LANSING, Mich. - Along with its natural beauty, Michigan is home to some stunning city skylines, and a new report says energy-efficiency upgrades could save businesses money while preserving the "Pure Michigan" way of life.

It's been one year since the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon emissions was finalized. While critics continue to claim it will bankrupt the nation, growing evidence points to the contrary.

Dr. Marilyn Brown, a professor in the School of Public Policy of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said Michigan's commercial sector could realize average annual savings of more than $293 million on electric bills in 2030, and another $300 million in natural gas bills, if the Clean Power Plan was implemented, compared with doing nothing.

"Most electricity is used to heat and cool and light buildings," Brown said, "and about half of that building electricity goes to businesses, so it's a really important source for climate mitigation, CO2 emission reductions."

A previous study found significant potential savings for consumers as well, despite claims that electric rates would go up. The Clean Power Plan set the first-ever federal carbon pollution limits for power plants. Full implementation of the plan was halted in February after 20 states, including Michigan, filed lawsuits challenging the rules.

Many Michigan cities, including Grand Rapids, aren't waiting for the court battle to play out. They're already reaping the benefits of increased energy efficiency, as Haris Alibasic, the city's energy and sustainability director, explained.

"The city of Grand Rapids, over the past seven years, we made significant improvement to our energy efficiency in buildings," Alibasic said, "and as a result, we are able to see avoided costs as well as savings."

Brown said one big step all cities can take is what's known as energy benchmarking: requiring all buildings larger than 100,000 square feet to document and report their energy usage. She said it's a powerful way to let the market drive efficiency upgrades.

"That means that if a tenant wants to consider what the real cost of occupying a space in that building might be," Brown said, "they'd have some good sense of how efficient the office complex is."

The study found that considerable savings and carbon reduction could be achieved by switching to electric heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings, using new technology air-source pumps in place of natural gas heating, and rooftop air conditioning units.

The report is online at cepl.gatech.edu.


get more stories like this via email

As state budget negotiations continue, groups fighting climate change are asking California lawmakers to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies rather than slash programs designed to slow global warming.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's current proposal would cut oil and gas tax breaks by $22 million this year and $17 million the following year.

Barry Vesser, COO for The Climate Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, would like to see all subsidies eliminated.

"Oil and gas companies are one of the drivers of climate change, so we should not be making their profit margins bigger by providing public subsidies, and making it harder for renewables to compete against them," Vesser argued.

Gov. Newsom has also proposed to cut funding for climate-friendly programs helping lower-income families buy an electric vehicle or switch from gas to electric appliances.

Kevin Slagle, vice president of strategic communications for the Western States Petroleum Association, said in a statement, "California's already tough business climate is pushing companies to the brink. Removing incentives will drive California straight into the arms of more expensive foreign oil, ramping up costs for everyday Californians who can least afford it."

Vesser countered the threat of higher gas prices is a red herring.

"There's a lot that goes into calculating how much the cost of gas is, and this is not even pennies on the dollar," Vesser contended.

The state Senate's early action proposal estimated the budget deficit will be between $38 billion and $53 billion. The governor is expected to release new details on his budget priorities in mid-May. The Legislature must pass a balanced budget by June 15.

The New York HEAT Act might not make the final budget.

The bill reduces the state's reliance on natural gas and cuts ratepayer costs by eliminating certain rules. It was in both legislative chambers' one-house budgets, but last-minute scrambling could remove it.

New York League of Conservation Voters Policy Director Patrick McClellan said, aside from people's preference for natural gas, other challenges have made the bill hard to pass.

"I think that there has also been some irresponsible fear-mongering against this bill from some people who oppose it," said McClellan, "basically telling people this means that their natural gas service is going to be taken away from them tomorrow, or it's going to happen without warning, and that's just not the case."

The bill would not mean gas companies could walk away from providing service to new customers, since its effects occur over a longer period.

Rural lawmakers have been skeptical about relying solely on electricity, since people could lose power in bad storms.

If the bill isn't part of the budget, McClellan said the Public Service Commission can do more to require gas utilities factor climate change into their long-term plans.

It will take more than one bill for New York State to reach its climate goals.

McClellan said developing thermal energy networks is one way to build on what the HEAT Act would do, and provide good ways to decarbonize on a larger scale instead of going house by house.

"You're able to get a larger number of buildings and people all at once," McClellan explained. "The other exciting thing about thermal energy networks is, because you are talking fundamentally about piping systems that are underground, it's an extremely similar skill set for people who already work in the fossil fuel industry."

The bill would also eliminate the Hundred Foot Rule. This requires utilities to connect new customers to a gas line for free based on their distance to an existing main gas line, typically 100 feet.

This rule allowed utilities to shift around $1 billion in costs onto about 170,000 ratepayers.

Virginia's General Assembly will consider budget amendments to reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as RGGI.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin pulled the state out of RGGI at the end of 2023, and now experts said the holes in the budget left by RGGI funding going away are not being filled. Money from the program was used to fund climate mitigation work.

Jay Ford, Virginia policy manager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said the state saw many benefits when it was part of RGGI.

"We were reducing fossil fuel emissions that were being created here in Virginia," Ford pointed out. "There were some clear reductions as a result of our participation. So, we're improving air quality and we are helping expedite that transition to a clean economy."

Virginia residents mostly favored staying in RGGI, but Youngkin has said the reason for pulling out was in his view, it was a "hidden tax" for ratepayers. Ford estimated homeowners paid around $2 a month from their electric bills for RGGI and argued the trade-offs were worth it.

Between 2021 and 2023, RGGI revenue generated around $828 million for Virginia. Ford thinks not rejoining the initiative could slow down Virginia's ability to reach the Clean Economy Act's climate goals, and warned other effects could be costly to communities.

"On the ground in communities around the state, if we don't get back into RGGI, there's a real potential that the work to prepare the Commonwealth, and prepare our communities for climate impacts, could grind to a halt," Ford contended.

Virginia used RGGI money to help towns and cities fund their climate resilience plans. The state used 25-million RGGI dollars to establish a Climate Resilience Fund. There have been 107 "billion-dollar disasters" since 1980 in Virginia, with long-term costs totaling between $20 billion and $50 billion.