Print ThisSeptember 30, 2010
SEEDS Climate Action Plan
Zach Nitzkin - Press Managing Editor
Who are the players?
The Traverse City based energy solution group SEEDS has teamed with Grand Traverse County and the city of Traverse City in an effort to solve the regions looming energy dilemmas. These groups have coupled their efforts with the International Council for Local Environmental Issues (ICLEI) and their Cities for Climate Protection campaign. Beginning in 2007, they collaborated on an in-depth analysis of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. The following year they presented their findings in a three part report offering individual findings for Grand Traverse County and Traverse City municipal emissions along with Grand Traverse County’s community emissions.
SEEDS Project Manager, Mike Powers, said “through work with many local governments we have been able to complete inventories for 10 counties and countless buildings and municipal operations.”
What Is the Plan?
Eliminating emission growth for the region will be a massive undertaking that will have to be executed in multiple phases. This particular campaign has five steps:
- Conduct a baseline greenhouse gas emission inventory forecast
- Adopt an emissions reduction target
- Develop a local action plan
- Implement plan strategies
- Monitor and verify results
Step one is now complete. The reports have been submitted and analyzed allowing for a target goal to be set. That goal is for total regional emissions to experience zero growth after 2012. Achieving such growth levels will be secured using an emission reduction plan funded with money allocated by the Michigan Public Service Commission’s Low-Income Energy Efficiency grant.
What comes first?
At the outset, the plan’s primary focus will be on encouraging individual home and business owners to take part in emission reduction activities – like installing more efficient lighting and retrofitting inefficient HVAC infrastructure. As an incentive for people to take part in emission reducing activities, state and local rebates have been established for those purchasing energy efficient items. In addition, The Grand Vision Energy Working Group has begun coordinating education efforts to help heighten awareness amongst locals regarding what can be done on an individual basis to make an impact.
What will be the biggest hurdle?
The largest contributors to local greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are those created by transportation vehicles. Currently 29% of local GHGs are a product of the transportation sector. Unfortunately, transportation infrastructures are not easily replaced. While education regarding more efficient ways of commuting is useful and informative, actually putting such changes into action can prove difficult.
“We need to think about how we organize ourselves,” said Powers, “and ways we can improve our pathways which will result in less stress on the transportation network.”
Why act now?
As companies, large and small, consider their viability in the post carbon era they must assess “the financial opportunity of being ahead of the curve, and the financial liability of being behind the curve,” said Powers.
Businesses must consider how they will function as waste removal and energy consumption begin to increase in cost. Failing to properly plan for the radical changes that will inevitably alter all facets of energy use may prove the difference in survival for any number of businesses in the area.
What is holding you back?
Every individual has the means to make a difference. Powers said, “people who rent often feel the least empowered.” Those who pay a fixed amount in rent each month tend to overlook the long term emission-effects of their lifestyle because they are not the one making decisions regarding the infrastructure of their home. To learn more about ways you can make an emission reducing difference in your community visit www.ecoseeds.org. The public is encouraged to fill out the Climate Action Planning Survey. The results of which will be used in the final action plan.