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Bringing you news about clean energy projects and opportunities happening across the state. Tell your story.
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Joel Haskard
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 10:00am
States and communities are increasingly investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy to achieve their air quality, economic, and energy goals. In doing so, they have found that the up-front costs of improving energy efficiency and increasing renewable energy generation can be a barrier for many homeowners, building owners, and businesses. One way to address these barriers is by adopting clean energy financing programs that can make efficiency and renewable energy more affordable for these sectors.
EPA’s State and Local Climate and Clean Energy Program is supporting these efforts with the launch of a new online Financing Program Decision Tool and a Financing Program Decision Guide.
Here are the details:
The Financing Program Decision Tool is designed for state and local staff in the early...
Michelle Vigen
Wed, 01/11/2012 - 3:19pm
I originally posted this on my blog during a community-based social marketing training on November 2, 2011.
For the last two days, I’ve attended Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s (DMM) Introductory Workshop on Community-Based Social Marketing. DMM went through the process of behavior identification and delineation; barrier and benefit analysis; tools to overcome those barriers; and pilot structures. Over 16 hours, we heard case studies and stories from research and practitioners implementing CBSM strategies, often to great success. From the last two days:
I understand how importance of the details of this approach in helping communities meet their impact goals. With limited resources, we can’t afford to just guess when there’s so much information out there already about what does and does not work. I see what we sacrifice when we take shortcuts in...
Michelle Vigen
Sun, 01/08/2012 - 3:10pm
Wes Schultz is a professor at California State University – San Marcos, and is one of the leading American researcher around community-based social marketing, in an article he has prepared for Conservation Biology (to be published in 2012), that he shared with me, he hits home what I consider are the most powerful and useful takeaways from this field so far.
Wes Schultz clearly defines the problem of our deteriorating environmental conditions to be human-caused, and therefore the solution must also come from humans, namely through changing behavior. This is characteristic of what other social fields call “wicked problems” or “adaptive problems”. If we were rational, long-term thinking creatures, we wouldn’t have this problem. But the challenge is that we are human, and we are much more than economic or rational beings.
Four research findings that illustrate the challenges of...
Brittney Bray
Fri, 01/06/2012 - 3:49pm
This information was originally part of a Midwest Energy News article by Dan Haugen on November 7, 2011. His reflection on the Institute on the Environment’s E3 (Energy, Economy and Environment) conference at the University of Minnesota follows.
This morning we heard from the German Embassy’s energy and environment counselor, Friedo Sielemann, who talked about how his country became one of the world’s clean-energy success stories.
Germany now generates more than 20 percent of its electricity from renewables. And it’s achieved that without disrupting its economy, Sieleman said.
“We often hear that if you do this or that for the environment, your economy will suffer,” Sieleman said. Germany, however, has grown its GDP even as energy use has decreased. “These three are not automatically connected.”
The goal isn’t to give “eternal support” for renewables, Sieleman said, but rather...
Brittney Bray
Wed, 01/04/2012 - 3:32pm
Heating the Midwest (HTM), a newly-formed biomass thermal advocacy group, announced its official structure, mission and intent. The group represents industry, government, non-profit, university and tribal organizations that have a vested interest in growing awareness and usage of woody and agricultural biomass (i.e. pellets, wood, and agricultural residues) and dedicated energy crops for heating and CHP (combined heat and power) in the Midwest.
Following a successful initial summit meeting at Black Bear Casino Resort on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Carlton, Minn., on February 9, 2011, Heating the Midwest mobilized by forming a steering committee, developing a mission and holding regularly-scheduled meetings. A growing network of more than 50 Midwest organizations, HTM works to promote biomass to a larger constituency, including government policy makers and entities, consumers and...
Brittney Bray
Thu, 12/22/2011 - 11:48am
The Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) is now inviting businesses to apply for their intern program. Each summer, the program hires and places highly qualified students in manufacturing or healthcare facilities to develop solutions for waste and energy problems.
MnTAP is an outreach and assistance program based at the University of Minnesota that helps Minnesota businesses develop and implement industry-tailored solutions that prevent pollution at the source, maximize efficient use of resources, and reduce energy use and costs to improve public health and the environment.
Since 1985, MnTAP has been coordinating an intern program that places highly qualified students in facilities for up to three months. MnTAP began offering the program as a way to affect change in businesses. The goal of the program is to provide benefits to businesses and students while building MnTAP...
Brittney Bray
Wed, 12/21/2011 - 3:55pm
This Midwest Energy News report was originally posted by on October 21, 2011 by Ken Paulman.
Three Midwest states are among the most-improved in this year’s rankings from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, while Minnesota leads the region.
The report ranks the states according to six policy metrics, including incentives, building codes, transportation policies, and efficiency standards. Meanwhile, the full report (PDF) has a breakdown of each state’s score.
Michigan’s ranking improved more than any other state, thanks in large part to an aggressive appliance buy-back program, according to the Detroit Free Press. Illinois’ jump was the second largest, followed by Nebraska. Wisconsin, meanwhile, dropped five places in part because of efforts to roll back...
Joel Haskard
Mon, 12/19/2011 - 3:39pm
Electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are beginning to enter the Minnesota landscape. Forward-looking electric utilities are creating programs to help manage the opportunities and challenges that these vehicles bring to the electrical grid. Great River Energy’s ChargeWise is one such program that is helping their customers making this automotive transition.
ChargeWise is a voluntary program offered by participating member cooperatives to their member owners who own an EV or PHEV. Qualified members in the ChargeWise program will receive up to $500 for the installation of the ChargeWise outlet or charging station of their choice, and meter. Participation in the program means that power will be provided to the vehicle only during the off-peak hours of 11:00pm until 7:00am. Joel Haskard at CERTs spoke with Eddie Webster, Load Management Coordinator at...
Brittney Bray
Thu, 12/15/2011 - 11:00am
Seventeen Minnesota community and technical college instructors recently took part in train-the-trainer sessions on Windustry’s new Small Wind Energy Systems Curriculum and are now prepared to offer courses on the subject.
The six-credit course material was produced by Windustry and written by experts, with support from the MN Office of Energy Security. It is the first of its kind in the country, designed to prepare installers for the written portion of the exam by North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP).
Such training provides much needed workforce development for an expanding small wind industry. This course focused on energy systems with nameplate capacity of up to 100kW and are optimum for residential scale use..
“Certification in this field will...
Brittney Bray
Thu, 12/15/2011 - 10:24am
This article, written by Stacie Kimball, originally appeared in the Alexandria Echo Press.
The new District 206 high school in Alexandria will be energy efficient due to a decision made at the most recent school board meeting. At the meeting held on Monday, November 21, the District 206 School Board voted unanimously to pursue LEED certification for the high school project. The school would be the first one in Alexandria to receive this certification.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Efficiency Design, is the national standard for design, construction and operation of high performance “green” buildings. The certification is a higher standard for design and construction that promotes energy efficiency, environmental responsibility and creates a healthy environment for teaching and learning....
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