Holland is soon to be energized by the Georgetown University Energy Prize

Holland has been selected to compete for a $5,000,000 Georgetown University Energy Prize which incentivizes communities to creatively and significantly decrease their energy consumption over the course of two years. The prize will help to identify innovative, replicable, scalable solutions that can be implemented by cities and counties across the country, helping America re-think the way energy is used.

Holland joins 53 communities (three of them in Michigan) to participate in the quarter-finals round of the competition. All competing communities have outlined a plan and secured signed commitments of collaboration from local governments, utilities and community-based organizations.   

Holland City Manager Ryan Cotton says the community and dozen of public and private stakeholders are fired up and ready to get busy. "People are energized to think that what goes on in a home can make a difference and drastically improve energy efficiency," says Cotton (he acknowledges the pun). He says the plan to reduce energy consumption includes a series of "mini-competitions" including furnace tune-ups and elimination of extra refrigerators that Cotton says will not only be good for the environment (decreasing energy consumption) but good for the pocketbook of homeowners and businesses through substantial energy savings.

For more information about the city of Holland's involvement in the competition visit  www.hollandenergyprize.com. For more information about the Georgetown University Energy Prize visit: http://www.guep.org/.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor