News

All of us, at some point in life, were stuck indoors on a beautiful day, and wished we could be outside. As kids, we’ve daydreamed about our teacher conducting class outside. As adults, we’ve joked with a co-worker about moving a desk outside on a nice afternoon, longing to escape the confines of a stuffy, drab office.

Over 30 people gathered July 16, 2014 in Royalton to tour and learn about exciting clean energy accomplishments and happenings in Royalton, Minnesota! Central Clean Energy Resource Team (Central CERT) hosted the tour in collaboration with the City of Royalton and its local Youth Energy Summit (YES!) Team.

Did you know that Minnesota has an award-winning Solar Dream Team? It’s true! CERTs is helping a talented team of GIS professionals design an online mapping application for solar energy that will serve an array of stakeholders and the energy industry through the coming boom in solar—and they just won a national award for their efforts. Keep reading to get the full story and learn more.

The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program is designed to challenge, assist, and recognize Minnesota cities that are “green stars.” Cities are challenged to work through a series of steps—and recognized for steps they’ve already taken—that increase the community’s sustainability.

Sandstrom’s food distribution warehouse in Grand Rapids has a bright future after completing a recent lighting retrofit. They’ve been enjoying both the energy and money savings that comes with implementing a lighting retrofit.

The existing conditions were outdated with high power usage, yet offering low level light output.

In August 2012, the University of Minnesota began a campus-wide lighting installation process. The LED lighting integrated with digital controls now reduces the energy consumed in stairwells by 90 percent.

Before this project, many of the stairwells were fully illuminated 24 hours per day throughout 120 buildings across campus.

Morrison County has given a green light to a plan to build a solar farm east of Little Falls. The 10-megawatt project is one of several large-scale solar farms expected to be built in Central Minnesota in the next few years.

Geronimo Energy is the company behind the Morrison County project, which will operate under the subsidiary Lindy Solar.

We often receive questions from homeowners about how to get started with energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Recently a gentleman named Jim in Corcoran, MN reached out to us with a question on this topic, and we decided to share the answer with everyone in the hopes that it will help you, too.
 

The Question

Hello,

I am a homeowner in Corcoran (Hennepin County).

An LED street lighting forum was hosted at the League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference on June 19th, where a packed room of 40 people learned first-hand from a tremendously knowledgeable line-up of speakers from across Minnesota. Is your city in the dark about LED street lighting retrofits? Learn how the technology works, as well as the benefits to your city’s operational budget.

With an acronym that sounded like Roadrunner passing Wile E. Coyote, the Public Building Enhanced Energy Efficiency Program (PBEEEP) contract between the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Center for Energy & Environment (CEE) wrapped up in February 2014. Seventy different sites managed by ten different state agencies participated, with over 900 buildings totaling 31,423,848 square feet.

Plans are underway to expand the solar farm built in 2009 that provides some of the electricity used on the St. John’s campus. Best Power International received a grant from Xcel Energy’s renewable development fund to install solar panels to produce another 200 kilowatts at St. John’s.

Are you planning an extended summer vacation—one week, two weeks, or more? Before leaving town, there are several simple steps you can take to save energy in your home—and save money. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has come up with the 5 money and energy saving tips:

Turn down the temperature on your water heater.

Via a boiler system upgrade and use of local wood fuel, Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, hopes to serve as a case study for other heating districts of its size.

In the food manufacturing business, Joel Manecke says, it’s almost impossible to operate without variable-frequency drives (VFDs).

“It’s pretty critical,” says Manecke, manager of Specialty Products & Technology in Fosston, Minn. “I’ve run dryers in the past that didn’t have anything on them. But if you can’t change fan speeds, you really limit your capabilities.

On Friday, June 20th, cities across Minnesota were recognized for their leadership in sustainability, energy efficiency, and resource conservation. Sixty-nine cities currently participate in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program, and many of them received awards at the GreenStep Awards Breakfast at the League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) helps farmers evaluate energy saving opportunities and provides financial assistance to help make energy upgrades happen. EQIP requires an audit first (the program pays for most—if not all—of it).

Minnesota cities have been matched with UMD students this spring to work on sustainability issues, and the collaboration promises a greener Minnesota in the 21st century. Communities are jumping at the opportunity to join a project called Minnesota GreenStep Cities. The cities make a commitment to manage their natural resources and achieve their quality-of-life goals.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has named five in-state bioenergy projects as recipients of NextGen Energy grants. The five projects were selected out of a pool of 35, according to MDA Commissioner Dave Frederickson.

On June 12th in Staples the Region 5 Development Commission (R5DC) and Central Clean Energy Resource Team (Central CERT) hosted a workshop about the Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP), B3 Energy Benchmarking System (B3), and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program.

See the original publication of this story by Wendy Wilde KTOE Radio Mankato News

A solar array will be going up on Good Counsel Hill. A big one, by Minnesota standards, covering four-and-a-quarter acres and generating 907 kilowatts of power, which will be inverted to 13,800 volts AC, enough to power about 115 homes.

During our February CERT Conference back in 2013 several regions expressed interest in LED Street Lighting. Since that time interest has only grown and there are many local governments starting to move forward with projects – including a few CERT Seed Grant Recipients.

Taking leadership to accelerate private-sector adoption of EVs, Minnesota is the first state nationwide to require its investor-owned utilities to offer a special rate for off-peak (overnight) EV refueling.

There is scholarship funding available to participate in the Regional Indicators Initiative – Apply by July 3. Over 20 Minnesota cities currently participate in the Regional Indicators Initiative (RII), and new participants are being accepted. The Regional Indicators Initiative measures annual performance metrics for Minnesota cities interested in increasing efficiency and sustainability.

This article is reposted from the original by Camille LeFevre on The Line and MinnPost.

Solar power isn’t just for southern locales anymore. According to Aladdin Solar, LLP, one of the Twin Cities metro’s growing solar companies, Minnesota actually has the same or better “solar resources” than most of the southeastern and northeastern U.S.

Municipalities and other authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) are facing dramatic increases in rooftop solar permit applications. With this trend expected to continue and spread, streamlining building and electrical permitting processes will become increasingly important to more AHJs.

As part of the U.S.