CERTs Monthly Update - December 2008

Hello CERT members and friends, and welcome to the December 2008 edition of our Monthly Update!

 
We have a lot of exciting things happening at the beginning of 2009:

Our CERTs Conference is coming up February 10-11th—Don’t forget to register! Learn more >>

We’re still accepting submissions to our Clean + Green Video Shorts Contest! Learn more >>

We have around thirty CERTs-funded projects submitting their final reports so we can share their stories with all of you as case studies! Learn more >>

And finally, we’re really excited to have 101 schools across Minnesota participating in the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program! With roughly 35 schools from the metro and 65 from greater Minnesota, we’re going to have a great time working with students, teachers, and school administrators across the state to save energy and reduce their carbon footprints! Learn more >>

Regional Highlights & Activities

Statewide

 
Register today for the CERTs 2009 Conference: You won’t want to miss the Third Biennial Statewide CERTs Conference, Harnessing Resources & Teamwork for Minnesota’s Energy Future, February 10-11, 2009 in St. Cloud. Click here to learn more >>

M-RETs: Anyone wanting to sell Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in the Midwest now goes through the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System (M-RETs). There is a bulletin board tool within M-RETs for people looking to buy or sell RECs. For a listing of REC brokers, visit the DOE website.

Science Magazine Tilman Article: Science Magazine’s article about U of M Professor Dave Tilman’s work around biomass and perennials can be found here.

IREE E3 Presentations: Presentations made at the University of Minnesota’s 2008 Energy, Economic, and Environmental Conference are now posted on the UMN website.

As of December 9th, The Minnesota Solar Electric Rebate Program is fully reserved: A waiting list has been established. Please see www.dsireusa.org for a list of other possible incentives for solar. The Office of Energy Security will continue to review applications on behalf of applicants whose utilities offer a solar rebate program, including those in Minnesota Power and Great River Energy service territories.

UofM releases national biomass study. Click here to learn more.

Maine Rural Partners praises CERTs: OK, so it isn’t inside the state, but the Maine Rural Partners recently honored their 2008 Partners of the Year, including Tanya Swain with the Western Mountains Alliance; Tanya connected CERTs to Maine for a three-day information sharing trip. Maine Rural Partners says, “The CERTs model is an inspiration of what a modest investment in technical assistance can deliver and we have sought to emulate their work as we implement our program.”

Central Region

 
Klobuchar visits HUG & RREAL: Senator Amy Klobuchar stopped in Pine River to visit RREAL and the HUG campus during her “Main Street Jobs” tour throughout Minnesota last week. Klobuchar is focusing on job creation with infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Brita Sailer joined Amy on campus, Brita has been very involved with the frustrations RREAL (www.rreal.org) has experienced in efforts to get their solar panel certified. Click here to learn more, or read the Bemidji Pioneer article by clicking here.

Klobuchar gives UMN Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering a 2008 Carbon Buster Award: In other Senator Klobuchar/Central Region news, in a reception Thursday, Dec. 18 at the University of Minnesota, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Senator Amy Klobuchar presented a 2008 Carbon Buster Award of Excellence to ECE’s Applied Environmental Solutions (AES) team (Professor Paul Imbertson, advisor) for their work to refurbish a 1970s electric car. ECE students Steve Peichel and Adam Malovrh, AES president and vice president, respectively, spoke briefly and presented their winning video to an audience of nearly 50 faculty, staff and visitors. This is a CERT-funded project working with AES and Wild Rose Farms, with the goal of delivering organic produce to farmers markets with an all-electric car.

Minnesota North Woods Carbon Credit Partnership: The Aitkin and Cass County Land Departments are collaborating with Minneapolis-based Dovetail Partners and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences to explore ecosystem service markets for northern Minnesota. Recognizing the importance of responsibly managed forests and the potential to market the resulting benefits, this project will explore carbon storage in trees and other vegetation (carbon sequestration), water quality improvements, habitat for wildlife, recreation and other opportunities. Learn more here.

CERTs Featured in Green Your Home Book: CERTs featured in recent book: “Green Your Home: The Complete Guide to Making Your New or Existing Home Environmentally Healthy” written by Jeanne Roberts has several case studies focusing on RREAL’s work in the Central Region. Central CERT steering committee member and journalist Rin Porter has a byline, and CERT staff Joel Haskard as well as the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships are credited for their help several times (also NE CERT member Dean Talbott from Minnesota Power has a nice piece about energy-efficient windows). To get a snap shot of the great work citizens across the state are doing, click here to browse our case studies.

Metro Region

 
Better Place: Better Place came to St. Paul to advise on electric cars. Hear the full story at MPR.

Longfellow, Minneapolis One-Stop Community Energy Services Pilot Project: On December 3rd , Metro CERTs participated in a feedback session with some of the participants of the Longfellow residential energy pilot project. Residents met in groups and shared their experiences, challenges, successes and offered suggestions for improving the program. We also had a potluck and holiday light trade in for new LED lights.

City of Oakdale One-Stop Community Energy Services Pilot Project: On December 15th, Metro CERTs staff presented at the December meeting of the Oakdale Environmental Management Commission about CERTs and some of the projects that we are working on. We discussed opportunities to work together in the future to provide more opportunities for residents of Oakdale to reduce their energy use and create clean energy. The City of Oakdale also participated in the pilot project.

Dunwoody Residential Energy Auditor Training: The week of December 8-12 two of our CERTs staff (Diana McKeown and Nancy Kelly) took the new residential energy auditor training at Dunwoody. We hope to use the skills that we learned to help communities embark on projects to reduce home energy use. Nancy has been working to create a user friendly tool to evaluate home energy use to look for opportunities for savings.

Excelsior Business Discovers Benefits of Going Green: Read the full article at the Star Tribune or visit Up on Green’s Web site.

Biomass Energy at Rahr Malting: The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Rahr Malting formed the Koda Energy joint partnership in 2006 to build and operate an innovative combined heat and power plant. Learn more on their Web site by clicking here, see how the U of M is helping with the project by clicking here, and see the 2006 CERTs case study on the project by clicking here.

Northeast Region

 
Flambeau River Biofuels Press Forward: Park Falls, WI Creditors who rescued Flambeau River Papers after falling into bankruptcy in 2006 due to natural gas and coal prices, have moved forward with a $300 million plan producing “green” industrial products. With a new pellet plant fueled by sawmill residue and other waste wood; operators intend to produce steam and electricity for papermaking from the woody biomass. “We’ve already reduced fossil fuel dependence by 33 percent. We’re funded for another 33 percent and we’re going to get to 100 percent,” Paper’s president Robert Byrne said mid-October. The startup of the wood pellet plant not only has “green” benefits, it also rehired approximately 300 union employees represented by the United Steelworkers of America. The entire article can be found here.

Northeast Higher Education District Sustainability Conference: 60% of Minnesota’s undergraduate students are educated through the 32 colleges (53 campuses) of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In November 2008, teams from five community colleges (Rainy River, Hibbing, Itasca, Vermillion and Mesabi Range) met to share successful actions they have taken to advance more sustainable practices on campus, and to explore opportunities for working together. Teams included faculty, students, administrators and operational personnel. Topics included curriculum, re-purposing facilities space to cut costs and improve student life (more here), distance learning, native landscaping, geothermal heating, renewable energy training, a four-day work week and “trayless Tuesdays.”

Sustainable Twin Ports: This citizen group promotes the principles and practices of sustainability in Duluth, Superior, WI and Western Lake Superior, using the Natural Step principles to develop a shared understanding of sustainability within organizations and among citizens. The group began as a study circle in April 2005, following a workshop with co-authors of the book that was studied, The Natural Step for Communities by Torbjorn Lahti and Sarah James (more here). With the support of Duluth Mayor Don Ness, Sustainble Twin Ports aims to show the community by example that it is possible and economically advantageous to increase sustainability using The Natural Step framework. Visit their Web site to learn more.

The NE Coordinator, Bill Mittlefehldt: Ready, set, GO! Bill met with the staff coordinator for the Cook County Local Energy Project. They are working with a variety of community teams to investigate the possible applications of efficiency, wind, biomass and transportation. Bill provided support for the Silver Bay Eco-Industrial Park Team, attempting to clarify lines of communication and responsibility as the project attracts outside interest. This team has submitted an MPCA grant to research the feasibility of an Eco-Industrial Park. Tim Nolan from MPCA has provided additional guidance to the Silver Bay team. Bill has been working with EAGLE to plan the 350 Event and the Living Green Conference in February of 2009 at Lake Superior College. He has begun elaborating the storyboard for the Twin Ports Interfaith Initiative on Global Warming, and has connected a number of schools with the MN Schools Cutting Carbon program; eleven schools in the Northeast Region will participate. Bill is working with Community GIS, a regional non-profit, to develop a visual tool for accelerating learning about efficiency and energy applications. The Community GIS team is led by Chad Nelson and Tony Kroska who have applied for a Google Geo-Challenge Grant to combat climate deterioration.

Northwest Region

 
Wind Energy Forum offers Bemidji-area Landowners Information: Read the article here.. To see presentation of similar landowner forums, please click here.

Southeast Region

 
Hastings home to nation’s first hydrokinetic power station. Listen to the full story at MPR.

Juhl Wind Announces 2 MW Project with Winona County: WOODSTOCK, Minn., Dec 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE—Juhl Wind Inc today announced that it recently entered into a development agreement with Winona County Minnesota to design and build a 2 MW wind system planned to be cited near Altura, MN. The project will cost approximately $3.6 million and is planned to be completed by the end of the second quarter, 2009. Read the full article.

Mower County deals with increased turbine revenue: Local leaders have mixed feelings about tax revenues from Mower County’s growing wind- energy farms. County leaders are looking at a lower increase in the proposed 2009 tax levy because the county will get more than twice the amount of wind-energy production tax revenues than projected in September.

Winona SWCD: Hey, how about that Winona Soil and Water Conservation District! We know Tim Terrill and their work with Pork & Plants as they plant mixed grasses to be used for biomass. But did you know Marlow Meilke won the 2007 Area 7 District Employee Award for his work in placing land into conservation easement programs? Or that Daryl Buck won the 2008 Outstanding District Employee Award, citing his outstanding work during the flood? Or that the Winona SWCD won the National Association of Conservation Districts National Award-Whoa, it’s a GRAND SLAM!

Congressman Tim Walz held a Southern Minnesota Federal Grants Workshop December 3rd in Rochester: CERTs Co-Coordinator Joel Haskard spoke on a panel about energizing Communities through alternative energy. Panelists included Cathy Iverson with the DOE, Lisa Noty with USDA, and Jeremy DeFiebre with the Minnesota Office of Energy Security; Dr. John Frey was the moderator.

Southwest Region

 
Students learn how to build green in Pipestone: An on-site building project on the Pipestone campus of Minnesota West Community and Technical College is teaching carpentry, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning students many green building techniques that can contribute to energy efficiency and conservation. Features in the house will include foam-insulated concrete walls, energy efficient windows, a tankless water heater, zoned in-floor heating, an air heat recovery system with a high-velocity air conditioner and high efficiency baseboard heat. Learn more here.

Fulda Lighting Retrofit a Success: An article in the Fulda Free Press found that the lighting that was installed in the high school gymnasium is saving 32,100 KWH per year. The total project cost was $10,963.67 minus $4,044.30 in an all-lights rebate from Alliant Energy. End cost to the district was $6,919.37. Read more here.

The City of New Ulm has amended their ordinance that regulates outdoor, hydronic furnaces: Typically a boiler, that transfers heated water into the home through a pipe system that can use wood, corn, etc… to accomplish this. The ordinance amendment helps clarify which furnaces need replacing due to air pollution issues. Basically, the furnaces are to be operated in accordance with manufacturer’s rules and EPA “Best Burn Practices.”

West Central Region

 
Congratulations West Central CERT for winning the 2008 Energy Challenge between the regional CERTs! Learn more here.

Meadow Star Dairy seeks tax exempt bonds through Kandiyohi County: Developer’s of Meadow Start Dairy, the future 9,590 head dairy operation in Kandiyohi County are seeking up to $20 million in low-interest municipal industrial development to assist in construction costs and the storage and application of animal manure. Commissioners approved the large a conditional use permit for the large dairy operation in October of this year. If developers are approved, Kandiyohi County would lend its name to the financing without liability of payments, all payment obligations would belong to Meadow Star Dairy LLP. Kandiyohi County would serve as an agent for the tax-exempt financing for the dairy, something the county has never participated in before. A public hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. on January 6th to discuss the request. Read the full article.

Is this a last gasp for Big Stone Wind? Board member and organizer Brent Olson of Big Stone Wind recently sent a letter to the overseeing entity of the regional transmission grid that the county group is on the verge of terminating its plan for a 20-megawatt wind farm. Should the project move forward, it will most likely be in partnership with another company, and not as the community-owned project originally hoped by its nearly 100 investors. The community wind power project is pending termination due to high costs of completing the engineering studies required to access the electrical transmission grid. At this time the investor group doesn’t believe it can risk all of its funds on an engineering study when there is no assurance of its outcome. Olson said that Otter Tail Power should be a prospective customer and assist in the project, but Otter Tail is unwilling to do either. Further details on the status of the wind farm can be found here.

American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) celebrates University of Minnesota Morris as their member of the month. More here.

CERTs Clean + Green Video Shorts Contest

CleanGreenFilmFest

Make a 30 second to 3 minute video on your clean energy project, and enter it to win! We will have a two-week public voting period at the end of January, and finalists will be screened at the 2009 CERTs Conference Reception on the evening of February 10th!

Videos must be received no later than Jan. 15th. Click here to get the camera rolling!


 

Stay Warm Minnesota

www.StayWarm.mn.gov

The Stay Warm Minnesota campaign was launched to help every Minnesota family experience a safe and comfortable winter without having their home heating bills overtake the entire family budget. Their Web site is full of useful information regarding energy efficiency and heating assistance programs provided by the federal and state government, private industry, non profits and our energy utilities.

Stay Warm Minnesota
 

Institute on Renewable Energy and the Environment Videos

www.Environment.umn.edu

Play the video below to learn about some of IREE’s clean energy research, and click on the link above visit their Web site and watch more.










 

Action Alert

Don’t forget to register for and attend these two GREAT conferences coming up soon!

Reducing Energy Costs in Local Government

January 22nd, 9:00am-4:30pm, St. Cloud, MN

Reducing Energy Costs in Local Governments Looking for opportunities to cut costs? Reducing energy expenditures can lead to serious savings for local governments. This all-day conference at the St. Cloud Civic Center includes 38 expert presenters, 16 special breakout sessions, 18 energy assistance provider exhibitors, and offers information and case studies on a wide range of topics such as:

  • moving to a four day work week
  • improving your buildings for energy cost savings
  • reducing fuel use in vehicle fleets
  • using energy performance contracting
  • identifying resources for financial and technical assistance
  • hedging and cooperative purchasing of vehicle fuels
  • savings through traffic and street lighting
  • evaluating renewables for your operations
  • and much more!

See www.nextstep.state.mn.us/energyconference for details and to register!
 

CERTs 2009: Harnessing Resources & Teamwork for Minnesota’s Energy Future

February 10-11, St. Cloud, MN

Learn more & register today! CERTs 2009: Harnessing Resources & Teamwork for Minnesota’s Energy Future will bring together over 500 Minnesotans who are blazing the paths to a clean energy future by working on energy efficiency and clean energy projects in their communities, thus accelerating our learning process together.

This year’s event will start with optional In-Depth Workshops and an Evening Reception on February 10th followed by the Daylong Conference on the 11th. Wind, solar, biogas, efficient cooling, heating and lighting, and fuel-efficient cars will be discussed. We will hear from successful CERTs-supported projects, trailblazing green cities and schools, and we will learn the latest about green jobs, green manufacturing, and green investment & financing in Minnesota. Networking sessions will allow like-minded attendees to learn from one another, and a conference documentary and online discussion forum will allow us to harness our collective resources and share them beyond the event.

Click to learn more and register today!