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Dan Thiede
Tue, 05/15/2012 - 9:24am
CERTs is pleased to announce that next Monday, May 21st we will open a request for proposals (RFP) for technical assistance to catalyze community energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. So stay tuned for that announcement, or sign up for email updates so that you don’t miss it.
Each region has $10,000 to award. Each team’s Steering Committee will make its own selections and project funding levels will vary by region. Projects can apply for up to the full $10,000 in their region, but historically regions have funded multiple projects in each region. See more information below about previously funded projects.
We awarded grants in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. The amount varies depending on the year and the project.
All projects
This map includes all projects ever funded by CERTs, color-coded by the year the award was...
Dan Thiede
Tue, 05/15/2012 - 8:04am
Before your calendar starts filling up for February 2013, we want to make sure you mark off February 20-21, 2013 (a Wednesday and Thursday) so that you can join us for the fifth biennial Clean Energy Resource Teams statewide conference!
What can you expect? We can’t tell you exactly what the agenda will look like, but we do know that the event will be an exploration and celebration of successful energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and that it will be a coming together of hundreds of amazing people who are working to create a clean energy future in their communities and beyond. After the conference you will return home and to work with tangible and practical information for planning projects, as well as great connections to help you move forward and continue collaborating....
Julia Eagles
Thu, 05/10/2012 - 1:54pm
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. He outlined some of the broader steps the Minneapolis is taking towards sustainability, including benchmarking the city’s carbon footprint and measuring their progress based on a series of indicators.
Ecological Footprint of the Twin Cities: Professor Ignacio San Martin from the Center for Metropolitan Design at the University of Minnesota was the keynote speaker for the event. He shared his research on the Twin Cities ecological footprint, which looks...
Susan Waughtal
Fri, 05/04/2012 - 11:59am
There are more people than you’d think living off the grid in the Southeast CERT Region, and we’re happy to share their awesome stories!
Adrienne Tryan and Adam Kidney live off the grid in a small cabin they built from reclaimed materials
The Huelskamps live in a solar- and wind-powered geodesic dome on an organic farm that is off the grid and power their car and tractor with biodiesel fuel
The Dedens retrofitted their woodland home to achieve a carbon-neutral lifestyle through major energy efficiency improvements and a grid-tied solar array
We are proud to note that Rich Huelskamp and Joe Deden have also been long-time members of the Southeast CERT steering committee!
Read about the motivations and challenges for these three southeast Minnesota families striving to live more...
Joe Rand
Mon, 04/30/2012 - 4:38pm
The 2nd Annual Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge is fast approaching—and teams are hard at work designing their wind turbines and solar boats:
“Dude, how many milli-watt seconds did you get with that vertical axis turbine?”
“Woah, these airfoil blades are spinning mad-fast!”
“Maybe we should, like, charge the capacitor in case the sun goes behind that cloud…”
You might do a double take when you see who is having these conversations—middle school students discussing the coefficient of power? High school students arguing over the optimal blade pitch for their turbine at 7 m/s wind speeds? Welcome to the excitement and energy of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge!
The Minnesota Renewable Energy Challenge is a student-driven wind turbine design competition, solar boat race, and renewable energy career...
Joel Haskard
Wed, 04/11/2012 - 8:39am
CERTs recently focused on the amazing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center has undertaken.
We thought it would be fun to shine a spotlight on the inspiring projects that Minnesota’s residential environmental learning centers (Audubon, Deep Portage, Eagle Bluff, Long Lake, Laurentian and Wolf Ridge) have also been implementing. These extraordinary places provide fun, formative experiences for people of all ages and foster a connection to the natural environment.
We talked with Bryan Wood, Co-Executive Director of the Audubon Center of the North Woods to begin the series.
Joel Haskard: What is the Audubon Center of the North Woods?
Bryan Wood: The Audubon Center of the North Woods (ACNW) is a non-profit 501(c3)...
Annette Bair
Fri, 03/02/2012 - 2:11pm
Juhl Wind just announced a newly formed subsidiary, Juhl Renewable Energy Systems (JRES), to meet the market needs for smaller scale wind and solar systems business. JRES is focused on the sales and installation of Juhl’s on-site renewable energy systems.
JRES handles projects from start to finish, including design, sales, financing and service. Juhl plans to provide several financing structures including its ongoing system ownership at customer sites while delivering guaranteed operations and savings to end-user customers.
“With great success over the last two years of developing larger community wind farms, the time seems right to expand our attention to the growing demand in the medium and small business market and residential sector,” stated Dan Juhl, Chairman and CEO of Juhl Wind, Inc. “We are confident the demand for products in this market is there...
Brittney Bray
Wed, 02/29/2012 - 11:51am
This Faribault Daily News article by Joseph Lindberg was originally published on Wed, 10/26/2011.
To most, old windmill towers and piles of scrap angle-iron are nothing but junk. But a Cannon City Township man sees those cast-away pieces for their true potential: year-round energy-producing machines. Gerald Bauer’s backyard is a mecca of renewable energy engineering. He has a pair of solar panels rigged to “track” the sun as it bridges the sky, not to mention two wind towers stitched together by sheer ingenuity and dozens of trips to the scrap yard.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Bauer, 69. With the help of industrial pulleys and a clever hinge system, he raised his second wind tower this week. Bauer probably doesn’t know what a utility bill looks like any more. He hasn’t paid one in two years...
Jeff Vetsch
Mon, 02/27/2012 - 3:16pm
Over forty people gathered on Valentine’s Day at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center for a West Central CERT networking event to share their love for clean energy, get to know each other better, and talk about past and future projects in the region.
Read more about the event as well as the energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that Prairie Woods has undertaken in these two articles by West Central Tribune’s Tom Cherveny:
Smaller, renewable energy projects setting roots across west central Minnesota
For Prairie Woods, energy goal is now a reality
“It was great to see a crowd enthused and engaged about energy conservation and renewable energy,” says Jeff Vetsch, coordinator for the West Central CERT. “We had people from so many walks of life—architects, teachers, bankers,...
Dan Thiede
Thu, 02/09/2012 - 11:51am
An innovative education program centered on renewable energy and conservation is helping students in Northeastern Minnesota re-imagine our energy future—creating a model that can be used across the state.
Established as a pilot program in 2008, Energy Explosion dispels the myth that science education is boring, through a variety of activities specifically designed to get students involved and excited about the material. Some of these activities include student volunteers playing musical instruments such as an electric guitar with an amp and an electric keyboard powered by a photovoltaic (PV) solar array, a biodiesel generator, a small 400 Watt wind turbine, and an energy bike powered by one of their peers.
Energy Explosion classes take place both at the Nature Center and in the schools, by making use of a mobile energy education trailer named Electron.
“The mobility piece was a...
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