(Marquette, Michigan) -
Business owners, clergy and
homeowners from across
northern Michigan were given
numerous tips on reducing
their utility bills during the
2007 Earth Keeper Energy
Summit including the latest on
an upcoming vote in the state
legislature that would send
wind-generated electricity to
all residents.About 10
more

(Marquette, Michigan) -
Business owners, clergy and
homeowners from across
northern Michigan were given
numerous tips on reducing
their utility bills during the
2007 Earth Keeper Energy
Summit including the latest on
an upcoming vote in the state
legislature that would send
wind-generated electricity to
all residents.About 100 people
attended the day-long
conference on Wednesday June
13, 2007 in Marquete, Michigan
sponsored by the Superior
Watershed Partnership in
cooperation with the Cedar
Tree Institute. The
Marquette-based non-profits
founded the Earth Keeper
Initiative in 2004.Most of
those attending said they plan
to join nearly 500 northern
Michigan businesses, churches,
temples and homes that
recently began cutting energy
costs and are expected to save
millions of dollars in power
and water costs over the next
three years as part of the new
Earth Keeper conservation
project, according to Carl
Lindquist, executive director
of the Superior Watershed
Partnership in Marquette.The
Earth Keeper Initiative has
numerous ongoing environmental
projects including the annual
Earth Day clean sweeps across
northern Michigan that have
collected about 370 tons of
household hazardous waste for
recycling or proper disposal.
The Earth Keepers have 140
participating churches/temples
and a volunteer army of over
400 people.'We are taking all
the energy of the Earth
Keepers across the Upper
Peninsula and we are focusing
that energy on energy
conservation and climate
change because that is where
it all starts,' Lindquist told
participantsTwo senior members
of the Sharon Lutheran Church
council in Bessemer drove the
three hours to Marquette to
attend the energy summit to
take home ideas on reducing
water and power bills in the
75-year-old church while
protecting the planet.'We need
an energy audit - we've looked
for a long time for someone
who does this and we haven't
found anyone,' said Arline
Waurio of Bessemer, who also
plans to have an energy audit
of an 80-acre family farm that
she manages. 'I am on a
limited budget - however I can
save energy I will do
it.'Retired teacher Betsy
Slabaugh of Bessemer said
'just conserving the earth's
resources is so important - I
have an awareness about saving
the earth's resources and I
try to pass that on to
everybody.'Four churches and
one parish house in the
western U.P. spend about
$50,000 a year on energy, a
bill the pastor wants to
reduce.'I believe it's very
important for our
congregations to take a
leading role in the whole
awareness of environmental
issues and consequences,' said
Pastor Francis Strong, a
pastor at Christ Lutheran
Parish - a group of four
churches in Ironwood. 'I am
looking for ways for our
churches to save money by
being more efficient.'The
one-year-old Northern Michigan
University EarthKeeper Student
Team spread the word about the
energy summit around campus
and that attracted several
current and former students.'I
am into alternative energies
and I am interested in how
people are using their
alternative energies in the
Upper Peninsula,' said
Birmingham, MI native
Jennifer Riley, 23, who
recently graduated from
Northern Michigan University
with a major in environmental
conservation.'We use so much
energy with the way we live,
and with global warming - it's
terrible - and informing the
public is the first step,'
said Riley who took classes in
solar and wind power.One of
the most popular exhibits
demonstrated various types of
energy saving lightbulbs. The
first 35 people at the
conference were given compact
florescent
lightbulbs.Participants heard
from several groups that do
no-cost and low-cost energy
audits including Michigan
Interfaith Power and Light.
'Dollars saved on energy' can
be spent on humanitarian
projects or prevent important
programs from being cut.Energy
conservation saves money 'that
can be directed for feeding
the hungry, paying just
salaries and advancing your
mission,' said Father Charles
Morris, director of Michigan
Interfaith Power and Light.The
energy audits can have a big
impact on the strained budgets
of some of Michigan's oldest
and biggest
churches.Congregations in
inner cities, and rural areas,
inhabit the oldest and most
energy inefficient buildings
yet they serve the areas of
greatest human need and have
the fewest resources coming in
- it's a triple whammy,' said
Rev. Morris, who has wind
turbines that power part of
the St. Elizabeth Catholic
Church and solar water heaters
at his home in Wyandotte,
MISchools, government
buildings, and businesses can
save energy and money by
watching 'the more mundane
things' and using preventative
maintenance check lists. 'Some
of the best things you can do
is just keeping system
operating efficiently - the
savings really multiply fast
when you just keep things
operating up to snuff - like
keeping thermostats set right
keep boilers tuned up,' said
Kevin Cook of Rebuild
Michigan.The president of an
Upper Peninsula company in a
wind power partnership
encouraged participants to ask
their legislators to support
the Michigan Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS).'The
(RPS) would require utilities
across Michigan to buy power
and diversify the way we make
and use power in this country
- 23 states already have that
law and Michigan does not,'
said Rich VanderVeen,
president of Mackinaw
Power.'This bill would give
the authority to the Michigan
Public Service Commission to
require the utilities to move
forward' on wind power and
level the playing field for
independent power producers,
VanderVeen said.The Michigan
House Energy Committee is
expected to vote on the RPS
next Wednesday (June 20, 2007)
and go before the entire House
by the Fourth of July,
followed by senate action,
VanderVeen said.'I hope one of
the outcomes of this energy
summit is a united voice to
Michigan legislators to
support renewable energy,'
said VanderVeen, adding
northern Michigan lawmakers
understand wind power would
have a 'social, ecological
and financial benefit to
Marquette and the Upper
Peninsula.VanderVeen said the
Upper Peninsula Power Company
(UPPCO) has been supportive of
wind energy but the idea has
met resistance from the
Detroit Edison and Consumers
Energy power companies.'The
incumbent utilities in the
lower Peninsula have opposed
this - they don't like
competition - they want to run
the show themselves,' said
VanderVeen, although his
company currently has a 'pilot
project' with Consumers
Energy 'that's not a very good
deal for the independent power
producers.'The Mackinac City
Wind Farm is owned by a
partnership and has two wind
turbines that have been
operating since December 2001
that have 'put out more than
15 million kilowatt hours' in
electricity, VanderVeen said.
'The wind turbines have
operated 98 percent of the
time.'Michigan's only other
wind turbine is owned by
Traverse City Light and Power,
he said.VanderVeen would like
to see the three wind turbines
in Michigan increased to 2,500
high-tech wind turbines built
in areas that are windy and
close to the power grid.'The
power goes right on the grid,
so everyone in Michigan gets a
little bit of that,' through
an agreement with Consumer's
Energy and the International
Grid Company,' VanderVeen
said.'We are putting out good
clean power with no
emissions,' VanderVeen
said.'The U.S. Department of
Energy thinks we could put out
as much as 5,000 megawatts of
wind power and that would be
enough for 250,000 homes and
it would offset three tons of
coal per home,' VanderVeen
said.Participants heard
details about a federally
funded program in Michigan
that provides tips and
resources on energy
conservation for new
construction projects, energy
assessments for homeowners and
valuable help for low-income
residents.'We received a grant
to replace 115 furnaces in
Michigan,' said T.J. Brown,
project coordinator for
Northern Options in Marquette,
one of eight non-profit energy
demonstration centers across
Michigan that receive federal
funds through the state.'This
is the third year of the
program and in the U.P. we
have 30 furnaces that are
being replaced - we get our
referrals through the
Salvation Army, Big Brothers,
Big Sisters, and community
action agencies,' Brown said,
adding they give no-charge
workshops on weather-proofing,
energy conservation, and other
topics to schools, churches
and civic clubs.The
bishops/leaders of nine faith
traditions signed the Earth
Keeper Covenant in 2004
pledging to actively protect
the environment and reach out
to American Indian
tribes.'This conference today
is like a flower that has
bloomed out of years of work,'
said Rev. Jon Magnuson,
executive director of the
Cedar Tree Institute and Earth
Keeper Initiative co-founder.
'We feel something very, very
important is happening and we
are a part of it.'The Earth
Keeper team has at least two
members from each of nine
faith traditions (Catholic,
Episcopal, Lutheran,
Presbyterian, United Methodist
Church, Unitarian
Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish,
and Zen Buddhist). The
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
is a sponsor of the annual
Earth Keeper Clean Sweep.For
more information contact the
Superior Watershed Partnership
at 906-228-6095 (or Earth
Keeper volunteer media advisor
Greg Peterson at
906-475-5068).The Superior
Watershed
Partnershiphttp://www.superior
watersheds.orgThe Cedar Tree
Institute:http://www.cedartree
institute.com/The Lake
Superior Interfaith
Communication
Network:http://www.lakesuperio
rinterfaith.com/Earth Keeper
TV:http://earthkeepers.blip.tv
/Earth Keeper Energy Summit
related websites:The Michigan
Interfaith Power and
Lighthttp://www.miipl.org/Grea
t
Watershttp://www.greatwaters.n
et/Wind Power website-
Michigan
projectshttp://www.awea.org/pr
ojects/michigan...Mackinaw
Powerhttp://www.mackinawpower.
com

Category News & Politics

Tags Earth, Keeper, conserve, reduce, consumption, wind, water, solar, power, energy, Marquette, alternative, Great, Lakes, Interfaith, News