Central Blog Posts
Bringing you news about clean energy projects and opportunities happening across the state. Tell your story.
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Dan Thiede
Wed, 11/14/2012 - 9:28am
The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, or RREAL, has partnered up with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa to work to replicate RREAL’s Solar Assistance Program through outreach and education.
The Basics: To accomplish this work, RREAL is looking for highly motivated, action-oriented, and self-directed applicants interested in learning more about solar thermal. Three volunteers will be placed at RREAL’s headquarters in Pine River, MN; Conservation Corps offices in Iowa; and Red River Valley Community Action Agency in Grand Forks, ND. Volunteers will be responsible for carrying out RREAL’s Solar Assistance mission, training Conservation Corps members and facilitating community outreach regarding solar thermal.
Some Details: Applicants should be between the ages of 18 and 25. The positions will all last from January 7 through December...
Annette Bair
Sat, 11/10/2012 - 12:25pm
From the 1960s to the 1980s many affordable housing projects were developed. As these units have begun to age, they require frequent repair and upgrades to address health, safety and energy efficiency concerns. The Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership (SWMHP) found that incorporating energy efficiency measures into its housing accommodations was a win-win plan.
SWMHP is a non-profit community development corporation serving thirty counties in rural Minnesota. The organization’s goal is to build strong and healthy places to live so that communities in southern Minnesota can thrive.
A new addition to this overarching goal is a commitment to sustainable housing practices. The SWMHP was working on a portfolio of projects called Zedakah, which included seven properties in their service area. At first the SWMHP was looking at HOME (Home Investment Partnerships Program) funding, but...
Eliza Leahy
Fri, 11/09/2012 - 12:56pm
For cities, school districts, households, and businesses looking to stay a bit warmer this winter and save on energy costs, weatherization techniques such as air sealing, weather-stripping, and insulation of walls and/or roofs could be effective solutions.
Other benefits of weatherization include the following:
Lower utility costs due to less energy being wasted
Increased comfort
Insulation against heat in the warmer months
As the cooler days of late autumn approach, we are focusing on Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) projects that utilized weatherization tactics to save energy and money for their communities. With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, over 52 projects completed throughout Minnesota included weatherization components.
Of these projects, 30 included replacing windows or doors. Statewide, over 880 single-pane...
Sarah Steinman
Wed, 10/31/2012 - 6:28pm
Reduced energy costs can be real budget savers for public entities. But how do you know if your buildings are using too much energy? Benchmarking is a process that allows you to manage your building’s energy use and determine what buildings are a priority for lighting upgrades, HVAC retrofits, and larger overhauls.
As a GreenCorps member at the Clean Energy Resource Teams, I am tasked to assist local government across Minnesota start the benchmarking process in a program called Building Benchmarking and Beyond, or B3. Below read more about the B3 program from Trevor Drake, view my B3 primer presentation, and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about the process.
As it fits with the Local Government Energy Action series, EECBG funding recipients are all maintaining their building energy consumption data with the B3...
Dan Thiede
Wed, 10/31/2012 - 6:17pm
We caught up with Anna Jursik, Program Assistant at Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) about their new Innovation Exchange to learn more about the endeavor and how Minnesotans can get involved.
Dan Thiede: Can you tell us a little bit more about the Innovation Exchange?
Anna Jursik: The Innovation Exchange is CEE’s hub for researching, synthesizing and pioneering energy efficiency solutions. It is a resource for practitioners to share best practices, evaluate novel ideas and discover the next generation of energy solutions. CEE has thirty years of experience running energy efficiency programs, conducting field research, and designing data-driven tools. The Innovation Exchange is designed to connect our experiences with those of other energy...
Lissa Pawlisch
Tue, 10/30/2012 - 12:33pm
What’s an efficiency project that most anyone can do? Lighting!
Be it in your home, your business, your school or your government office, lighting uses a lot of energy. According to the Energy Information Administration website, “EIA estimates that in 2010, about 499 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were used for lighting by the residential and commercial sectors. This was equal to about 18% of the total electricity consumed by both of those sectors and about 13% of total U.S. electricity consumption.” So it’s not surprising that many of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) projects included some sort of lighting retrofit component to increase the efficiency of the bulbs being used.
Indeed, out of projects at 260 buildings throughout Minnesota, over half (136 buildings!) received lighting and controls upgrades. Older, incandescent lighting fixtures...
Joel Haskard
Sun, 10/28/2012 - 5:04pm
Throughout Minnesota, schools are making a conscious effort to promote energy efficiency—both in the classroom and in practice. For the second year, the Minnesota Department of Education is partnering with the U.S. Department of Education to recognize these schools with the Green Ribbon Schools program.
The program seeks to highlight K-12 schools across the nation who are working every day to set a great example by saving energy and reducing operating costs, creating environmentally friendly learning spaces, promoting student health and providing environmental education to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum.
To be considered for the program, a school will have achieved or made considerable progress toward the three pillars established in the program: 1) energy efficient buildings; 2) healthy students and school environment; and 3) environmental literacy of all...
Eliza Leahy
Fri, 10/26/2012 - 12:04pm
Over the past three years, Minnesota’s local units of government—including municipalities, counties, and schools—have been hard at work completing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). These projects have included everything from installing energy-efficient street lighting and traffic signals to studying the feasibility of waste heat recovery from wastewater streams.
In total, Minnesota has implemented 165 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funded projects, contributing to the renovation and retrofitting of 260 buildings since 2009.
As we learned more about these projects—and the sheer number of them—we knew that these stories could serve as examples, and hopefully catalysts, to any community around Minnesota looking to curb its energy usage. With that...
Carl Samuelson
Wed, 10/24/2012 - 12:00am
Businesses and homeowners pay for water three times—once to buy it from a utility, once to heat it using natural gas or electricity, and once to dispose of it as wastewater. That’s why high-efficiency faucet aerators, now available through the CERTs Water-Saving Bulk Buy Program, can save business owners and homeowners a lot of money. But not every situation is a good fit, so it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Keep reading to learn the basics!
Flow Rate: If you already have a low-flow aerator, it may not be effective to replace it. Check this by reading the side of the aerator (the metal ring where the water comes out). If your flow rate is more than 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm), you should replace it.
Maintenance: Aerators occasionally need to be rinsed out since sand and particulate can build up, restricting the flow. Plan to replace...
Lissa Pawlisch
Mon, 10/22/2012 - 4:49pm
The Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) are very pleased to welcome Alexis Troschinetz to our staff as the new Behavior Change and Metrics Coordinator.
Alexis has over 7 years of experience working for a variety of stakeholders as an Environmental Engineer at consulting firms ARCADIS and Bonestroo (merging with Stantec). Alexis led efforts to initiate and maintain programs to improve internal operations to be more sustainable, and also provided sustainability services.
Connecting with nature and people invigorates Alexis. She enjoys spending time outdoors with her significant other and dog. In her opinion, backpacking in the northwoods or on a mountain range makes for a perfect vacation. She also enjoys volunteering locally for environmental causes and community building.
Here’s what Alexis has to say about starting with CERTs: “I’m positively thrilled about joining this team to...
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