Business leaders gather to discuss Michigan's sustainable future

Rapid Growth's Tom Leonard visits the Southeast Michigan Sustainable Forum's annual conference -- and comes back with a report about a variety of directions business leaders are headed.

Excerpt:

Jim Croce, executive director of NextEnergy, Inc., was asked if he was happy with results of the state's 21^st Century Jobs Fund, Governor Granholm’s program to direct state spending towards knowledge-based industries. Is there too much concentration on life sciences and automotive technology, one audience member wondered? Croce said the state needs tighter focus as it invests to help modernize the economy.

"It’s too diluted right now," Croce said of the state's new economic development program. "It must be deliberate and focused. Pick one or two things." His overall assessment of Michigan’s investment in alternative energy: "Fair."

I’m with Croce. I’d like to see more vision and focus from state leaders and spending programs, especially when it comes to wind and solar power. But I’m afraid that political choices will tend to rule the public awards and subsidies. And, if we throw Michigan taxpayer dollars into such politically popular red herrings as corn ethanol or clean coal, what will we have to show for it in twenty years? My hunch is "not much."

Read the entire article here.