by Bruce Walker
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has withdrawn $5 million from the state’s new Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund to pay for three energy-efficiency projects.
The EERF was included in the governor’s fiscal year 2022 budget recommendation and passed by the state Legislature.
The $5 million will be used to:
- Install a solar array system in conjunction with the Lansing Board of Water and Light. The solar array is projected to produce 400,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, which will power 100% of the State Administrative Facilities building.
- Upgrade all lighting in the General Service Building to LED in conjunction with Consumers Energy and Graybar. The governor’s office claims the conversion will net an estimated 50% utility rebate for the total cost of the project. Those rebated funds, in turn, will be invested by the Department of Technology, Management and Budget in additional LED and advanced lighting control projects. The governor’s office says the rebate from upgrading lighting in one building will provide funding for two additional buildings.
- Institute energy conservation measures at the St. Louis Correctional Facility Green Prison Initiative Energy Performance Project, including installing two 800-kilowatt solar photovoltaic arrays, switching out florescent lighting with LED lights, and retrofitting or replacing 1,900 toilets, urinals, shower heads and faucets.
“State government will keep leading by example and investing in clean, renewable energy to protect Michigan’s clean air and water and save taxpayer dollars,” Whitmer said in a statement.
Requests for EERF funding are reviewed by a panel of State of Michigan administrators. The panel consists of members of the governor’s office, the DTMB, the State Budget Office, and the departments of Corrections, Natural Resources, Transportation, and Health and Human Services. Criteria used in the panel’s decisions include ensuring funded projects will result in long-term energy savings and a reduction of carbon emissions.
“There is a lot of potential for state government to become more energy efficient,” said Acting DTMB Director Michelle Lange. “The EERF gives us the ability to act on those opportunities without having to cut into the funding we use to provide critical state services to Michiganders every day.”
The $5 million granted from the EERF is the total allocated to the fund for 2022. Whitmer has proposed expanding the program for her 2023 budget.
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s MichiganScience magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
Photo “Governor Gretchen Whitmer” by Michigan.gov. Background Photo “Solar Panels on Roof” by B137. CC BY-SA 4.0.
