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On Sunday morning, April 15th, over 80 folks gathered in the basement of the Mayflower Church in Minneapolis to learn about solar energy. The workshop started like most of the other “Solar Works” workshops being hosted by Metro CERT over the past several months, but added a few additional components.

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A big congratulations is in order for Good Samaritan – Sunwood and Redwood Falls Public Utilities! The utility was offering a lighting rebate and Brad Stephens, director of maintenance for Sunwood, jumped at the opportunity to upgrade their outdated, less efficient lighting at the facility to newer, brighter lighting.

On April 25th I got a chance to tour the Garden Fresh Farms aquaponics facility in Maplewood, MN. Don’t know what aquaponics is? That’s ok, I’ll explain. It is essentially sustainable agriculture using fish waste to fertilize plants grown indoors allowing multiple harvests per year. It is a partnership between the plants and the fish.

My five-year old son Henry likes to measure things. Always interested in comparing one thing to another, he asks, “Daddy, would a Tyrannosaurus be bigger than our house?” or, “Daddy, is a loon faster than a cheetah?” As a father, this line of questioning can sometimes be maddening.

On May 23, 2012, 30 people gathered in Appleton, Minnesota to participate in a Financing Energy-Saving Projects for Local Governments & Schools event co-hosted by the West Central Clean Energy Resource Team (WC CERT) and Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission (UMVRDC).

High electricity costs and environmental concerns inspired local designer boutique Arafina to pursue their lighting upgrade with the Center for Energy and Environment’s One-Stop Efficiency Shop.

The Clean Cities program through the U.S. Department of Energy has just released four (!) Plug-in Electric Vehicle handbooks. Each handbook is targeted towards a specific sector: 1. Consumers, 2. Electrical Contractors, 3. Fleet Managers, and 4. Public Charging Station Hosts. Click here to read or download the handbooks (they’re under the “vehicles” section).

The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program, a voluntary challenge, assistance and recognition program to help cities achieve their sustainability goals, won in both the Sustainable Communities and Partnership of the Year categories at the Environmental Initiative’s 20th annual awards ceremony on May 24th.

Electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular as fleet vehicles in Minnesota. Joel Haskard with CERTs recently chatted with Aaron Van De Bogart, an electrical Engineer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to learn more about how they’re using electric vehicles, and why.

The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) recently released a roadmap for the advanced biofuels and biobased chemicals industry: Minnesota Roadmap: Recommendations for BioIndustrial Processing. This study provides a very practical and relevant set of information for investors, businesses, and stakeholders across the value chain for renewable materials.

On April 21, folks gathered at the annual Iron Range Earth Fest. This community event brought together three generations of Rangers. Their purpose was to learn more about building a sustainable economy, environment, and community—and to connect with one another. These energetic citizens actively enjoyed their day-long interaction in Mt.

Do you and your community need funding to get an energy efficiency or renewable energy project off the ground? The Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) can help! Each of our seven regional teams are looking to seed innovative, community-based clean energy projects, and yours could be the perfect fit.

I took the family camping last week to Frontenac State Park on the bluffs above the Mississippi River near Red Wing. Before having children, my wife and I used to go backpack camping and would bring along as little as possible. Now it seems like we bring everything but the kitchen sink.

The second annual St. Cloud Sustainability EXPO on Earth Day 2012 rocked. Jeff Vetsch, West Central CERT Coordinator, and Angela Headlee, Central CERT Coordinator, joined forces to light up the event with an LED, CFL, and incandescent light bulb display.

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Greetings! My name is Jeff Vetsch and from Earth Day 2012 until Earth Day 2013 my family is taking part in a Family Energy FACE-OFF. We will be highlighting our successes and asking others to join us as we continue to look for ways to reduce our home energy use. We hail from New London and are calling ourselves the Mill Pond Minimizers (the pond we live on in town).

Over 100 community members from around the Metro region gathered for Metro CERT’s fifth annual spring resource and networking event on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012! Click here to see the full agenda. Kicking Things Off: City Councilmember Gary Schiff, who represents Ward 9, kicked off the event by welcoming attendees to his district.

From Earth Day 2012 to Earth Day 2013, two Minnesota families and hundreds of their teammates are competing in the Family Energy FACE-OFF to see who can save more energy. This new community-based energy competition has been launched in a partnership between the Minnesota-based, Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) and the University of Minnesota, Morris, Office of Sustainability.