Four Michigan small cities rank among the top 10 of their peers nationally for energy efficiency based on the number of buildings saving electricity, costs and greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week.

As a global pandemic began to hit West Michigan, executives around the region stepped up to lead their organizations and their employees through the time of crisis. 

Michigan’s two major investor-owned utilities are taking divergent paths when it comes to building new energy projects as the state escalates actions to contain the coronavirus.

Consumers Energy President and CEO Patti Poppe announced this morning she and her husband have made a $1 million personal donation to a new fund supporting small businesses in Jackson, where the utility is headquartered.

Jackson-based Consumers Energy says it will suspend shutoffs for non-pay for seniors and low-income customers starting today until April 5, citing “unprecedented circumstances” surrounding the spread of coronavirus.

Developers are finalizing the decommissioning of the former B.C. Cobb coal plant in Muskegon as the 115-acre site assumes new ownership and a sole focus as a port terminal facility.

Michigan’s two major investor-owned utilities remain opposed to a series of bills that supporters say are needed to grow the state’s nascent solar industry.

The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved plans to expand energy efficiency programs for low-income customers of the state’s two major utilities.

Consumers Energy has upped the ante on its own long-term clean energy plan, announcing in late February it expects to hit net-zero carbon emissions for its electricity portfolio by 2040 as part of its climate change efforts.

GRAND HAVEN — The J.B. Sims power plant in Grand Haven burned its last supply of coal this month, but local officials are still debating plans for the city’s long-term energy portfolio.