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Green Building Blog

Will Michigan offer Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency Updates?

Thu, Nov 29, 2012 @ 03:09 / by Jim Newman

Yesterday I sat with several dozen other green enthusiasts (aka geeks like me, @JimNDeanofGreen) at NextEnergy in Detroit watching Gov. Rick Snyder’s (@onetoughnerd) address on energy and the environment. 

I was honored to be given the opportunity to be one of the few people to ask the Governor a question directly. Here is my question: 

Buildings use approximately 40% of the total energy and 70% of the electricity used in the United States, more than any other sector including transportation. Since approximately 70% of the buildings standing today will still be here in 30 years, has any thought been given to ways for the state to make it easier to conserve energy in existing commercial buildings similar to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA 2009), Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) and some of the other federal programs that have come and gone?

He answered that he was interested in partnering with the Federal government and the private sector to facilitate those types of initiatives.

That was basically his main message on a lot of these issues. The state would be a facilitator between the private and the public sector, but would not provide funding directly.

Will this plan work? It has worked well so far on a small scale with a number of programs, some sponsored by the federal government with trickle-down effects to the states through the Dept. of Energy (DOE), and with our Michigan organizations like Michigan Saves, NextEnergy, Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and others. 

Personally, having worked on many energy audits, retrofits and retro-commissioning projects with commercial and industrial building owners to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs, I found that the federal tax incentives were very attractive. In some cases, they pushed projects that otherwise would not have happened, and subsequently have saved owners money while reducing environmental impact.

So I believe that it is a win-win for the state to get involved in whatever way they can. But the more funding they can put behind such programs, the better results we will see. 

Topics: Retrofit, Green Building, Sustainability, Energy Savings, Energy Audit

Jim Newman

Written by Jim Newman

Jim Newman's passion is helping us move toward a healthier and more secure future – for people and the planet.

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