Clean Energy Resource Teams

Cross-posted from Center for American Progress

In The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, acclaimed activist and environmental leader Van Jones tackles the challenges of oil dependence, a sagging economy, and global warming itself, transforming these looming threats into enormous financial opportunities.

Jones gives voice to a different kind of environmentalism, one deeply rooted in the lives and struggles of ordinary people. It’s not about green consumers; it’s about green workers and bringing the environmental movement to the working class. The message of The Green Collar Economy is clear: “Give the work that most needs to be done to the people who most need the work,” solving two pressing problems—pollution and poverty—at once. In turn, you provide people with not just a paycheck, but also a purpose. Like FDR’s New Deal, Jones’s plan involves the government putting people to work for the benefit of the economy. In this “New Green Deal,” workers will be employed to install solar panels, harness wind power, build hybrid engines, etc., which will create a green collar workforce.

You betcha, Powershift will soon be making a visit to the great state of Minnesota. The home of nice people, hotdish, Garrison Keillor, the Democrat-Farmer-Labor party, community wind, the highest voter participation rates in the country, and the Mall of America now has its very own Powershift!

Minnesota Powershift 2008 is much more than a conference. It is part of a process of building people power around a vision for a clean energy economy and a sustainable future that can unite rural farmers, inner-city residents, labor leaders, small businesses, students, and local governments. It is a recognition of our own role in making change, bridging the gaps between our personal lives and the sweeping changes that must be made. Its time to build a climate positive society, one that has moved beyond “limiting the damage” we do to the global environment and oppressed communities and instead engages proactively and eagerly in the opportunities inherent in a post-carbon society.

QUESTION

Are any programs available to fund transmission interconnection studies and wind studies for C-BED projects?

ANSWER

Yes, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Security has a Rural Wind Energy Development Revolving Loan Fund. The purpose of the Rural Wind Energy Development Revolving Loan program is to provide financial assistance to owners of eligible community-based wind energy projects for wind studies and transmission interconnection studies.

Read on to learn more!

In April 2008, the Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) received over 90 submissions for this year’s Request for Proposals to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. This represents nearly a twofold increase in the amount of proposals submitted for spring of 2008, and attests to the tremendous wealth of clean energy projects happening in communities across the state.

Each of the six greater Minnesota steering committees (NE, NW, Central, WC, SW, SE) reviewed the proposals submitted in their region, and through a rigorous process selected 37 projects that highlight a variety of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. CERTs staff wish to commend our steering committee members for all the hard work and many hours of volunteer time they put into this effort.

Many land owners across the state have been approached recently with offers for wind energy land leases, leading the Northwest, Southeast, and West Central Regional Clean Energy Resource Teams to hold meetings in June where they discussed the ins and outs of land leases for wind development.

The meetings helped to educate the many attendees on wind rights and development choices, on how to ensure you get a fair agreement, on your options, about where to access resources for advice, and on some sense of the big picture and why this is an opportunity.

Read on to view the resources from the meetings, including notes and presentations. The more you know, the more you and your community have to gain!

CREBs in Brief

 
The Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) program is administered by the Internal Revenue Service and provides bond authorization for public entities on a competitive basis for renewable electricity projects. The benefit of the CREB program is that public entities receive the bonds at “zero” percent interest. The revenue or cost savings from the renewable electricity systems are utilized to pay off the bonds.

The program was initially authorized via the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and designed as an alternative to the Production Tax Credit (PTC)—which can be utilized by private renewable energy developers and investor-owned utilities—to be used by cooperative electric and public power utilities. Beyond these utilities other eligible entities include schools, local governments, tribal governments. The program has provided two rounds of bonding authorization—610 projects during the first round and 312 projects in the second round.

Dan Thiede live-blogs this session at the Minnesota Green Communities third annual statewide GREEN BY DESIGN Conference

R.T. Rybak highlights Minneapolis and Minnesota steps toward green development, and gets us all fired up, Ellen Anderson discusses legislative intiatives and the merging of economic and social justice issues with energy issues, and Van Jones talks about building a green economy for all.

Dan Thiede live-blogs this session at the Minnesota Green Communities third annual statewide GREEN BY DESIGN Conference. View all conference presentations here.

Facilitator: Dane Smith, Growth & Justice, former Star Tribune writer
Panelists: Ellen Anderson, Senator, State of Minnesota | Edward A. Garvey, MN Office of Energy Security, Department of Commerce | Barb Thoman, Transit for Livable Communities

The panel will review the recommendations of the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group, provide updates on policy actions responding to those recommendations, and discuss their implementation. There will be plenty of time for discussion!