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Advocates: Snyder Renewables Report Correct, Conservative

Renewables, Power to Change | October 10, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration is earning high marks for its draft report on the possibilities for renewable energy in Michigan. But now some clean energy advocates and entrepreneurs, who strongly praised the report’s conclusions and the unusually open...

MLUI Report: The Power of Energy Efficiency

Efficiency First | September 30, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

MLUI's special report, "The Power of Energy Efficiency," introduces some of the people already making Traverse City and northwest Michigan "efficiency-ready": homeowners, business people, contractors, officials, and experts with first-hand knowledge of ju...

Introduction: The Power of Energy Efficiency

The Power of Energy Efficiency | September 30, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Energy efficiency puts our contractors to work; boosts local retail sales; keeps more of residents’ hard-earned dollars in town; increases property values; makes the community more attractive; and by lowering overall energy demand, slows the rise of every...

Traverse City Can Be A Leader

Efficiency First | September 26, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

TCSaves showed that a well done, public-private, residential energy efficiency program can reach many homeowners, make them more comfortable and lower their utility bills, produce good-paying jobs, keep more cash in the local economy, increase home values...

One Barn, Three Utilities and Geothermal Success

Efficiency First | September 23, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

It was a setting guaranteed to raise a smile: a squinty-bright sun, an electric-blue sky, rolling green hills, a verdant community garden and a big, immaculately restored old barn. But the folks who gathered last week at the Historic Barns Park were grinn...

Lansing Turns Toward Clean Energy Debate

Power to Change | September 13, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Michigan’s clean energy entrepreneurs and advocates hope to hear some good news from Lansing about renewable energy next week.
That’s when the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Michigan Energy Office release the first of four draft-summaries of ...

Mackinac Oil Pipeline Rally Marks TC350’s Revival

Power to Change, TC350 | August 27, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Last month, a surprisingly large number of people showed up at a remote northern Michigan park to rally against something that, weeks earlier, few of them had ever heard about: the twin, 60-year-old pipelines that transport 22 million gallons of oil a day...

Can Grand Traverse County Set the PACE?

Power to Change | August 22, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

It’s time for Grand Traverse County to use a state law to help local firms cut energy costs and boost bottom lines. The 2010 law, called PACE—Property Assessed Clean Energy—allows local governments to establish bonds for loans to improve commercial buildi...

From TC to DC: Group Joins National Push for Carbon Tax

Power to Change, CCL | August 15, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Maura Brennan and Elizabeth Dell co-lead what they say is the largest Michigan chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, a national group sharply focused on a very specific goal: Convincing Congress to enact a carbon tax on coal, oil, and natural gas and dis...

Novi Solar Developer Joins Feds’ Race to the Rooftops

Power to Change | July 24, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Srinergy has joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s nationwide Race to the Rooftops contest. The firm and the partners it is recruiting will compete for part of a $10 million prize. It will be shared among the first three teams that install 6,000 smaller-...

McKibben Connects Straits Pipeline to Global Climate Fight

Power to Change | July 16, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

On July 14, about 400 people gathered at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge and listened as speakers warned about the aging oil pipeline that lies west of the bridge, beneath the Straits of Mackinac’s sparkling, cobalt-blue waters....

Mackinac Pipeline Rally Will Raise Energy, Climate Issues

Power to Change | July 9, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Organizers are rallying at Bridge View Park in St. Ignace to warn that there’s a 60-year-old oil pipeline beneath the Straits, operated by the same company responsible for the Kalamazoo pipeline oil spill, and that it’s putting the Great Lakes ecosystem a...

Andy Levin: ‘Lean & Green’ Can Help Efficiency, Clean Energy Soar

Efficiency First | July 2, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Andy Levin urges local leaders to adopt an ordinance he designed based on a 2010 state law, known as PACE, that would put tradesmen to work on efficiency and renewables projects for local businesses to boost their profits without spending public dollars. ...

Mike Hayes: GLE Co-op Must Heed Calls for More Clean Energy

Power to Change | June 19, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Mike Hayes is retired, but he’s not taking it easy. Recently he helped organize Mancelona’s community garden and construction of its new farmers market pavilion. Now Hayes is running for the Great Lakes Energy co-op’s board of directors....

Mary Brower: More Renewables, Efficiency for Great Lakes Energy

Power to Change | June 12, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Mary Brower is running for the Great Lakes Energy Cooperative board of directors because she wants her utility to embrace the future—particularly moving beyond coal power to more renewable energy and energy efficiency. Great Lakes Energy members will rece...

Energy Efficiency Pioneers: Who's Leading the Charge?

Efficiency First | May 29, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Four different communities—in Virginia, Michigan, and Ontario—have reached the same conclusion: When it comes to making and using energy, it’s time to replace business-as-usual with breakthrough innovation. But each community is also traveling a somewhat ...

Big Crowds, Strong Support for Clean Energy at Snyder Forums

Snyder, Forums | May 13, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

State officials are still digging out from the avalanche of comments triggered by Snyder’s seven public forums about Michigan’s energy future, which wrapped up three weeks ago....

Mandates Drive Efficiency Industry

Efficiency First | May 2, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

As community leaders in towns like Holland, Ann Arbor, and Traverse City ponder different ways to accelerate efficiency investments by homeowners and businesses, energy services companies—or ESCOs—are emerging as a most effective way to help not only larg...

In Search of Energy Efficiency Financing--For Everyone

Efficiency First, TCSaves | April 25, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

Major home energy efficiency upgrades could become a common sight in Traverse City, once leaders find a very inexpensive, long-term way to finance them....

Efficiency Work Keeps Contractors Busy

Efficiency First, TCSaves | April 1, 2013 | By Jim Dulzo

For close to two years, more than a dozen home energy assessors, contractors, and workers from three local companies have made the city-sponsored pilot home-efficiency program tick. They’ve made more than 500 Traverse City homes—a remarkable 20 percent of...

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