News

Story by USDA Rural Development.

Tara Kraft, owner of Colonial Cleaners and Laundromat in Worthington, MN, has replaced all of her “employees” over the last couple of years – over 90 to be exact. See, Tara considers her washers and dryers employees, and she has been upgrading her equipment to more energy efficient models.

I recently rode out to Darwin, MN with Michael Ostaffe of Once Innovations to visit Langmo Farms, one of the newest sites participating in our LED Pilot Project. There we met owner Greg Langmo and talked with him about his successful family-run turkey operation.

The Southeast Clean Energy Resource Team (SE CERT) is pleased to announce its second round of Seed Grant awards in 2014 for community-based energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. See below for a list of the four projects funded in Spring 2014. This is in addition to the 34 Seed Grant projects funded by CERTs across the state in 2014. Click here to see all of the projects.

On May 12, 2014, with the publication of the Request for Proposals (RFP) Notice in the State Register, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has officially announced the opening of the Fiscal Years (FY) 2014-2015 Environmental Assistance (EA) Grant Program for applications.

Nearly 200 people showed up to El Norteño Restaurant in Minneapolis on Saturday, April 19, for a “Carrotmob” to support the efforts of the owners, Clemen and Estela Serna, to improve the energy efficiency of their restaurant.

Are you on delivered fuels and looking for a way to supplement your winter heating needs? Or perhaps you’re just ready to transition to renewable energy? Solar thermal may be a good fit… and better yet there are rebates to help buy down the cost for those systems.

Talk about meeting a deadline early. This year, Minnesota Power will reach the state mandated-requirement of producing 25 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources. That’s 11 years early.

There are three separate opportunities currently open through the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources.

Two of them are for Conservation Applied Research and Development (CARD) projects, and the third is for combined heat and power (CHP) support.

Please look closely at deadlines as some of these RFPs have quick turnarounds.

The Youth Energy Summit (YES!) Team Westbrook-Walnut Grove Public Schools entered building and utility data into the B3 Energy Benchmarking System for ten buildings in the City of Westbrooke to learn about energy use, as well as help the city better track energy use and utility costs in public buildings.

Connexus Energy, a cooperative electric utility serving the northern Twin Cities suburbs, said recently that it plans to build one of the state’s ­largest community solar gardens. With 792 solar panels and an output of 245 kilowatts, the project is several times larger than other solar gardens now operating or under construction in Minnesota.

The “191 Battle of the Buildings” (modeled after the EPA’s national contest) was a challenge for Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 to reduce their carbon footprint. Energy reductions (calculated from buildings that saved) resulted in nearly 9% in energy reductions for the district.

The Metro CERT Spring Resource and Networking Event on April 17th at the Como Zoo hosted an exciting group of speakers and energy professionals all focused on achieving the goal of cleaner and more sustainable energy use in our local communities.

USDA Rural Development State Director Colleen Landkamer today announced that USDA is seeking applications from rural small businesses and agricultural producers for funding to make energy efficiency improvements or to install renewable energy systems. “Developing renewable energy presents an enormous economic opportunity for rural America,” Landkamer said.

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church has announced that it will be the first community of faith in Minnesota to host a community solar garden. The Church has partnered with solar developer Minnesota Community Solar to host the project atop the education wing on Bethel’s south Minneapolis property.

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Minnesota Cities at the League of Minnesota Cities recently had a discussion with Philipp Muessig, GreenStep Cities program coordinator with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to learn more about the initiative. Minnesota GreenStep Cities is a free and voluntary program cities can join to help them improve their Earth-friendly efforts in a cost-effective way.

Lakeville, MN’s Dragonfly Solar and SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer since 1975, will partner to deliver a 517-kilowatt solar array to four electric utility cooperatives in the U.S. Midwest.

Both homeowners and renters can benefit from home improvements that promote energy efficiency and improve indoor air quality. Raising the bar on air quality and energy performance at home helps reduce heating and cooling costs, saves energy, and improves occupant health and comfort.

The Hometown BioEnergy anaerobic digester on the south edge of LeSueur, Minn., is the largest system of its type in the U.S., rated at 8 MW of electrical power from food processing and agricultural waste. Kelsey Dillon’s description of the construction schedule at Hometown BioEnergy LLC as “aggressive” is an understatement.

Over 40 people gathered at WoodMaster / Northwest Manufacturing in Red Lake Falls Wednesday, April 16th to learn about biomass opportunities in the region and across Minnesota at an event organized by Northwest Clean Energy Resource Team (NW CERT).

In support of the country’s goal of doubling renewable energy generation for a second time by 2020, the Energy Department announced yesterday $15 million to help communities develop multi-year solar plans to install affordable solar electricity for homes and businesses.

The United States continues to be a global leader in solar, with total U.S.

The hometown of SPAM is getting serious about saving energy. Local government leaders from the City of Austin and Mower County came together Tuesday to talk about ways to reduce overall operations and maintenance budgets, reduce energy use, and install upgrades in public buildings with the Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP).

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Patrick started volunteering for Metro CERT in March of 2014, assisting with planning workshops and events as well as keeping our communications databases up to date. He is looking forward to becoming even more involved with the organization as an intern.

Patrick graduated from St. John’s University in 2011 with a BA in Natural Science.

CERTs Co-Director Joel Haskard spoke with Xcel Energy’s Senior Product Portfolio Manager Steve Mudd to get an update on Xcel Energy’s Windsource program.

Joel Haskard: Tell me a little about the Windsource program and how it is doing in Minnesota to date.