Climate & Environment
Clean Energy Projects
Working to accelerate an equitable transformation to a clean energy economy, Groundwork teams assist local governments, utilities, and developers in clearing the way for local renewable energy infrastructure.
SolaRISE
SolaRISE was launched to help schools and nonprofits fundraise to purchase solar and other renewable energy systems for both instruction and energy supply. Learn more about SolaRISE here.
100% Communities
We support local governments with policy and technical advice as they transition to a clean energy economy. Learn more about our 100% Clean Energy Communities work here.
What's happening now?
Clean Energy Project News
State, Top Utilities, Energy Groups Eye Next Steps for Solar
A specially assembled “solar work group” of state regulators, officials from the state’s two largest utilities, and clean-energy business advocates is considering ways to deploy more solar energy in Michigan that help, not hurt the firms’ bottom lines; protect ratepayers’ wallets while offering them an entrepreneurial opportunity; and boost the state’s solar manufacturers and installers.
Enbridge’s Straits Pipeline Forum: More Questions than Answers
Hundreds of people turned out last week to pepper local officials and employees of Enbridge, Inc. about the 60-year-old oil pipeline running under the Mackinac Straits. They wanted to know what’s being done to prevent underwater leaks, and how a rupture would be contained before it gravely damaged one of Michigan’s most beautiful places. By the end of the meeting it was clear that opponents had more questions than Enbridge managed to answer.
Holland Working on Community Energy Plan
Officials and dozens of residents in Holland, Mich., are working to implement a Community Energy Plan after the city began approving work groups for the effort in August 2012. The CEP, would, among many other things, expand the snowmelt district and channel waste heat to nearby commercial buildings. The 40-year strategy calls for cutting the community’s energy consumption by up to 60 percent and moving HBPW to cheaper, cleaner natural gas and non-polluting wind and solar power.