Michigan will target 'green' technology companies
By Alex Nixon
Business Direct Weekly

Michigan's bid to be a hotbed for advanced manufacturing will include companies that build energy-efficient products and develop clean technologies, officials say.

These so-called green companies, an emerging high-growth industrial sector, are the future of manufacturing and Michigan should take the lead in offering them incentives, said Mark Clevey, vice president of entrepreneurial development for the Small Business Association of Michigan in Lansing.

"We ought to be offering a green company more than we're offering a brown company," he argued.

An effort is under way at the highest levels of state government to identify what the state's role should be, said Amy Butler, chief of the Department of Environmental Quality's Environmental Science and Services division.

"It's an exciting project," Butler said. "There's a lot of energy and a lot of collaboration."

Billed as a way to address environmental concerns while promoting job growth, the DEQ and the Department of Labor and Economic Growth assembled state agency heads, business leaders and environmental advocates to examine existing energy-efficiency programs, incentives that might attract green businesses and barriers to developing clean technologies by Michigan companies, Butler said.

It's called Economic Development and Growth through Environmental Efficiency, or EDGE2, and it will make recommendations to Gov. Jennifer Granholm in December, Butler said.

Meanwhile, attempts to lure two promising environmental companies away from other states have faltered, SBAM's Clevey said.

Knoxville, Tenn.-based IdleAire Technologies Corp. and Frederick, Md.-based NaturaLawn of America are being more aggressively courted by other states, he said.

IdleAire is a technology and engineering company that builds and installs electrification units at truck stops, allowing truckers to shut down their engines, cut their emissions and save fuel while still running televisions, lights and mini-refrigerators.

NaturaLawn of America uses natural, organic fertilizers and certain insects in its lawn care service, cutting the need for chemical fertilizers.

Although it's notoriously difficult to put a dollar value on the positive environmental benefits of these businesses, sustainable usage of resources and lessened environmental impacts are a stronger long-term investment, Clevey said.

For example, replacing traditional fuels with bio-based fuels in power plants can have a ripple effect across many social and economic areas, he said. Michigan promotes homeland security by importing less oil, better health by reducing emissions, more uses for the state's agricultural products and a stronger economy as more jobs are created developing the technologies for bio-based fuels and refining it, Clevey said.

"With Michigan losing manufacturing jobs, the state is looking to areas where there are opportunities for new manufacturing," he said.

Still in it's initial stages, EDGE2 hasn't reached any conclusions, Butler said. The group's stakeholders, including representatives from 11 state agencies, SBAM, and several environmental groups, will continue to meet in two subgroups over the next few months.

Once recommendations are made to Granholm, Butler said EDGE2 will seek further collaboration from Michigan business groups and others on long-term goals of the program.

Michigan decided that attracting growing companies from high-tech sectors was a worthy investment, Clevey said. Making it easier for green companies to locate here is the next logical step.

"We're really bullish on this," Clevey said. "It's one of the best things to happen to this state."

BDW