Great Lakes Energy

Clean Energy is a Great Lakes Commission priority as articulate in the Commission’s biennial workplan. Below is an excerpt from our biennial workplan clean energy initiative, which outlines the problem, our overall goal for the region, and the Commission’s specific objectives in this area. For a list of actual project and accomplishments in this area, please use the links in the blue bar to the left.

Problem Statement: Energy production and use have an impact on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River economy and environment, including water resources. The current national energy mix, which relies primarily on fossil fuels, is an important contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Lakes states and provinces have joined two different regional forums to address issue: the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (New York, Québec and Pennsylvania) and the Midwest Governors’ Association’s Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin). Still, there is no forum to address energy issues for the Great Lakes region as a whole. With our state-provincial membership and mandate, the Commission is uniquely positioned to bring Great Lakes states, provinces and other stakeholders together to advance clean energy with a focus on how energy issues affect the water and other natural resources of the Great Lakes Basin.

Goal: A regional energy mix that supports regional economic development in ways that can be sustained over generations without compromising the health of the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River ecosystem.

Objectives:

• With partners, explore establishment of a regional forum that will bring together Great Lakes interests to identify key regional energy issues, and collaborate in setting and advancing clean energy goals


• Pursue projects (funding and/or partnerships) to support development of information (e.g., research papers) on the impacts of energy alternatives on the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River region in general, and water resources in particular


• Facilitate the Great Lakes Wind Collaborative as a regional forum to identify and support a coordinated approach in addressing wind energy deployment and use issues in the Great Lakes


• Participate in and/or monitor clean energy forums to better inform Commission’s work in this area and engage in ongoing outreach to advise our members on emerging issues and implications for the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River

Great Lakes Energy Water Nexus Initiative
The Great Lakes Energy-Water Nexus (GLEW) Initiative will advance integration of energy and water resource decision-making and inform next generation energy development and deployment that better reflects the impacts of power generation on the Great Lakes ecosystem. The Commission is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories, Cornell University, and a host of other institutions and individuals who are leaders on the relationships between water and energy. “Many people don’t realize how much water is required to produce energy. This project will enable a better understanding of the connections between energy and water resources,” said Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, chairman of the Great Lakes Commission. More...

For more information contact Victoria Pebbles, vpebbles@glc.org