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Looking Back on the Michigan Energy Fair

The MLUI has a great recap on last month's Michigan Energy Fair. The article features remarks by folks like David Konkle of Ann Arbor's energy office (whose innovations have saved the city $5 million over the last 18 years). Konkle explained that Michigan is highly vulnerable to energy prices and supply problems because it imports all of the coal, 96 percent of the oil, and 75 percent of the natural gas its residents use. He maintains that part of the solution to this dependence on imported fuel lies in our $4 billion-a-year farm sector: both in farmers placing wind turbines on their property and in growing plants that can be converted into ethanol and other alternative fuels. "Michigan does not have oil and we donít have coal, but we sure can grow things," he said.

Tom Stanton of the Michigan Public Service Commission said that in 2002 the Legislature approved the Michigan Renewable Energy Program to promote solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass production. While that is a start, he also said that Michigan is well behind such states as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, which strongly encourage renewable energy through property tax exemptions and other market incentives.

Read Energy Fair Looks at Sunny Side from the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service