POSTED: January 4, 2009

Project EverGREEN Schools Outreach Program

MARQUETTE - Nearly every school district in Marquette and Alger counties is supporting the use of renewable energy by signing a petition circulated by a non-profit organization.

The petition - being circulated by the Michigan Group for a Renewable Energy Efficient Nation, or Michigan GREEN - urges Gov. Jennifer Granholm to make changes to Senate Bill 213 that would remove economic barriers for schools wishing to set up independent renewable energy generators, such as wind turbines.

Strong winds will be welcome at Kalamazoo Valley Community College from now on, but not on Jan. 27-28, thank you.

Those are the tentative dates for crews to use a large crane to lift a trio of 25-foot blades to the top of a 40-yard tower on the Texas Township Campus, install them, and put the finishing touches on a 145-foot wind turbine, the first 50-kilowatt installation in Michigan.

"Like the postman, rain, sleet or snow will not derail the process," says Jim DeHaven, vice president for economic and business development at KVCC, "but significant winds will throw a monkey wrench into the installation.

January 07, 2009

The Northeastern region conducted its second carbon credit auction, raising $106 million to be divvied up this month among 10 states in the area and then used to promote clean energy technologies. That process is being viewed by the incoming presidential administration as a possible national prototype.

Trading carbon emissions is a free market approach to controlling greenhouse gases that are tied to climate change. The thinking is that by trading credits, a "price" for emission levels is set that will send the proper investment signals to those who have to decide how to cut their releases. Installing environmental controls, for example, may or may not be cheaper than buying carbon credits.

January 02, 2009

President-elect Obama and his family seem to be pretty well rested after having spent the Christmas holiday season vacationing in Honolulu where he was raised. It's a good thing because in 19 days he'll be inundated with the world's problems.

Before the economy hit a tailspin last October, energy had been one of the hottest topics on the campaign trail: To implement an aggressive global warming strategy or to sit tight until things get better; to use more federal dollars to support green energy technologies or to let the private sector handle all of that; to pursue clean coal power plants or to let them idle; to drill or not to drill and to rev up the nukes or not.

December 29, 2008

Until now, to equip your home or business with solar power you had to come up with a lot of scratch up front. Unfortunately, that often left access to the technology to the financially well off, to the curious or to highly motivated tree huggers.

That appears to be changing. While the government casts about for a national energy policy, communities and utilities are experimenting with novel and more affordable ways to bring consumers and businesses into the sunlight.

The cities of Berkeley, Calif., and Boulder, Colo., are creating a national buzz with initiatives to allow property owners to install rooftop solar panels using city-backed loans. The loans are repaid over 20 years through special property-tax assessments. Utilities are also taking to the rooftops, though using a slightly different approach from the Berkeley fathers.