Brainerd Dispatch - Seed grants awarded for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects

The Clean Energy Resource Teams, or CERTs, are kicking off 2012 by announcing seed grant awards in each of their seven regions in Minnesota. Each region awarded $10,000 worth of seed grants, catalyzing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across the state. The 27 grants fund projects that span a multitude of technologies and approaches, and the grantees are diverse, CERTs reported. Aside from pure implementation, many projects also include components of education, outreach, community building, and research.

Projects range from solar heating for mobile homes in Pine River to energy-conserving building controls for Jefferson Elementary in Winona; from a small wind turbine bulk purchase program across southern Minnesota to a solar hot water system for student housing at Vermillion Community College in Ely; from energy-efficient building improvements for city-owned buildings in East Grand Forks and Warren to the creation of clean energy community centers in Milan, Shakopee, and Oakdale; and from energy reduction programs in low-income, multi-family housing in Minneapolis to a biomass heating feasibility guide for southwestern Minnesota. For more information, go online to https://bitly.com/certs2012seedgrants.

The funding is provided by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources. The Clean Energy Resource Teams are a non-partisan, non-advocacy group that works with people across the state to strengthen their communities by supporting money-saving energy efficiency projects and building entrepreneurship around Minnesota’s growing renewable energy industries.