Utilities Blog Posts
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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...
Chris May
Wed, 05/02/2012 - 12:19pm
On May 15 (only two weeks away!) the Renewable Materials Summit: Markets for Building the Biorefinery will take place in Fargo, North Dakota. The event will highlight and explore the companies and markets that are driving opportunities for returns on investment that leverage the emerging bioeconomy.
We spoke with Tim Welle, Program Manager with The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, to learn a little bit more. You can click here to register for the event or learn more.
Joel Haskard: What can people expect to learn at the Renewable Materials Summit?
Tim Welle: Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the emerging biobased economy. The world is changing for manufacturers and original equiptment manufacturers (OEMs) as petroleum prices increase and consumer demand shifts toward safer materials. Local...
Joel Haskard
Tue, 05/01/2012 - 7:52am
The Midwest is home to a wealth of energy resources, which vary considerably by state. How those resources are deployed will impact the region’s economy, landscape, environment, and public health. A new online resource, The Power Almanac of the American Midwest, has been designed to allow you to flexibly and dynamically explore the region’s electric resources, opportunities, and challenges. We spoke with Rolf Nordstrom, Executive Director of the Great Plains Institute, to learn more.
Joel Haskard: How did the Power Almanac of the Midwest come about?
Rolf Nordstrom: The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Great Plains Institute (GPI) have worked together since 2007 to help policymakers and a very diverse range of interests—from utilities and environmental...
Joel Haskard
Tue, 04/24/2012 - 1:03pm
There are lots of ways for convenience and grocery stores to reduce their overhead costs with simple energy efficiency and conservation efforts. We spoke with Jon Fabre, Senior Program Design Specialist with Otter Tail Power Company (Otter Tail), to learn about innovative ways that Otter Tail is working with their customers to reduce commercial refrigeration costs.
Joel Haskard: Tell us a little bit about the scope and goals of your pilot project focused on commercial refrigeration.
Jon Fabre: The goal of the project was to pilot a new approach to increasing market awareness and customer participation in our Minnesota Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) Commercial Refrigeration program. The project scope included:
Focusing on retail grocery, liquor stores, and convenience stores in geographic areas close to Fergus Falls, MN.
We contacted...
Julia Eagles
Sun, 04/22/2012 - 3:57pm
The Building Owners and Managers Associations of Greater Minneapolis and Greater St. Paul today joined Xcel Energy in announcing the winners of the first annual Kilowatt Crackdown, a new energy conservation initiative. The year-long contest challenged Twin Cities area building owners to improve their buildings’ efficiency.
“We are thrilled that so many building owners participated in this event,” said Judy Poferl, president and CEO of Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota, an Xcel Energy company. “We all know that energy efficiency makes good business sense as well as good environmental sense, but a contest like this is a great way to help companies get started.”
A total of 86 buildings in the Twin Cities participated, saving over 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s equivalency tool, the savings equate to a reduction of more than 9,000...
Bill Mittlefehldt
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 2:26pm
Minnesota is in the midst of a transition to sustainable, clean energies for the 21st century. One of those energy sources is hidden underground. That’s right—there are abundant geothermal resources below our state’s lovely surface. This is the conclusion of a report recently published by the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
The NRRI research team and their state partners looked into the earth through 900 mining holes and wells to measure the heat gradient in rocks below Minnesota. They found no new fossil fuels, but they revealed an exciting amount of heat from geothermal sources. In a non-polluting, closed-loop technology, these thermal resources could be drilled with current natural gas technologies to a depth of 20,000 ft where the temperature is about 250 F. This heat is...
Annette Bair
Tue, 04/10/2012 - 3:59pm
Nearly 70 people joined Senator Al Franken and CERTs at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington on April 2, 2012 to learn about financing tools and opportunities that are currently available to local governments and business leaders, and connect with one another.
Kicking off the event, Senator Franken emphasized the importance of retrofitting public buildings for creating local clean energy jobs and saving energy: “[Retrofitting] is about creating incredibly comfortable work environments, improving quality of life, putting people back to work, lowering our carbon footprint, having economic choice, and adding to our bottom line.” “It’s a win, win, win, win, and maybe some wind in there,” joked Senator Franken.
Utility providers also benefit from these programs as the participants help utilities meet their energy efficiency requirements of 20% energy reduction...
Brittney Bray
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 11:04pm
A new application from Opower, Facebook, and NRDC lets users manage home energy consumption on a Facebook dashboard, comparing their usage with friends, with the end goal being to save energy.
Opower, Facebook, and the Natural Resources Defense Council joined with 16 utilities to launch the social energy app, with an initial reach of 20 million households. “Leveraging the Facebook platform, the app allows people to quickly and easily start benchmarking their home’s energy usage against similar homes, compare energy use with friends, enter energy-saving competitions, and share tips on how to become more energy efficient,” according to Opower’s press release.
How does it work? To use the app, you log in with your Facebook account. Once you do that, you will see a...
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