THURSDAY, Sept. 5 — U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow pulled up to a home solar energy ribbon-cutting event in East Lansing’s Bailey Neighborhood this morning in her Lake Orion-made Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle.
The occasion was intended to highlight the efforts of Ann and George Siegle, East Lansing residents who outfitted their home with solar panels last year through tax credits tied to the Inflation Reduction Act.
Stabenow touted the program's benefits, including billions of dollars in tax credits for electric vehicles and chargers, heat pumps and water heaters, and other home weatherization efforts.
“This is very exciting, because it's a very real, tangible way that you can see where a collection of ideas and policies are really making a change and going to really help us tackle the climate crisis,” Stabenow said.
She applauded the Siegles’ efforts to do their part to move away from fossil fuel energy consumption.
“The climate crisis is all around us,” Stabenow said. “Whether it’s storms that appear quicker than ever before, or tornadoes we’ve never had in Michigan that are now actually destroying homes and neighborhoods, or flooding in the streets and basements because our water and sewer systems can’t handle how quickly this water is coming down or the fact that the Great Lakes are now warming faster than the oceans.”
Stabenow noted that the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, initiated policies that “are putting us on track to cut emissions by 40% in the next five years.” Michigan is a leader in that sector, she said.
“We have the largest number of new clean energy projects in the country and one of the largest number of projects in low-income communities, which is very, very important. And just in Michigan alone, we have about $27 billion in clean energy investment coming in.”
So far, the Biden administration measure and other climate efforts have led to 62 major projects and created 22,000 jobs in Michigan, Stabenow said. She noted that the 30% tax credit that the Siegles utilized for solar installation is one route Michiganders can take to help bolster that campaign.
State Sen. Sam Singh and state Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, both East Lansing Democrats, also attended the event.
“When Penelope and myself got elected a year and a half ago,” Singh said, “we talked about clean energy being one of the principles that we wanted to have with our democratic trifecta in Lansing. I was pleased that, by the end of the fall, we were able to pass legislation that got signed by Governor Whitmer that moved Michigan towards 100% clean energy by 2040.”
“One of the key components of that, obviously, was making sure that our communities — whether they are in homes like this here in East Lansing, but also in rental properties, in apartments and so forth — have an opportunity to put solar in,” he added.
Tsernoglou said East Lansing residents have been quick to “get on board with renewable energy.”
“We're a smart and progressive community, and we're stepping up to do our part to reverse the negative impact of climate change and create a better future for our community and our state. With a very green university in our backyard, we take pride in maintaining a clean and energy-efficient environment for everyone and are especially proud of our success in passing the clean energy future package and setting attainable goals for getting Michigan to net zero,” Tsernoglou said.
Ann Siegle said she and her husband decided to install their solar panels “for our kids’ future, for Michigan’s future and for the future of our country and planet.” It also happened to cut their bills “in half.”
“We knew that with the federal credit we had an opportunity to do something we couldn’t otherwise afford. For our particular system, which is 9.25 kilowatt hours and 104% of what we actually use in our home, we invested $26,000. We got $8,500 from the federal tax credit and $2,000 from the Board of Water and Light,” Siegle said.
Those gains have been instrumental, she said.
“We run a lot of power. We both work from home and have two kids who are connected to multiple devices when they get home,” she explained.
When her family needs to replace the water heater and other home systems, Siegle said they’ll utilize similar tax credits to install climate-friendly machinery.
Stabenow, 74, retiring from the Senate after her term ends Jan. 3, said she has seen the green movement grow immensely. She purchased her electric car three years ago.
“This is an important day to celebrate one important way that we're saving money and tackling the climate crisis,” Stabenow said. “But we’re just getting started.”
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