The November monthly meeting of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum brought together over 90 member representatives for an afternoon of engrossing presentations on energy efficiency, smart energy technology, and corporate sustainability.
The luncheon featured discussions on energy conservation and efficiency from Dennis McKee and Bob Joba of Consumers Energy and David Rinard from Steelcase, Inc.
WMSBF Director Daniel Schoonmaker opened the meeting with remarks on the Forum’s current benchmarks and goals for member businesses in coming months.
Schoonmaker was followed by McKee, Communications Director for the Consumers Energy Smart Energy Program. McKee focused on new developments in Consumers Energy’s power distribution hardware that will allow for greater efficiency and energy savings for both business and residential customers.

Notably, McKee highlighted the potential applications for new Smart Meters, power meters that can communicate over wireless networks, for tracking energy use more accurately across West Michigan. The information acquired from Smart Meter tracking would allow for better power production management by Consumers and also give Consumers customers the opportunity to take advantage of new efficiency incentives programs.
“The price of generating electricity, of purchasing electricity to provide it our customers reliably, that changes throughout the day,” said McKee. He continued by saying that Smart Meters will allow Consumers Energy to track times when power is used by customers, allowing Consumers to create programs that reward participating customers for using less power during high-demand periods of the day.
“This lets us use power production facilities more economically and more efficiently,” McKee said.
Continue reading here.