Written by Jasmeher Singh
When you think about the first carbon neutral neighborhood in the country, you might not expect to find that one of our very own Ann Arbor neighborhoods is doing just that. Bryant neighborhood, located in Southeast Ann Arbor, has pledged to be completely carbon neutral in the next 2-3 years. They plan to implement this goal through geo-thermal energy. The Director of Community Action Network (CAN), who also directs this sustainability project, tells me that he plans on following Germany’s model of using geothermal energy. First, though, he wants to focus on using renewable energy that we are already familiar with to create a more sustainable neighborhood.
Solar energy, a form of renewable energy that has been used frequently in recent years, has been implemented greatly into the Bryant neighborhood. Bryant Community Center along with all of the other CAN community sites have solar panels installed covering their rooftops. In particular, the Bryant Community Center uses solar microgrids which are “small-scale power systems that self-supply and have islanding capability, which can generate, distribute, and regulate the flow of electricity to local customers.”(Hirshberg et.al, 1973). Essentially, this means that they provide power and energy to the areas surrounding it while not using non-renewable resources. This sustainable energy also helps the residents of Bryant when the main grid shuts down due to snowstorms. While snow can cover solar panels reducing the amount of energy that is generated, most of it slides off and the solar microgrid can act as backup power. During the winter, many people take advantage of the solar microgrid and may stay inside the Bryant Community Center to absorb the heat or get the necessities they need.
In addition to the solar microgrid being implemented into the Bryant Community Center, most homes in the Bryant neighborhood have solar panels. A couple of years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible but with grant funding and free energy assessments from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a lot of work is being done to make Bryant neighborhood sustainable. The city of Ann Arbor is also collaborating with the CAN director to create this model of sustainability for other Ann Arbor neighborhoods to follow, as the city hopes to become carbon neutral by 2030 (Stanton, 2021). To achieve this goal, the Bryant community needs to make significant changes in their sustainability efforts as most households in this area are energy-cost burdened.
The amount of money that residents pay for energy is much higher than it should be and a lot of this comes from historical racial initiatives that have caused harm to the neighborhood. By doing free energy assessments and implementing solar panels for a cheaper price, CAN and Bryant are hoping that more residents will join this program to help Bryant neighborhood decarbonize and become a more equitable area. Additionally, they hope that residents will take part in this initiative and try to help find solutions that will make energy more affordable but also renewable in the area. Krystal Stewer, the Director of Community Outreach, lives in the Bryant neighborhood and she says that “the goal is to get people to understand what the program is about and how it can be beneficial to them in the long run” (Stanton, 2021).
Bryant neighborhood is also hoping to be district geothermal. District geothermal systems are designed for communities and they provide heating and cooling through underground pipes. While each individual house has a geothermal pump, all of these pumps are connected to this large loop that allows for the transfer of heat and cooling within homes. This system will be much more efficient as this form of heating will reduce the amount of fossil fuels gas heating systems and will be more long lasting in the long run. Because of this grant, each individual geothermal pump will be a lot cheaper than using non-renewable energy. Bryant is hoping that with the additional funding coming in October of 2024, they will be able to implement this underground system (“Benefits of Geothermal Heating and Cooling”, n.d.).
Geothermal energy was first used on a wide scope in Germany. Places such as the North German Basin, Molasse Basin, and the Upper Rhine Graben were areas where there were large installations of geothermal energy projects. Most places across Germany continue to use geothermal energy in housing as it’s considered to be an efficient form of renewable energy. Interestingly enough, Germany has also implemented large geothermal power plants and the general conception of them is negative. A lot of the people in Germany are against drilling that occurs on a large scale when creating these geothermal power plants and others are concerned about the cost (Zaunbrecher et. al, 2018). Still, after looking at viable solutions to make Bryant decarbonized, Derrick Miller told me that geothermal solutions were the best alternative. In Michigan where flooding does occur, Miller says that geothermal energy won’t lead to groundwater contamination if they build the infrastructure properly. He assures me that while using Germany as a model for geothermal energy, he along with his team will be looking for more advantageous ways to adopt geothermal energy into Ann Arbor’s neighborhoods.
Sustainability in housing has many advantages no matter what kind of renewable energy source you are using. Both solar energy and geothermal energy will be reducing the cost of Bryant’s energy bill and will be raising housing costs in the area. If the housing market is positively affected, then the surrounding areas may also improve as well. Other advantages that sustainable houses provide are health benefits as using renewable energy can lead to less air contamination for residents. In the long-term, housing costs may also go down which would be helpful not only to the residents of Ann Arbor but also students who reside here and attend the University of Michigan. Being aware of these carbon neutral efforts will be important because it will change what Ann Arbor looks like today.
References
Amin Khodaei, & Arabnya, A. (2023). Fundamentals of Microgrids. 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394162482.ch1
Barriers to the widespread utilization of residential solar energy : the prospects for solar energy in the U.S. housing industry / Alan Hirshberg and Richard … (2023). HathiTrust. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822025782673&seq=3
Community Action Network – Bryant Community Center. (2022). Can washtenaw. https://www.canwashtenaw.org/bryant
Geothermal Heating and Cooling. (2024). A2gov.org. https://www.a2gov.org/departments/sustainability/Sustainability-Me/Families-Individuals/Pages/Geothermal.aspx
Projects, C. to W. (2025, February 1). Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Stanton, R. (2021, December 22). Ann Arbor aims to make Bryant neighborhood carbon-neutral in 5 years. Mlive. https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/12/ann-arbor-aims-to-make-bryant-neighborhood-carbon-neutral-in-5-years.html
Zaunbrecher, B. S., Kluge, J., Ziefle, M., Exploring Mental Models of Geothermal Energy among Laypeople in Germany as Hidden Drivers for Acceptance, J. sustain. dev. energy water environ. syst., 6(3), pp 446-463, 2018, https://doi.org/10.13044/j.sdewes.d5.0192