Polar Bear Sustainable Energy Cooperative Can Help You Take Control of Your Energy Future

Polar Bear Sustainable Energy Cooperative Logo

Are you interested in energy independence, democratic self determination, and renewable energy? Do you want to lower your energy bills, cut carbon monoxide in your home, and slow the climate crisis? Then you might want to join Polar Bear Sustainable Energy Cooperative.

PBSE, as members describe the group, is a cooperative of homeowners in Highland Park, Detroit and Hamtramck. They have joined together to find solutions to bring their homes into the 21st century through energy efficiency, weatherization, and renewable energy. PBSE will be hiring a General Manager very soon to lead the cooperative if you or someone you know is looking for work.

The idea to start an energy cooperative emerged at a participatory budgeting meeting of Soulardarity. Each year Soulardarity sets aside a portion of program funding for members to decide how to spend. At the end of 2017 members voted to start an energy cooperative. A steering committee soon began, led by Soulardarity staffer Maria Martin-Thomas, to learn how to make it happen.

It did not take long to identify some of the problems and barriers to starting an energy cooperative. We own older homes that are expensive to maintain. We own gas appliances that contribute directly to climate change and are subject to price increases. It is hard to find reliable contractors willing to work on our homes. The cost of construction has been increasing more than inflation for a decade. Investor-owned utilities have a stranglehold on state government that reduces the benefits of producing your own energy and makes solutions common in other states illegal in Michigan.

Soulardarity and the steering committee lined up many resources to help PBSE become the independent organization it is today. They used the NAACP resource guide to starting community-owned energy projects to plan their work. They worked with the University of Michigan Community Enterprise Law Clinic to put together the cooperative corporation. The Ford Foundation funded a feasibility study done by The Cooperation Group. The feasibility study ruled out community solar, the first choice of the steering committee, because of legal barriers at the State. Solar panels on each member’s home were challenging because federal incentives are only available to people who had significant income tax liability. The steering committee settled on weatherization as a business model with an option for solar generation and developed a plan to weatherize four homes in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck as a pilot project.

PBSE formed as a cooperative in 2021. In 2022 Soulardarity raised funds from the Equitable Beneficial Electrification (EBE) Fund and Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition. The growing climate crisis has focused philanthropy as well as federal resources on supporting projects like ours that increase equity in communities like HP and Detroit. The funds raised were not enough to complete the pilot project in 2021. For 2023 the EBE Fund came through with enough money to hire a General Manager and enable completion of the pilot project this year.

The tide is turning in Michigan and the United States. The 117th Congress and Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. It provides more equitable incentives for solar power and slows the climate crisis with a focus on helping communities harmed by pollution and disinvestment. Soulardarity is leading a charge at the state level to make community-owned solar projects legal in Michigan. PBSE is well positioned to assist you to take control of your energy future, improve your home, and do your part to slow the climate crisis. Send an email to membership@pbse.coop to learn about how to join.

You can check out Polar Bear's facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Polar.Bear.Sustainable.Energy/. The job announcement for a General Manager can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Polar.Bear.Sustainable.Energy/