{"id":37011,"date":"2023-02-27T18:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T23:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=37011"},"modified":"2023-03-01T01:03:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T06:03:16","slug":"ann-arbors-big-decarbonization-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/ann-arbors-big-decarbonization-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Arbor\u2019s big decarbonization bet"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to March 2023 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
Above illustration by Melanie Lambrick<\/h5>\n

The Michigan city has ambitions to go carbon neutral, and they begin in one of its most frontline neighborhoods.<\/em><\/h3>\n

This story is part of the\u00a0<\/em>Cities + Solutions series<\/em><\/a>, which chronicles surprising and inspiring climate initiatives in communities across the U.S. through stories of cities leading the way. For more solutions stories like these, subscribe to the\u00a0<\/em>Looking Forward newsletter<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The neighborhood of Bryant sits in Ann Arbor, between the hills and valleys that surround this city in eastern Michigan. Its 262 homes are perched across from the city\u2019s largest landfill and stand on a floodplain, so residents grapple with mold, mildew, and water damage. Outdated infrastructure subjects them to high utility costs, and Interstate 94 long ago isolated the community, one of the city\u2019s most densely populated, prompting decades of neglect.<\/p>\n

More than half of the people in this frontline community identify as people of color. About the same number are renters. Three in four families, many of whom have been in the neighborhood for three generations, live in poverty. The help that does come from the government is too often offered by bureaucrats with good intentions but little idea what residents want \u2014 or need.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of programs, specifically ones that are focused on energy conservation, just get designed and brought into these communities,\u201d<\/em> says Hank Love, director of municipal and community programs at the energy equity organization\u00a0Elevate<\/a>, which\u00a0works in cities nationwide<\/a>\u00a0including Ann Arbor. \u201cPeople would say, \u2018Look at what we made for you and are going to implement,\u2019 without getting adequate input on the front end.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That dynamic began to change when Ann Arbor vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The city is beginning in Bryant, where it has enlisted residents and nonprofits to help decarbonize the entire community. Renovations to the first homes began in May 2022, funded through a state grant to repair and electrify homes, plant trees, and install solar panels.<\/p>\n

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