Amidst Shutdown, Chambers Bring Clean Energy Message to Washington

Braving a government shutdown and a Capitol Hill lockdown, local chamber of commerce leaders last week delivered a powerful message of clean energy as an engine of economic development directly to five U.S. Senators and an equal number of House members and their staffs.

“Through shutdown and lockdown, our delegation demonstrated the can-do attitude of local chambers,” said Diane Doucette, CICE Executive Director. “Local business leaders are engines of growth and perhaps the best hope we have to lead our economy toward energy innovation.”

Joining the trip were chamber leaders from Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina, Missouri, Utah, Indiana, Tennessee, California and Texas. The executives told the members of Congress of their strong support for the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill and discussed other energy initiatives.

An oped about the trip written by Susan Munroe, President of Ohio’s Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce, can be found here. A column in Breaking Energy by CICE Executive Director Diane Doucette can be found here. 

Local MI Chamber Offers Energy Efficiency Microloans

The Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce of Michigan has expanded a loan program to help local businesses reduce electricity consumption and lower utility bills.

In partnership with Traverse City Light and Power, the chamber established a $200,000 Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund that promotes energy savings among businesses in the utility’s service district. Loans can be made for companies to invest in energy efficiency measures identified through a comprehensive energy audit.

The description of the loan program on the chamber’s website can be found here. A news release from the utility about the program is here. A news story on the program from Midwest Energy News can be found here.

Denver Metro Chamber Invests In Rooftop Solar and Wind

Longtime advocates of renewable energy, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce has installed a rooftop wind and solar system on its headquarters building. The system combines solar panels with a small wind turbine.

In a short video accompanying the Post story, Chamber CEO Kelly Brough says that the chamber is delighted to help a local company — Quantum Renewable Energy — prove the viability of new technologies such as urban wind.

Denver is the latest example of local chambers serving as clean energy leaders. For a full report on local chambers and energy innovation, read “Local Chambers as Change Agents,” a comprehensive review published by CICE in May.

The Denver Post article with video of Chamber President and CEO can be found here. The website for the Denver Metro chamber is here.

Maintaining a Competitive Advantage in St. Paul, MN

The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce is one of the newest members of Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy. To help its member companies reduce their energy use and stay competitive, the chamber selected energy innovation as one of its key issues.

“Every single business is a consumer of energy resources,” said Matt Kramer, Chamber President and CEO. “Keeping energy costs low puts each of our member businesses in a better place to make the investments to be competitive, to put them in a better position for success.”

Kramer says that his Chamber will never be an expert on energy and that’s why he was excited to find Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy. “We position our Chamber as trusted information brokers,” Kramer added. “We’re going to find the information that our members can trust.”