Fast Company | Fastco Works, February 11, 2025
When it comes to issues surrounding climate change, people often fall into two camps: the doomers and the gloomers. In Michigan, however, leaders are working diligently to create a third pathway: optimists. In 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Clean Energy & Jobs Act, a bipartisan legislative package designed to keep Michigan at the forefront of new clean energy technology by lowering utility costs, creating more than 160,000 jobs, and securing nearly $8 billion in federal funds for clean energy projects. It’s a grand vision to make Michigan a state that not only reduces the impact of climate change on people but also offers robust business opportunities for companies combating the climate crisis.
The centerpiece of the Clean Energy & Jobs Act is Governor Whitmer’s 2040 goal of having Michigan’s energy production entirely generated by clean sources. It’s an ambitious vision, but one the state is well prepared for. Michigan has America’s fastest-growing clean energy job sector, growing at twice the national employment growth rate. Clean energy’s economic role in the region is vital: the industry added more than 4% of jobs in 2023, growing four times faster than Michigan’s overall economy.
The Clean Energy & Jobs Act is a multifaceted set of bills, and one of its notable pieces is a concerted effort to ease the approval of permits required to undertake large-scale energy projects. The state has implemented a process to ensure that projects such as 50- to 100-megawatt solar farms can be built. Kara Cook, Michigan’s first-ever chief climate officer, says the state introduced a 90-day “shot clock” for local governments to provide appropriate input, an expedited time frame designed to keep things moving.
“A lot of these projects languished for far too long, making it hard for businesses to be confident that their investments were going to move forward,” Cook says. “It was [difficult] for our energy planners and utilities companies to know they could build the cheapest, most affordable energy option for all Michiganders.”
A CLEAN FUTURE IS A BRIGHT FUTURE
Climate change is rapidly becoming a front-and-center issue in the corporate sector. In a survey of 300 senior executives conducted by MIT Technology Review Insights in conjunction with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), 100% of respondents said climate change was a current factor in their decision-making. Meanwhile, 71% of executives highlighted the availability of climate-planning resources as among their top criteria in determining a new site for their business, while 64% also cited the importance of a location’s access to critical natural resources.
71% of executives
want climate-planning resources
64% of executives
want access to critical natural resources
“Our goal for the
—Scott Thomsen. CEO, LuxWall
new plant is to hire 50% of workers who have a Detroit zip code. The quality of workers in Michigan is something that isn’t talked about enough.”
Michigan’s clean energy efforts are an increasingly vital part of the state’s economy; such efforts factored into energy-efficient window manufacturer LuxWall’s decision when choosing its new headquarters. The company considered seven Midwest states before deciding on Ypsilanti, Michigan, citing factors such as R&D potential, tax and other financial credits, weather resilience, and resource availability. “We use—and try to reuse—quite a bit of water for our process, but some places didn’t have the infrastructure to handle the daily discharge,” says LuxWall CEO Scott Thomsen. “But for us, the most important factor is grid resilience because we use a tremendous amount of power to run our glass ovens.”
LuxWall manufactures high-performance windows that can be easily fitted into existing frames. Vacuum-sealed and double-paned, they can retain heat four times more effectively than single-paned windows. The company recently opened a manufacturing plant in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood, bringing nearly 300 high-paying jobs to an area desperate for new investment. Thomsen says the robust training programs provided by groups like Michigan Works and LIFT Technology also set Michigan apart. “Our goal for the new plant is to hire 50% of workers who have a Detroit zip code,” he says. “The quality of workers in Michigan is something that isn’t talked about enough.”
To keep the workforce flowing, the MEDC relies on its signature Talent Action Team program, which streamlines the path from educational institutions to the job market. In the past year, the MEDC has issued more than $30 million in higher-education grants and connected and trained more than 2,600 people for well-paying, high-tech roles with major Michigan employers.
“We’re already seeing real upticks in solar and hydrogen employment by intentionally creating pipeline programs for our students to connect to these new careers,” says Hilary Doe, Michigan’s chief growth officer with the MEDC. “You’d be surprised by the reaction I get when folks hear that Michigan is the number-one state for hydrogen investments or we’re the number-one state for Inflation Reduction Act-backed clean energy projects. If you are a young person who wants to do purpose-driven work and fight the climate crisis, you should come to Michigan.”
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