HOLLAND, Mich. — At a meeting of the Holland City Strategic Development Team on Wednesday, Oct. 8, staff reviewed progress toward the Community Energy Plan’s building-energy targets and outlined incentives and outreach to speed electrification of space and water heating, business equipment and small engines.

“Building energy consumption as you saw in the packet is one of the largest levers we have in the CEP,” said Andrew Reynolds, who led the presentation for city staff. He reviewed how the utility and building datasets feed the plan and the limits of different approaches to reducing carbon from buildings.

The committee heard that reaching the plan’s headline goals will require multiple strategies per building rather than single fixes. Staff summarized the targets that the 2021 plan set and the group discussed how those translate into measurable results: a roughly 20% reduction in building-related carbon by 2030; a 10% reduction in electricity (kWh) from 2020 levels; a 15% reduction in natural gas (therms) from 2020 levels; and a goal to convert about 5% of natural-gas energy use in buildings to electric supply by 2030. Reynolds noted that those outcomes depend on three variables: total energy use (kWh and therms), the emission factor for electricity, and whether customers claim renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Staff showed regional benchmarking data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s commercial building survey (CBECS) and explained limits of the local datasets. Gas consumption in a given year is strongly affected by weather swings: staff displayed heating-degree-day data to show why natural-gas use varies sharply from year to year and cautioned that weather can mask efficiency gains.

On program delivery, staff described the Board of Public Works’ (BPW) “beneficial electrification” incentives launched since 2021. The incentives include enhanced rebates for customers who complete the city’s Home Energy 101 assessment; participants who go through that process receive higher rebates for heat pumps, heat-pump water heaters and other electrification measures. Reynolds said the BPW has tracked incentive payments but cannot yet quantify the full share of customers who have converted from gas to electric without rebates, because permit and third-party data are incomplete.

The committee discussed available adoption data: staff reported that about 5% of residents who completed the Home Energy 101 program have installed heat pumps, a share higher than the rough statewide figure staff cited of about 1%, but staff said the total number of homes with heat pumps in Holland city limits is “not specified” in the datasets used.

Members urged stronger contractor outreach and easier paperwork to raise uptake. Committee members and staff noted local contractor familiarity is uneven — HVAC contractors sell and install heat pumps more smoothly than water‑heater specialists, for example — and said targeted contractor engagement, simple forms and clearer rebate caps could improve participation.

The committee also discussed financing options to reduce the upfront cost barrier for businesses. Staff said Ottawa County has a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) district in place and that green revolving funds (used by some colleges and hospitals) are another model; attendees suggested exploring whether the BPW or local economic-development partners could offer easier point-of-sale financing or feasibility-study grants to accelerate industrial electrification projects.

On regulatory context, Reynolds noted a recent state energy law change that restored energy-waste-reduction (EWR) requirements for municipal utilities and allows some municipal utilities to claim net kilowatt-hour savings for electrification measures by accounting for the differential between former gas use and new electric consumption. Staff said that beginning in calendar year 2026 many of the EWR reporting and target rules will align with the state’s requirement of about 1.5% of annual sales saved through efficiency, and that the BPW previously set an internal target of about 2%.

Other items discussed included a possible local recognition program to reward businesses that meet local efficiency or carbon-performance thresholds, and whether the committee should pursue energy-disclosure requirements for sold or rented buildings. Several members said disclosure rules can be legally and competitively complicated and recommended pursuing voluntary recognition and reporting first.

Staff did not present or pursue any formal motions or regulatory changes at the meeting; members asked staff to return with refined action steps. Reynolds said staff will prepare a revised set of possible action items and bring them back for a December meeting. The committee also noted the Home Energy Expo is scheduled for Nov. 12 and invited members to use that event to see outreach in action.

The Strategic Development Team will continue discussion of transportation and education goals at upcoming meetings and planned to schedule carbon-offset conversation for a later date.