Grand Rapids MI, shoots for 100 percent renewable energy

Republican mayor in Red Midwestern town.
If he can do it, why not all of us?
This is bold, visionary, and maybe the only
way to survival.
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I challenge our civic leaders to ask themselves this question.
"Given a choice between two communities-
one, planning the latest and greatest in 19th century technology, a pulverized
coal plant with all the impacts that entails, - or
Grand Rapids, shooting for the 21st century goal of totally clean, renewable,
environmentally friendly technology.

Which community will fire the imagination of young people who are bold, entrepenurial,
exciting, innovative, and dynamic? In which community would such a young
person like to locate and start a family?"




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http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/timnews/altpowr0913.aspx

September 13, 2007
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 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.