LANSING ? The Small Business Association of Michigan has won a $150,000 three-year grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to replicate SBAM?s faith-based and small business energy savings program in five other states.
The energy savings program is based on SBAM?s collaboration with Rev. Charles Morris of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Wyandotte to form Michigan Interfaith Power and Light LLC (MiIPL). MiIPL helps congregations in Michigan lower their energy costs by purchasing ENERGY STAR certified energy efficient products from Michigan small businesses.
Jerry Lawson, Director of the EPA ENERGY STAR Congregations and Small Business Program, says that the SBAM ? MiIPL project is one of the two or three leading national models.
?The SBAM ? MiIPL project not only helps reduce energy costs in the state ? thus freeing up capital for more productive uses ? but it also stimulates the creation, retention, expansion and attraction of new energy-related businesses in the state,? said Mark Clevey, SBAM?s Vice President, Entrepreneurial Development Center. ?These businesses, in turn, create jobs and economic development. This combination makes the project a good candidate for national replication.?
