News

Thursday, February 24, 2011, Detroit Lakes, MN – Over 40 people gathered at an event co-hosted by Central Region Clean Energy Resource Team (CERT) and the Becker, Clay, Otter Tail and Wilkin County Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) at Emmanuel Community center.

We need your help! The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program is holding review meetings seeking feedback on how to better serve Minnesota cities. We are looking for feedback on program structure, focusing on what is required of cities; as well as the functionality of specific best practice actions and resources.

We first met Adam Borut with the Milwaukee-based Eco Hatchery a year ago as he was introducing us to their eco kits; since then Eco Hatchery has come out with Light Bulb Finder, a free iPhone and Android app that makes it easier to find energy-saving light bulbs for your home.

We’re pleased to let you know about another job opportunity in the energy world, this time the Communication Specialist position with the Minnesota Rural Electric Association in Maple Grove, MN.

CERTs is excited to share this job opportunity as a Conservation Improvement Program Coordinator with Great River Energy! The successful candidate is responsible for managing GRE’s conservation and energy efficiency program development and reporting for residential, income eligible, commercial/industrial, and agri-business.

Updated publications offer valuable information on adopting and financing solar technologies across the United States

As part of the Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative to dramatically reduce the cost of installed solar energy by the end of the decade, DOE today introduced the second edition of Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments.

Joel Haskard, CERTs Co-Director with the University of Minnesota’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, took some time to interview Ken Paulman, the editor of a website that Joel has recently become addicted to, Midwest Energy News. Midwest Energy News, a project of Fresh Energy and RE-AMP, is a daily collection of the top energy stories of importance to the region.

Thanks to the folks at iSeek and the Minnesota Office of Energy Security, three new interactive training maps for Minnesota now provide site-specific information on energy-related training programs, apprenticeships, and industry-recognized certification training and testing. The maps are especially helpful to those seeking to prepare for an energy career.

Winona State University and collaborative partners have launched a new curriculum, the Energy & Resource Advisor (ERA) certificate, to accelerate public understanding of energy efficiency, clean energy, carbon emissions, resource conservation, green technologies, and green jobs. The next class begins on March 1, 2011, and registrations are being accepted now.

“Why would you have your vending machine lights and compressors on or running when nobody is around?” asked Bill Bieganek of EnergyMisers, LLC, the Minnesota company that sells the “VendingMiser”. You might not know it, but the average beverage vending machine runs more often than is needed to keep drinks cold and attract customers.

We heard from quite a few of you that you’d like a little more time to pre-register for the CERTs 2011 Conference coming up on February 2-3, 2011, so we’re answering that request!

Pre-registration has now been extended through midnight tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th.

We have been confirming speakers like wild and are pleased to share with your our full agenda complete with speaker names! Take a look >>.

You be the judge! The Clean Energy Resource Teams received 12 fantastic submissions for our CERTs 2011 Clean + Green Video Shorts Contest, and we need you to help determine the winners of $500 and other great prizes! Everyone is the world is encouraged to vote once and spread the word! Voting will continue until midnight on Monday, January 31st.

CERTs 2011 Clean Energy Convergence will unite you with other Minnesotans who are blazing the paths to a clean energy future by working on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in their communities.

If so, then you’re in luck! Several undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus are seeking paid or unpaid internships with cities that are interested in participating in the GreenStep Cities program.

 
Student interns would spend four or ten hours a week on their internship starting in mid-January 2011 and ending in late April.

At the start of 2010 CERTs announced the funding of 55 projects from all over Minnesota with seed grants of up to $11,000. Those recipients have been hard at work for the past year, and we’re getting ready to share their successes and lessons learned! In the coming months CERTs staff will be busy writing case studies about all of these great projects—so stay tuned for those.

As many of you likely know, Minnesota GreenStep Cities is a voluntary challenge, assistance and recognition program to help cities achieve their sustainability goals through implementation of 28 best practices. Each best practice can be implemented by completing one or more specific actions from a list of four to eight actions.

Five years ago, Project Green Fleet set out to make every eligible school bus in the state cleaner and greener. We are nearing the finish line—have YOU joined yet? From Rochester to Roseau, and Minneapolis to Morris, school bus fleets all over Minnesota have partnered with Project Green Fleet to retrofit over 2,100 buses, keeping our air clean and our kids healthy.

Let Honeywell send you a little holiday gift in the New Year! If you purchased a Honeywell Do-It-Yourself Programmable Thermostat before November 30th, you are eligible for up to $10 off your model with a special rebate from CERTs and Honeywell. The deadline for postmarking your rebate form is December 31st, so be sure to fill out your form and mail it in.

Xcel Energy and The Green Institute launched a free energy efficiency makeover for the Lao Family Community in Saint Paul.

An energy audit determined ways the nonprofit could save energy and money. Those measures will be implemented over the coming months.

Fargo’s Green Vision Group could make this a reality by 2014.

Excerpt from Sugar beets could be next big biofuel by Marino Eccher of INFORUM:

A Fargo-based energy company is moving forward with plans for the nation’s first-ever beet ethanol plant – the first step in an ambitious plan to turn one of the Red River Valley’s top crops into a biofuel mainstay.

Phantom power is the energy being drained from your devices when you’re not using them.

It can be difficult to know and understand this, but a website from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can tell you exactly what wattage your electronic devices are using when they are on, off, or in “sleep” mode.

D&E Management’s lofts just got an energy boost.

The Minneapolis lofts just received a 12 kW solar array, which boasts a carbon offset equivalent of 21,602 pounds of carbon, 1,193 gallons of gas saved and the equivalent of 273 trees saved each year.

Solarflow Energy installed 52 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the loft’s roof.

The University of Minnesota retrofitted more than 7,400 inefficient, T12 lamped, magnetic ballasted fluorescent light fixtures with modern solid state ballasts and high efficiency T8 lamps in eight residence halls on the Twin Cities campus.

The lighting retrofit has improved the quality of light provided in the students’ living spaces, study areas, common areas and dining facilities.