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Consumers Energy today reminded the public to continue putting safety first as employees and contract crews return power to homes and businesses affected by storms that rolled through Michigan on Sunday

Furthering efforts to encourage clean energy innovation, the Energy Department today released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to support the research, development, and demonstration of advanced reactor concepts. The announcement represents an early step in increasing investment in nuclear advanced reactor technologies, which have the potential to provide substantially enhanced operational performance, safety, security, economics, and proliferation resistance.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved two bills that include provisions to advance energy efficiency in the U.S. Most unfortunately and curiously, one of the bills reported also includes an untenable provision that unduly hampers energy efficiency gains by delaying the establishment of new efficiency standards for furnaces.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, advanced bipartisan energy legislation along with Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in an 18-4 vote in committee.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced today that Mike Mendelsohn, an energy industry veteran with 25 years of experience, is the trade association’s new Senior Director of Project Finance and Capital Markets.

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the 2015 Energy Star Battle of the Buildings. Nationwide, more than 6,500 buildings and 125 teams are competing to reduce their energy and water use. In support of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which calls for businesses to cut waste and become 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020, the competition targets wasted energy in commercial buildings and motivates organizations to improve energy efficiency, reduce harmful carbon pollution and save money

A unique partnership between Consumers Energy and Grand Valley State University will create a state-of-the art leadership center owned by the energy company along the Grand River on the school’s downtown Grand Rapids campus.

Today in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance), the Department of Energy (DOE) and Council on Competitiveness (Council) hosted the third local Accelerate Energy Productivity 2030 event in an ongoing series of city stops, as part of the initiative to double U.S. energy productivity by the year 2030. Nearly 100 attendees gathered at 3M’s Innovation Center for the State and Local Dialogue focused on advanced manufacturing and its potential for boosting our nation’s energy productivity.

Public tours of Consumers Energy’s Cross Winds® Energy Park in Tuscola County will be offered by the Caro Chamber of Commerce beginning on Saturday, July 25. This public information program will include background about how Cross Winds was constructed and a guided tour of the wind park, which started operating in December 2014.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, highlighted the importance of federal agencies partnering with isolated communities to overcome the challenge of accessing affordable and reliable energy.

Building owners must submit energy use data through Energy Star Portfolio Manager by July 20. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability reminds commercial building owners to meet the upcoming energy benchmarking data submission deadline of Monday, July 20.

Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine is being recognized by EPA with a 2015 Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) award. CHP technology produces electricity and useful heat simultaneously from a single energy source, such as natural gas, oil, or biomass. For hospital systems and universities, CHP systems can also provide reliability benefits which ensure that these facilities’ operations can continue in the event of power outages

As part of the Energy Department’s effort to support U.S. businesses working to save money by saving energy, the Better Buildings Alliance’s Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign recognized 18 organizations for leading the way in efficient outdoor lighting today. In the past year, these organizations have committed to install efficient lighting across more than 470 million square feet of parking space – cutting energy use on average by 60 percent.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement today commending House passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 2042), introduced by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY)

Clean Power Research® (www.cleanpower.com) today launchedWattPlan™, an online software application that enables utilities to cost-effectively engage customers with highly-personalized answers to energy questions such as: “Is solar right for me?” Built on energy valuation solutions developed over the past 17 years, WattPlan incorporates newly available information such as interval data from smart meters, and innovations like rate optimization, to set a new standard for user-facing energy calculators.

Expanding on a proposal first put forward in a column earlier this year, the Center for American Progress has released an in-depth report into how Congress can pair federal resources with state, local, and private sector dollars to modernize the nation’s aging infrastructure. Known as State Future Funds, this funding mechanism can provide states and cities with the capital they need to make low-carbon and resilient energy and transportation infrastructure improvements that guard against extreme weather events connected to climate change and help reduce carbon pollution.

Consumers Energy launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near a Jackson County electric substation Monday to help determine whether the emerging technology can improve how the company serves Michigan residents

In an energy-starved country like India, there is tremendous potential for increasing the share of solar energy, as the cost of the solar panels has dropped by a whopping 60-70% during the last couple of years. Even the efficiency of the module has increased by 10-15%.This is easing the pressure on the investment for setting up a solar park infrastructure as more than half of the project cost is associated with procuring of solar PV modules. Further this is boosting the Rooftop solar PV installation, where the grid connectivity is not cost-effective

Jeffrey H. Creel, a Consumers Energy electric line worker from Bronson, was struck and killed June 22, 2012 by a passing vehicle while he investigated a downed power line near Jonesville. His death has resulted in an increased effort by his friends, family, Consumers Energy and other utility companies to educate the driving public about roadside worker safety, emphasizing the phrase “slow down and go around.”

omeowners across the United States will benefit from an innovative public-private partnership announced today to make it easier to find lower-cost loans for home energy efficiency improvements. Leading institutions from the public and private sectors today announced the formation of a national financing platform that will for the first time bring low-cost, large-scale capital to government and utility-sponsored residential energy efficiency loan programs – which can be utilized by homeowners in states that participate.