Alger County Renewable Energy Solutions (ACRES), a dedicated local initiative, is pleased to announce its strategic partnership with the Michigan Environmental Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. This collaboration aims to enhance access to renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions throughout Alger County and Munising.
“We plan to use the majority of the funds to put on community events and do home energy auditing to help build a county energy profile,” said Abby Wallace, project leader for the Michigan Environmental Council. “The topics for the education events were built around the two major goals of the project, to increase home energy efficiency and increase adoption of renewable energy.”
The Michigan Environmental Council recently secured the federal Department of Energy’s Energizing Rural Communities Prize, an amount of $100,000 to help start the community coalition. This coalition will focus on identifying, rallying support for, and ultimately implementing community- centered green power economic initiatives and projects that will benefit the residents and businesses of Alger County.
Over the next nine months, ACRES and the Environmental Council are planning a series of community education events and public feedback sessions. These gatherings, open to the public and spread throughout Alger County, will cover an array of vital topics, including Solar 101, Michigan Saves-Green Financing, Energy Efficiency Deep Dives, Legislative Updates from State Representative Jenn Hill, Community Solar, and Federal and State Clean Energy Funding Opportunities.
“The topics for the education events were built around the two major goals of the project, to increase home energy efficiency and increase adoption of renewable energy. The green financing and state and federal opportunities topics are to help support the community in making projects happen, if they’re interested,” Wallace said.
The first event is set for Tuesday, October 24th at 6pm at Gallery Coffee Company with the hopes of having one a month in the Alger County area.
