Michigan energy policy package contains important provisions for combined heat and power (CHP)

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This post was originally published by the Great Plains Institute at: http://www.betterenergy.org/MI_CHP After nearly two years of hearings, countless substitute bills, and intense negotiations the Michigan legislature finally approved two pieces of legislation that overhaul and update Michigan’s energy policy. Much has already been written about the larger elements of the legislation – increasing the renewable…

Other hidden costs of Line 5

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You wouldn’t site, and you wouldn’t build and construct pipelines underneath the Straits today.” Attorney General Bill Schuette [Begging the question:  If a state-of-the-art, 21st Century pipeline presents an unacceptable risk, why is the continued use of an aging, mid-20th Century pipeline acceptable?] Many compelling reasons exist to terminate the use of Line 5, the…

Energy & Climate Notes 072116

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2016 Platforms: “We will enforce the original intent of the Clean Water Act, not it’s distortion by EPA regulations. We will likewise forbid the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide”  Republican Platform 2016 The Republican platform largely denies the existence of climate change, expressly rejects the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, and calls for…

Remembering Earth Day and The Paris Agreement

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Remembering Earth Day Forty-six years ago, over 20 million people participated in the nation’s first Earth Day. Pioneered by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was one of the first of what became to be known as environmental teach-ins. Senator Nelson sought to confront the growing list of environmental issues facing the nation and the…

Corporate investment in renewable energy on the rise in Michigan

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“Companies are very interested in how the Switch deal gets done,” said Liesl Clark, president of the Lansing-based Energy Innovation Business Council. But stepping up next with additional renewable investments could be private companies across a range of industry types and sizes, from GM and Steelcase to Black Star Farms LLC winery. Also getting into the game: Municipalities such as Lansing, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, said Clark, who also is a founding principal with 5 Lakes Energy, a Lansing consulting firm.

Energy & Climate Notes 022716

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The EPA Clean Power Plan – are we better off without it? Clean energy proponents were dismayed – to say the least – by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to delay implementation of EPA Clean Power Plan rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.  It was an unprecedented action by the court; for…