DINNER & DISCUSSION: You're Invited to a BATA Focus Group

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. BATA FOCUS GROUP: We Want Your Input! Leelanau County Public Transportation Focus Group – Thursday November 5th from 5:30PM to 7:30PM What would it take for you to use BATA (or other,) bus services? We are actively looking for individuals to share their views and opinions on BATA’s bus service to the outlying areas. Is there something that is keeping you from using the service? Do you have a need that is not being addressed? Do you have ideas for how BATA can be more effective? Do you have a business that could benefit from better service? Come join us at the Cherry Republic Bakery and Café on Thursday November 5th from 5:30PM-7:30PM for discussion and brainstorming. A light meal will be provided during the discussion. This focus group is designed to compliment the BATA community-wide Transportation Survey and give individuals the opportunity to provide real time feedback. It will be an informal and friendly session and should take less than two hours of your time. The survey is to ascertain public opinion of people who don’t currently use BATA services, and to see how BATA might better serve their transportation needs. Come share your views. BATA is especially interested in talking with people who don’t currently use our regional bus services. They would like to know how you commute around the region, and how BATA might play a larger role in making public transportation more accessible and effective. Please RSVP by emailing Jared Volz. You can also catch the BATA bus. Check www.bata.net for the schedule. Vist Our Website: windempire.blogspot.com Email us: empirerenewables@gmail.com BATA Meeting: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 CHERRY REPUBLIC CAFE & BAKERY GLEN ARBOR, MI 5:30-7:30 You have asked to receive these updates from the Empire Renewable Energy Committee. Unsubscribe jaredvolz@gmail.com from this list. Our mailing address is: Empire Renewable Energy Committee PO Box 45 Empire, mi 49630 Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2009 Empire Renewable Energy Committee All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

Let Support House Bill 4137!

House Bill 4137 proposes a feed-in tariff giving guaranteed rates to energy produces in Michigan.

See: www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billintroduced/House/pdf/2009-hIB-4137.pdf -

Spring Progress

Hi All,

A little update on the progress this Spring:

Community Wind Energy~

• We are currently looking into good sites for setting up one or two T.C.-sized turbines. There are some great possible sites being considered with different advantages and drawbacks. The radar hill is one possibility, and we have had support for this site because of the good wind resources and the viewshed is already disrupted. People have also mentioned that they like the idea of looking up and being able to visualize where their electricity is coming from. Unfortuantely there is a lot of red tape when working on federal land that is jointly managed by the FAA and NPS. Another possible site is the high hills east of Empire, where there are some orchards and open spaces. This land is out of the viewshed, yet still have good wind resources, and we are opening up talks with landowners in that area. Input is definatly welcomed from the community and landowners!
• A meteorlogical tower may be available at a great price through the Northport Energy Action Taskforce (NEAT) and when we find out site, we can work on getting the met tower up and have some site-specific wind speeds.
• A representitive from Consumers Energy attended our last meeting and we discussed how to set up a power purchasing agreement. They will be taking renewable energy generation proposals into June, and also anticipate opening up more requests for proposals later on. They are required to reach 10% renewable energy by 2015. Currently they are at about 4.5%, and are expanding their sources by both Consumer's owned renewable energy production and privately owned sources. They have taken out 40,000 acres of easments for wind farms that they will own and operate. This kind of 'squeezes out' the little guy- people like us who want local, distributed renewable energy, yet our Consumers representive did believe that we will still have room to work with them. Currently their estimate on how much they are paying for renewable energy from producers is at about $0.05 per kWh.

Energy Efficiency~

• Just wanted to note that Consumers Energy will be starting their Energy Optimization Program in June. This program will provide services and incentives for weatherization, efficiency, conservation, and energy audits. NEAT has discussed promoting this program in the Northport area to make sure these services get out- this sounds like a great idea and we may want to work with Consumers in promoting this in the Empire area.

Education and Outreach~

• Asparagus Festival is coming up and we are proposing the bring out NMC's portable solar classroom on Saturday, May 16th. This is a solar generator and battery system that we can hook up in the big tent and hopefully power Asparagus Festival with the power of the sun! We will also have a booth, some educational information, and a couple of professionals to run the 'classroom.' Come out and enjoy this wonderful weekend festival in Empire, May 15-17.

Our next meeting will be held on May 7th at 5pm, Glen Lake Community Library. We will probably be talking about wind energy and planning for Asparagus Festival. We love to hear everyone's ideas, visions, and needs for renewable energy in this area, and help facilitate them- so feel free to come and share!

Climate-Energy-Leelanau's Future Sustainability Event

Wednesday April 15 5:30 to 9:00 PM Old Art Building in Leland

“Climate-Energy – Leelanau’s Future Sustainability”

Come to Leland’s Old Art Building at 5:30 for a delicious chili and

biscuits supper, followed at 7 with presentations by guest

speakers Steve Smiley and Dave Barrons. Call Gwenne

Allgaier for more information.

Utility Bill Drive!

A What?

In order to create an Energy Profile for the Glen Lake area, we are holding a Utility Bill Drive to round up copies of as many bills as we can. This will give us some numbers that we can use to quantify total community energy usage, therefore, helping to plan conservation and renewable energy projects!

How to Participate:

1. Find your most recent electric, gas, or 'other' utility bills
2. Somewhere on them write down your approximate square footage and # of people in your household
   
3. Black out any personal info that you may not want to share
4. Make a photocopy at home or at the Glen Lake Community Library
5. Slip into our Drop Box at the Library, mail to PO Box 45 Empire MI 49630, or email to empireenergy@googlegroups.com!

Questions? Dont hesitate to ask!

Our Next Meeting will be held March 26th at 4pm at the Glen Lake Community Library.

Building a world that our children can live in!

Please have a look at my website at http://greenmillennium.eu for the kinds of projects that I am promoting for the creation of a 100% sustainable world - any feedback that you would like to give me is welcome at humansolutions@greenmillennium.euMy feeling is that we must look well beyond the technologies left to us by Henry Ford and others, to carbon-free global economies that are 100% sustainable, so that we're not fighting for petroleum in the Middle East, for example. Food and jobs may evaporate with the end of petroleum, so any work that we can do to make ourselves more sustainable now may save our children's lives tomorrow!I hope that exchanging graphic ideas like those that I am proposing, as well as text, may help us to define goals, and therefore targets, that we can build well before we need them.Thank you for any thoughts that you may have!

See you soon!

Kim Gyr

Update!

Our next meeting (Thusday @ 4pm) will feature organization advising by Scott Howard and Mike Grant from the environmental law firm Olson, Bzdok, and Howard, P.C. These two have experience in environmental and municipal law, land use, non-profit organizing, and much more.

Also, if you are interested, I have created a MyNorth Group for the Empire Renewable Energy Committee to serve as a more publicly-exposed forum for discussion.

Jim Karas wrote a great article about our group, 'Dreams So Real' and is available on the Michigan Land Use Institute page.

We all went out and read our meters on Sunday, March 1st, but if you were not able to do not fear! We will do this monthly and be keeping track and compiling data for an energy profile of the area. Also, I am working on an energy survey that we can mass email to all our friends and neighbors, to collect some standardized data on a large scale.

Also, interested in community developments afar? Check out the Madagascar project on the sidebar. People working to make a difference everywhere!

Update for February

Hi Everyone!

Here is an update of the current happenings at the meetings!

First, let me direct you to the sidebar of this page where you can find the agendas and minutes from our meetings, as well as relevant resources and articles.

I would like to extend a warm thank you to Tom Karas and Steve Smiley for attending out last meeting on February 11th. We will put their suggestions and advice to good use!


FEBRUARY 11TH MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:

• We will be starting to gather information about Empire's energy usage, and to do this we need as many people as possible to volunteer a copy of their energy bills, and to go out and read their electric, gas, and propane meters. For uniform information, we are asking everyone to read and record the meter readings on Sunday, March 1st around 12 pm. Also, please bring a photocopy of you energy bills to our next meeting. We will start compiling all of this data to construct an energy profile of Empire.

• The Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association is holding a Wind Energy Conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit March 3rd and 4th. Possibility of scholarships for attendance, for more info on this contact Jared Volz.

• Reading of Mission Statement: "To provide the Empire area with 100% sustainable energy that is locally owned and produced in a thoughtful and creative way." Suggestions welcome!

• Creation of an EREC group on the My North Traverse City Guide web page: http://community.mynorth.com/group/EREC
  

• Jeff Chalup is now our official NPS Liaison and will be in contact with the park concerning their interest in developing wind energy in Empire.

• Amy Chalup will be organizing an Earth Day Concert Fundraising event, if you are interested in helping, please contact Amy.

• There will be a village survey coming out, and we will be inquiring whether we can have an energy section on the survey. If anyone has ideas for questions to ask (i.e.: what percentage of your light bulbs are compact florescent?) please email them to Jared Volz.

Our next meeting will be held on THURSDAY MARCH 5TH, 4PM AT THE GLEN LAKE COMMUNITY LIBRARY. Please come to us bringing your dreams and goals for the village of Empire!

Thank you to all those who attended our first meeting as the Empire Renewable Energy Committee! We has a great turnout and some wonderful insight and ideas. Those that are not in Empire Township are encouraged to keep attending the meetings, as it would be wonderful to raise support and start similar projects in neighboring townships.

Highlights from the January 21 Meeting

Election of Officers:

• Chairperson~ Jared Volz
• Vice-Chair~ Jan Sikorski
• Treasurer~ Glenn Baja
• Secretary~ Jared Volz

Sub-committees assigned:

• Wind~ Kim Gyr, Liana May, Ken Hurlin, Valerie Brinks
• Hydro~ Jared Volz
• Solar~ Charlie Stairs, Kim Gyr
• Conservation~ Jared Volz

We would like everyone to think about short term goals and a long term vision of Empire's energy. Sub-committees are encouraged to meet between regular meetings to work on their specific interest.

Side Notes

We are getting a great response from many local and statewide organizations and individuals. Jared was able to travel to Lansing to attend the Public Service Commission's Wind Energy Workshop, and met with our representative Dan Scripps. I was able to attend a meeting with Northport's renewable energy group and meet with Steve Smiley, an expert in this field. We will be reporting back to the committee at our next meeting.

Some important aspects of this project that we should prioritize are figuring Empire's energy usage and forming a sub-committee for researching grants and other fundraising ideas. As we work on figuring out the best ways to provide renewable energy sources for Empire, we should make sure we are as best prepared to utilize any arising opportunities.



Our NEXT MEETING will be held February 11th at the Glen Lake Community Library, beginning at 3:30 pm.

Empire Community Wind Energy Project

The Community Wind Energy Project seeks to engage the public in the research and development process of wind energy projects that have a net benefit to the community. We are a group of citizens concerned with the future reliability and sustainability of our energy sources. Community wind projects are locally-owned, commercial-scale wind energy developments that optimize local benefits.

It is our vision that Empire becomes 100% powered by a clean, renewable, and local energy: the wind. With the help and resources of the community members we can do this in the most effective and sensitive manner. The Empire area has ample wind resources to power the entire village or township, and we will be investigating how to do this socially, politically, economically, and environmentally with net benefits to all.

There are many reasons why this is the time to invest in this infrastructure including:

• Strengthen our energy autonomy, reduce reliance on importing power
• Keep energy dollars circulating within the local economy
  
• Take advantage of emerging grants, tax breaks, and subsidies to defray start-up costs
• Stabilize our energy source for future generations
• Address pollution and climate change at a local level

We will be working with the Empire Renewable Energy Committee. OUR FIRST MEETING WILL BE HELD WEDNESDAY 1/21/09 at the Glen Lake Library beginning at 4 pm.

For more information contact:

Liana May: liana.n.may@gmail.com
Jared Volz: jaredvolz@gmail.com