Want to invest in a hot technology, earn a decent rate of return, create Michigan jobs, and battle climate change-all at the same time? Thanks to an innovative state law that allows “crowdfunded” investments by state residents in new or existing businesses, Michiganders could soon do exactly that by crowd-investing in clean energy projects, particularly solar power systems, located at certain kinds of businesses and institutions.
If further proof is needed that the global transition to clean energy is underway, you only need to look at three things that happened this month.
The wind industry has come a long way in Michigan. Since the passage of a comprehensive energy statute in 2008 that included Michigan’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)-10 percent renewable energy from all the state’s utilities by 2015-costs have dropped at a remarkable rate.
Peter Boogaart knows exactly what he’ll do when he retires later this month. The longtime Holland-area resident is leaving the Ottawa County Community Action Agency after six years of helping low-income families tighten up their homes to cut their often budget-crushing energy bills. Now the 66-year-old home efficiency veteran will ramp up his already strong volunteer involvement in the Holland Community Energy Plan’s home efficiency retrofit project, which aims to cut gas and electric consumption of each of the city’s 7,000-plus homes by up to 50 percent over 40 years.
Holland, Michigan’s forward-looking Community Energy Plan is steadily gaining momentum and public support for transforming an old Lake Michigan port city into a world-class clean energy champion.
When it comes to building power plants, Dan Nally has been around the block, the state, and the planet a few times. Now he has a doozy of an assignment: project director for construction of the Holland Board of Public Works’ new gas-fired power plant.