News

Over 70 neighborhood leaders gathered at Mayflower Church in Minneapolis on Thursday, April 30th to learn about community solar gardens, including key considerations and specific roles for neighborhoods.

Many Minnesotans are adding solar to their homes, and some folks are doing even more. Sam Villella and his family are a few of those over achievers: in addition to solar PV on their roof, they heat and cool their home with geothermal and get around in two electric vehicles.

Excelen is an independent, nonprofit research and education organization that educates and assists orthopedic researchers as they develop innovative surgical and rehabilitative techniques. Located in downtown Minneapolis, with over 10,000 square feet of floor space, Excelen is currently one of the fastest growing research labs in the Twin Cities.

On April 9th, 85 environmental studies students from Saint Paul’s Central High School headed to downtown Saint Paul for a special day-long tour. The tour took the students through the new Saint Paul EcoDistrict: the Science Museum of Minnesota, the RiverCentre parking ramp, inside and on top of the RiverCentre and the Saint Paul District Energy plant.

The University of Minnesota won the grand prize at the Second Annual Department of Energy Race to Zero Student Competition. The winning group, team OptiMN, was made up of fourteen students from four different colleges that beat out 27 other colleges from the United States and Canada for the top prize.

Cities across Minnesota are finding real savings converting their streetlights to LEDs. In partnership with Lake Country Power (LCP), the City of Tamarack used a CERTs grant to upgrade its street lights from old sodium and mercury vapor lights to more efficient, longer-lasting, and more reliable LED lights. LCP also replaced the old wiring with more energy-efficient wiring.

During the CERTs 2015 Conference workshop on Accomplishing GreenStep Cities Energy Best Practices in March, The Weidt Group gave out awards to Minnesota GreenStep Cities to recognize them for their energy benchmarking efforts with “B3 Benchmarking” and more.

For over half a century, Otten Bros. Garden Center and Landscaping has been harnessing the power of the sun to grow plants and create beautiful spaces. With this history, it seemed like a natural step to use sunlight to power their business, and the Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program through Saint Paul Port Authority made it easy to pay for the installation.

Parkwood Place in Mountain Lake, MN provides assisted living and senior care options for elderly adults. They recently utilized the Rural Minnesota Energy Board’s Property Assessed Clean Energy—or PACE—program to finance energy efficiency upgrades in their facility.

Recycling is at the core of Jay Miller’s company, Crankshaft Supply. The 50-year-old Minneapolis business remanufactures engine parts, saving the expense of having to manufacture new parts and repurposing old parts for productive use.

When Cozy Corners Campground in Richmond, Minnesota is at maximum capacity during the busy summer months, the facility’s electric bill can top $10,000 a month. Driven by a desire to make a positive environmental impact as well as reduce these astronomical bills, owners George and Kathy Meyers decided to install solar panels at the campground.

Tucked away near Owen Hall on the University of Minnesota – Crookston campus is the Nature Nook. With the recent help of the Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs), a new solar-powered LED light now helps illuminate this little oasis.

The Headwaters Regional Development Commission (HRDC) recently used grant funding from CERTs to conduct a community survey in Beltrami County, Minnesota in order to identify and understand the community’s renewable energy and energy efficiency financing needs.

Cities across Minnesota are finding real savings converting their streetlights to LEDs. We spoke with Brian Jeremiason, Energy Services Manager with Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative, to learn more about his experiences. Joel Haskard: It sounds like you have several LED streetlight projects in the works.

The Clean Energy Resources Teams (CERTs) is spearheading a statewide campaign, Light Up Your Station & Save, to help convenience stores reduce energy and maintenance costs and improve their businesses with LED lighting. We spoke with Lonnie McQuirter, owner of the 36 Lyn Refuel Station at 36th Street & Lyndale Avenue in south Minneapolis.

This story is republished from the original in Midwest Energy News.

A Minnesota faith group will announced last week an effort to make community solar more accessible to people with lower incomes.

More Minnesotans will have access to affordable solar thermal systems after the Minnesota Department of Commerce announced that it will offer rebates beginning March 18 to residents, businesses, nonprofits, and government entities as part of its Made in Minnesota Solar Incentive Program.

This article is republished from the original by Andrea Johnson, Assistant Editor of Farm and Ranch Guide.

It’s time to consider solar power again.

 
Better technology and lower prices are making solar power in 2014 achievable and more affordable than in the past.

Zoom around the Upper-Midwest (and linger a while in Minnesota!) to see excellent on-farm renewable energy projects.

The potential uses and benefits of renewable energy to rural communities are huge. In fact, they’re already being realized as innovative people and organizations put ideas into action.

Looking for support to advance your energy and environment projects? Minnesota GreenCorps members are a great way to add capacity to your organization and grow young leaders.

On March 10-11, 550 Minnesotans from all over the state gathered in St. Cloud for the CERTs 2015 Conference to learn about successful energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, connect with peers, and get ready to take action in their communities.

The Midwest Farm Energy Conference and Renewable Energy Tour is coming up in Morris, MN on June 17-19, 2015! To learn more we interviewed Michael Reese, Renewable Energy Director at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris.

Joel Haskard, CERTs:
Tell us a little bit about the Midwest Farm Energy Conference.

Over 40 people—most of them dairy farmers from southeast Minnesota—gathered at People’s Energy Cooperative in Oronoco on December 11th to learn about ways to save energy in dairy production and funding opportunities and rebates available.

Nested in rural Zumbro Falls, MN, RS Farms is a small dairy operated by Kim and Richard Ryan. Behind the scenes of their milk production lays a longtime consideration of the energy that goes into the operation of their farm, and the desire that the energy leave less of an impact.

Community Solar Gardens are centrally-located solar photovoltaic (PV) systems that provide electricity to participating subscribers, and they’re taking root in Minnesota. Here at CERTs we wanted to learn more about the experiences of subscribers in Minnesota and share them with others who are curious about community solar.