Clean Energy Resource Teams

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.

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!

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

Presenters: Russ Adams, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability | John Bailey, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund | Michael Haynes, Green Broker & Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota | Lynn Hinkle, Retired UAW leader, Ford Plant Green Redevelopment | Karen Monahan, Sierra Club & EJAM

How can Minnesota Communities continue to grow and develop while maintaining a low carbon footprint?

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

Facilitator: William Weber, UMN Center for Sustainable Building Research
Panelists: Kim Bretheim, LHB | William Freitag, Wilcon Construction | Rick Goodemann, Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership | Matthew Hendricks, Aeon | Rick Klun, Center City Housing Corporation

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

Presenters: Brad Kruse, Weis Builders (Contractor) | Gretchen Camp, BKV Group (Architect) | Heather Gay, Kandiyohi Development Partners (Consultant) | Joel Salzer, Lutheran Social Service of MN (Owner)

 
For the Twin Cities Bike Walk Week, the Phillips Eco-Enerprise Center hosted a breakfast on their green rooftop, delighting even the vegans with a spread of tofu scramble, caramel rolls, breakfast burritos, pancakes, fruit, Peace Coffee, and juices.

This was the best attended bike/walk event in Minneapolis! A total of 120 people came to share breakfast and chat on the roof—116 bikers and 4 walkers. They came from as close as a half mile and as far as 26 miles! Many who were just on their way to work were brought in by a sidewalk chalk sign on the Midtown Greenway!

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak even made the party and stayed for about a half hour, chatting with local students and others enjoying breakfast on the roof before biking down the street to South High School.

Welcome to the completely redesigned CERTs site!

 
HISTORY   Since 2003 the Clean Energy Resource Teams Web site has played a key role in our mission to connect people with the technical resources needed to identify and implement community-scale energy efficiency and clean energy projects. The site is accessed daily by Minnesotans from all walks of life, people across the US, and even international audiences—it engages on average 25,000 unique visitors every year.

NEW FEATURES   All of our informational and educational resources are still available, but we have added multiple new features that we hope you and your community members will appreciate:
► This Get Answers Blog where CERTs staff and friends will share up-to-date news and information
► A Donate to Projects service allowing visitors to offer direct financial support to projects in need
► A Project Planning section geared toward helping your community get projects on the ground
► The ability to Ask an Expert and get high-quality responses to your toughest questions

 
The Metro CERTs Network Kick-off on April 15th was attended by over 200 people, from elected officials to community members—and everyone in between! It was held at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, where the main room was buzzing with conversation.

There was good energy, and many great connections made. “It was a very well done get together and I think very beneficial to everyone. You did a great job,” said Ruth Keely. Brian Flanagan felt much the same way: “Great venue last night. Good group of people—excellent for networking. The Food was outstanding; I hope you have more get togethers!” We even dubbed the King and Queen of networking, Beth Bennett and John Dunlop.