According to a city press release,
Consumers Energy and the City of Kalamazoo will host a launch event for the Kalamazoo Energy Collaborative (KEC) on Wednesday, June 29 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at The Foundry (600 E Michigan Ave) in Kalamazoo. Mayor David Anderson, representatives from Consumers Energy, and participating commercial building owners will be in attendance.
The KEC is a partnership between Consumers Energy and the City of Kalamazoo and administered by the nonprofit Center for Energy and Environment. The KEC seeks to achieve the city and its energy utility’s shared goals of carbon emissions reduction and energy efficiency.
Kalamazoo commercial building owners and managers that are interested in identifying and implementing energy-saving opportunities in their buildings can learn more and sign up to participate in the collaborative program at www.kzooenergycollaborative.org. When joining the KEC, large commercial buildings receive a zero-cost energy assessment, recognition for implementing energy efficiency recommendations, and building energy benchmarking to compare Kalamazoo’s large commercial buildings and similar buildings nationwide.
“I am thrilled to launch this initiative in partnership with Consumers,” said Mayor David Anderson. “Together, we’re helping our business community reduce utility costs and working to reduce our emissions.”
By implementing the Collaborative’s recommendations accompanied by Consumers Energy rebates, commercial customers in Kalamazoo will improve the comfort of people in their buildings and save money on energy bills. Current members of the Collaborative include State Theatre, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, City Hall, and Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes, along with Treystar, which owns The Foundry as well as the iconic Monroe, Haymarket, and Main Street East buildings in downtown Kalamazoo. In 2022, the program aims to recruit 30 buildings and create a partnership and program model that can be easily replicated across the region.
Improving energy efficiency is a shared goal of the City of Kalamazoo and Consumers Energy, who have both put energy efficiency at the forefront of their future plans. In fact, the KEC represents a key implementation strategy from the City’s Community Sustainability Plan, which was approved by the Kalamazoo City Commission on June 21.
