Traverse City took a leap toward its ambitious goal of powering 100 percent of city operations with clean energy with the opening of the M-72 Solar Project on Thursday, Oct. 26.

Traverse City took a leap toward its ambitious goal of powering 100 percent of city operations with clean energy with the opening of the M-72 Solar Project on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Traverse City is quickly transitioning from a fossil fuel-dependent city in a fossil fuel-dependent state and becoming a statewide leader on renewables and energy efficiency, as it supports jobs in the new energy economy.
NMEAC’s 29th annual Environmentalist of the Year Awards & Celebration will be held April 28, from 5:30-9 pm at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City. The guest speaker will be Sault Tribal Chairman Aaron Payment who will be speaking on Line 5 and treaty fishing rights.
A “green team” of renewable energy leaders will help Traverse City fulfill its pledge to wean the city off fossil fuels for municipal electricity use. The target date for going 100 percent renewable is 2020.
It was a setting guaranteed to raise a smile: a squinty-bright sun, an electric-blue sky, rolling green hills, a verdant community garden and a big, immaculately restored old barn. But the folks who gathered last week at the Historic Barns Park were grinning for a different reason: Completion of the first phase of a geothermal heating and cooling system that will keep the park’s iconic Cathedral Barn comfortable year-round.