News

The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program includes 28 best practices that cities strive to achieve, some of which involve making energy efficient changes to both existing buildings and infrastructure and new developments. Although progress can be tracked within the program by how many best practices have been achieved, hard data of the improvements has been lacking—until now.

The City of River Falls has broken ground on a net-zero home community called Eco Village. The collective goal is to show that sustainable housing can and should be “beautiful and affordable for all.” Main partners in the project include Habitat for Humanity, the City of River Falls, University of Wisconsin, Frisbie Architects, St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that in 2012, wind energy was the fastest-growing power-generation sector for the first time in our nation’s history. The sector accounted for 43 percent of all new U.S. electric generation capacity and $25 billion in new investment.

A drafty city shop in Warren, Minnesota was the first target in the city’s work to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. In 2011 Warren passed a resolution to join the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program. This program allows cities all over the state to follow best practices targeted at improving energy efficiency, sustainability, and quality of life.

The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES) is a member-run non-profit organization that promotes the use of renewable energy in Minnesota through education and practical demonstrations, with a particular emphasis on solar technologies. One of the ways MRES has tried to keep people informed about renewable energy is through various publications.

Metro CERT Director Diana McKeown recently caught up with Scott Cramer, owner of Northern Sun in south Minneapolis (pictured on right side of photos), to ask him about the community solar garden that will be installed on the roof of his business.

Halogen, CFLs, LEDs, Watts, Lumens—what’s the difference? What’s best? We’ve got you covered! Lighting a typical Minnesota home accounts for about 10 percent of the energy needed to power one’s home.

A plant once thought of as only a weed is being investigated as a potential biofuel. Camelina, a two-foot tall plant described as “spindly,” packs a mighty punch.

The seeds are 30-32% oil and can withstand temperatures down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. A 24 acre plot is currently being utilized for testing camelina alongside soybeans at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Cambridge, Minnesota.

Back in April 2012, Oklahoma State University concluded an LED lighting project with a dairy farm. Much like The Minnesota Project’s LED poultry project, the OSU researchers sought to test the LED lights’ energy savings potential and the durability of the bulbs.

In addition, they tracked cow health and milk productivity out of concern the LEDs might harm the dairy cows.

The Home Energy Exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience building will feature several displays dedicated to solar and wind energy.

Please welcome Lindsay Wimmer to the Clean Energy Resource Teams! Lindsay will be working with cities, counties, schools, and other local units of government to curb energy use in their buildings through the Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP).

The West Central Research and Outreach Center has recently turned what was just a dream in 2002 into a reality. The project began with a vision of capturing wind energy and using it in an innovative way; the end product was the completion of the Renewable Hydrogen and Ammonia Pilot Plant located in Morris, Minnesota. The plant’s function is to ultimately create NH3 (ammonia).

Xcel Energy recently announced the 20 recipients of $30 million in renewable energy grants, seven of which are solar projects.

The projects vary in size and location throughout the state of Minnesota as well as one in Wisconsin. The largest project will be a 1.18 megawatt solar installation at a Terminal One parking ramp at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A new trend is sweeping the metro! Light emitting diode (LED) street lights are starting to pop up in suburbs including Eden Prairie and Brooklyn Park. The lights are not only brighter and emit purer white light (rather than yellow), but LEDs are also far more energy and cost efficient. The technology for LED lights is homegrown, Lighting House USA the founding company, is based in Plymouth.

The tiny Minnesota farming town of Milan may be small in terms of population—about 1,000 for the greater Milan area—but it is big time when it comes to energy efficiency. The west central town, through its Greater Milan Initiative, committed in 2009 to develop a long-term community culture of reducing energy usage and costs and promoting renewable energy to end users.

If you are interested in electric vehicles (both plug-in or all electric), these are exciting times. Sales of electric vehicles have more than doubled in the U.S. during the first six months of 2013 compared to the same time period in 2012.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources posts state and federal funding opportunities on a regular basis. The list below includes solicitations of proposals for energy or environmental grant funding or other incentives from a wide variety of organizations. You may also get funding resources on their website, in a PDF or via email updates from Commerce.

The Energy Center of Wisconsin was awarded a 2011 Conservation and Applied Research Grant from the Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources for field testing drainwater heat recovery (DHR) systems in Commercial Buildings. DHR systems include replacing a portion of vertical drain pipe with a heat exchanger module.

Many businesses, including large commercial and industrial (C&I) facilities, have the potential to realize significant energy savings from untapped improvements in operations and maintenance (O&M) practices. However, financial obligations, time and staffing constraints, and existing institutional practices create significant barriers to implementation.

To reduce energy use and save on utility bills in its municipal facilities, Itasca County entered into a performance contract with Energy Services Group in 2010. Part of that contract called for upgrading the energy management controls in the 115,000 square-foot Itasca County Courthouse. You can learn about their many energy-saving projects in a case study from CERTs.

The City of Golden Valley used the Minnesota B3 Benchmarking tool and energy assessments to identify opportunities for energy savings in two of its buildings. Lighting improvements were identified as cost-effective energy saving measures to pursue. The lighting retrofits are now saving the city $2,500 per year in the two buildings.

It was a beautiful day to tour the state’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) installation on July 19th, 2013 in Slayton, Minnesota. With the sun high and bright in the sky and only puffy white clouds to speak of, 35 members of SW/WC CERT toured the 7.5 football fields worth of solar panels working at maximum capacity. Keep reading to learn more and see lots of photos.