PAST PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS
- MSU Executive MBA Social Impact Project
Michigan State University happens to sit across the street from our East Lansing Office and our nonprofit has had a long, mutually beneficial relationship with this premier research institution. From employing MSU graduates and interns at MEO to collaborating on ambitious projects to create regional sustainability, Michigan State has been a critical resource for a nonprofit with limited resources. MEO is currently benefiting from a team of MSU Executive MBAs, who have selected us to be the focus of their “social impact” project for the next couple years. Together, we are examining ways a nonprofit can harness best business practices to be more effective at creating social good.
MEO Contact: John Kinch
- Consumers Energy 'Energy Savers' Pilot
Launched in 2014, this innovative pilot focuses on helping owners of affordable multifamily housing make deeper energy efficiency upgrades to their properties to improve their bottom line and the quality of life for their tenants. Too often, in the rental-housing sector, neither the property owner nor the tenant is motivated to make energy efficiency investments because the incentive is “split” between them. Partnering with MEO are Elevate Energy, which pioneered this program in Chicago, Consumers Energy and CleaResult.
MEO Contact: Brandon Malaski
- Green and Healthy Homes Initiative
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) is dedicated to breaking the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy children. GHHI replaces stand-alone housing intervention programs with an integrated, whole-house approach that produces sustainable green, healthy and safe homes. As a result, we are improving health, economic and social outcomes for families across the country. In 2014, Lansing became one of 40 current locations across the country. Lansing’s GHHI is a pilot and will address a modest number of homes in 2015 with the intention of growing the program from there.
This pilot includes many partners, a few of which are: the City of Lansing, Public Sector Consultants, the Michigan Department of Community Health, Sparrow Hospital, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
MEO Contact: Brandon Malaski
More on GHHI Lansing and GHHI National.
- Mid-Michigan Energy Study
A region-wide study of energy usage with
recommendations for greater energy efficiencyHow much energy is consumed in buildings in the Mid-Michigan Region and is this energy used efficiently? And why does this matter to the economic, social and environmental future of this region? MEO’s study attempts to answer these questions and more.
This study provides a comprehensive portrait of energy usage in the built environment in the Michigan counties of Ingham, Eaton and Clinton with particular focus on a 20-mile transportation corridor between downtown Lansing and the village of Webberville.
The intention of this study, as with others like it across the country, is to gather, or “aggregate,” all the energy consumption (primarily sourced from electricity and natural gas) in a single year— in our case, 2012. That total then becomes the “baseline” from which the region can measure future annual consumption patterns whether these are steady, increasing or decreasing.The study includes data sources, references, methodology, recommendations and conclusions.
*Download and read the FULL REPORT.*Download and read the ABRIDGED REPORT.Online Regional Energy Planning Tool
This companion project to our study allows decisions makers and stakeholders to model different future energy scenarios, taking into account changing economic growth and demographics, among other categories, over the decades to come.This tool, we believe, is extremely useful to comprehensive Regional (Community) Energy Planning.
Our study and tool were made possible, in part, from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “Sustainable Regional Planning” grant, as well as local matching support. The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission administered the grant from 2012-2015.
MEO Contact: Henry Love