Published: April 23, 2008 12:00 am      

For locals, it's easy being green

Homeowners, businesses try out alternative energy

TRAVERSE CITY -- Garth Ward's Earth Day tribute stands 40-feet-tall, perched on a small hill at his Garfield Township horse farm.

Ward, a former home builder, recently installed a Skystream windmill to help power his home on Gray Road, an $11,000 investment he hopes will cut his electric bill by more than half and inspire others to go green.

"I've been building for so many years, all the trees that I've cut down ... I felt was a big gouge against the planet. It was great experience, but I wanted to leave a greener footprint," said Ward, who now distributes the maintenance-free wind mills.

"People want to do something ... but they are not sure which way to go because they don't know where the biggest bang for their buck is," he said.

Like Ward, local experts believe the growing concern over global warming, rising fuel costs and numerous other environmental issues will sharpen the focus on renewable resources in coming years and sprout businesses that cater to clean energy.

In the Grand Traverse region, many locals already have begun to gear their homes and businesses toward green energy sources, motivated by both money and ecological concerns.

"If you look worldwide, renewables have really had substantial growth, something like 20 percent a year for the last 10 years," said Conrad Heins, part-time professor at Northwestern Michigan College.

Heins saves about $450 a year in heating costs at his Leelanau County home, where he utilizes the solar heating technology he teaches at NMC. Some students at his hands-on seminars have applied what they learned to their own homes, but Heins believes informing the masses about renewable energy will become more important over the next few decades.

"My own feeling is renewables are going to be a very important part of the electricity mix in the next 50 years," he said. "I think that there has to be a lot more ... awareness of what is realistically possible and what it takes to do it."

Bill Reitz owns Saw Mill Bill's Lumber Company in Interlochen, where last year he launched into a new business that turns his wood byproducts into renewable energy. ECO Heating produces heating bricks made from compressed sawdust that Reitz sells at a growing number of area fireplace and general stores.

Reitz said green energy's appeal, as well as rising heating fuel costs, combine to make ECO Heating a success.

"With the fuel crisis the way it is, everybody is looking for ways to cut their fuel costs down," Reitz said. "Through the winter we were sold out. I had people on a two- to three-week waiting period."

In Glen Arbor, Bob Sutherland is taking steps to cut costs at Cherry Republic, his cherry-inspired bakery and cafe. Sutherland currently is installing an $18,000 solar-thermal hot water heater and is seeking other ways to save energy.

"We set a goal to reduce use of grid energy by 40 percent. I think it's my own value to leave as small a footprint as you can on this Earth, to reduce the (use) of non-renewable fuels if you can," Sutherland said.

Cherry Republic's future plans include purchasing energy credits from windmills in McBain, changing over to more efficient appliances, installing solar panels and similar improvements to his other retail site in downtown Traverse City.

But today, Sutherland will gather his employees to discuss what else can be done to cut unnecessary energy.

"Each department has green goals so they are each going to talk about what they are doing. We are also going to give out little eco gift bags with ideas of encouragement for all of our staff to do at home," he said. "Every day I see the water levels in Lake Michigan shrinking -- it's like a call to action."