Dump Hearing

Blog Archive | February 9, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

Last month’s state hearing for a coal ash landfill that would house millions of tons of toxic coal ash near Lake Huron attracted more than 100 people to the Rogers City High School gymnasium....

A Thousand No’s on Forest Sale

Blog Archive | February 8, 2010 | By Glenn Puit

Citizens in Iosco and surrounding counties recently sent more than one thousand signatures to Gov. Jennifer Granholm opposing the attempted forced sale of 475 acres of state forest to a golf course developer....

Truly Clean and Green

Blog Archive | February 2, 2010 | By Jim Sluyter

Here’s a question for those who want to cut their carbon footprint: What is the better wine choice-a bottle of French Bordeaux, or something from the Napa Valley?...

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