With an eye to growing the market, Grand Rapids probes 100 percent green power

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

In his 2005 State of the City Address, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell pledged to reduce by 20 percent the city's dependence on pollution-producing non-renewable energy sources. At that time, the city consumed 125 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

By the end of November, Grand Rapids will achieve that aggressive goal one year ahead of schedule.

Last Monday, in a speech to 300 alternative energy researchers, developers, and manufacturers at the Manufacturing and Developing Wind Systems conference at MSU, the mayor may have set the city on an even more aggressive course by asking one question:

"Why shouldn't the [green energy] goal for the second largest city in Michigan be 100 percent?"

"It was a conversation starter before the movers and shakers in the wind power industry," Mayor Heartwell says. "I'm raising the possibility of the City of Grand Rapids purchasing 100 percent of our electric needs from renewable energy resources. That's the right group to start the conversation with to find out how long it's going to take and how much it's going to cost."

It could be the most ambitious goal of any city in the country, and the timing is ripe as proponents push for a statewide renewable energy standard that promotes Michigan as a serious player in alternative energy-related manufacturing.

It also coincides with the Alternative Energy Analysis recently commissioned by the West Michigan Strategic Alliance and The Right Place, Inc. That study will compare the clean energy production capabilities of some 2,000 West Michigan manufacturers to other parts of Michigan and to the nation, and could aid in generating tens of thousands of Michigan jobs.

"If we could begin to attract [clean energy] industry or grow our own industries, that means jobs for our people and wealth for our entrepreneurs," Mayor Heartwell says. "We're running to catch up with half of the United States who have already set renewable energy portfolios."

Source: Mayor George Heartwell, City of Grand Rapids; West Michigan Strategic Alliance

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].