Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje's campaign signs often featured a mature, green tree. It's easy to see why he choose that look after examining his vision for making Ann Arbor a model for sustainable cities.
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Four years ago, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje built a fully functioning house entirely off the electric grid. Hieftje designed and built the house, which runs on a solar energy system, on Lake Superior with his father-in-law. It includes all the fundamentals of a normal home — a refrigerator, washer, dryer and dishwasher — and is completely self-contained. And according to Hieftje, he’s never had a single problem with it.
Hieftje’s effort to reduce his carbon footprint is just a small step compared to the enormous strides he has made for the city of Ann Arbor. In 2005, the mayor challenged the city to, by the end of 2010, obtain 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.
His plan was inspired by the windmill farms in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario, just north of the Upper Peninsula. Unfortunately, Hieftje said, Michigan doesn’t have strong enough winds to power farms of its own, but it does have two hydro-dams and a landfill gas energy system, both of which have enabled cities across the state to increase alternative energy usage.
By the end of 2009, 16 percent of the total energy used by the city of Ann Arbor — including fuel, heating, lighting and electricity — was generated from renewable sources — the equivalent of taking 400 cars off the road last year.
The number is still far from the mayor’s goal of 30 percent, though he maintains the city will still make up the 14 percent by the end of this year. “We’re going to do it,” he says when asked about making the target.
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