Clean Energy Resource Teams

A Sebeka Family has become the first in the neighborhood to have a solar space heating system will heat two bedrooms with energy from the sun. It does not use electricity or any other energy source for its operation.

The city of Winona is one community in Southeast Minnesota that stands to benefit greatly from the Clean Energy Resource Teams effort. Anne Morse, a member of the SE CERTs team and an environmental officer in Winona County, has spearheaded a conservation project that is making it easier and less expensive for area businesses to convert to energy efficient lighting.

Norm Krause, director of the Central Lakes Agricultural Center, gave the CERT team a presentation about the corn burner at the Central Lakes Ag Center in Staples on October 15th, 2006. U of M professors Steve Taff and Carl Rosen plan on studying the project.

Lakewood Health System’s new 25-bed hospital and outpatient clinic under construction east of Staple will be a state-of-the-art building designed to meet the needs of patients and staff. it includes a number of energy efficiency measures to control operating costs.

To improve the air quality in the school, Johnson Controls, the Brainerd School District, and the Minnesota Department of Education initiatied a pilot program at the Nisswa School. The goal of the pilot project was to bring the school into compliance with the ASHRAE standard adopted by the Minnesota Department of Education.

The giant construction project in Brainerd that is creating new facilities for Crow Wing County has many energy efficiencies. A new 240 bed county jail, community Services Building, Central Services Building, Law Enforcement Center, Historical Museum, and new Judicial Center will be completed in phases.

Stan Simon, an independent consulting engineer from Kerkhoven, MN, took the opportunity to help a local elementary school realize its potential for energy efficiency by conducting an energy audit for the school, identifying areas where energy efficieny could be improved.

A survey was sent to County Highway Departments in Southern & Southwest Minnesota to ask about their fleet biodiesel use. The purpose of this study was to learn the percentage of fleet biodiesel use in various Southern & Southwest Minnesota counties.

Biodiesel and ethanol may not be hot topics in energy circles, but what does the public know about hese fuel srouces? To answer this question and to help develop a new marketing campaign for these locally-grown fuels, the Three Rivers Resources Conservation and Development Council (Three Rivers RC&D) decided to conduct a knowledge survey about ethanol in Southern Minnesota.

Todd Juwizak and Eva Barr are combining traditional homesteading practices with modern renewaable energy technology at DreamAcres Farm, an off-grid 60-acre organic farm in Southeast Minnesota.