Residents & Neighborhoods Project Planning Resources
This page starts out by showing you the most recent content from across the CERTs website. Jump to detailed resources.
Clean energy projects do not have to be isolated to farms, schools, and government centers. Successful energy efficiency and renewable energy projects have been implemented on individual residential scales or on the neighborhood scale. By knowing at what scale to keep your project, you can make some real energy gains at your own home and neighborhood without breaking the bank or getting burned out.
Residents & Neighborhoods Blog Posts
Abby Finis
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 11:08am
Construction workers from Raymond, Willmar and the surrounding area have benefited from steady work provided through a partnership with the Heartland Community Action Agency. Using money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the agency...
Joel Haskard
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 5:26pm
As we kick off 2012, we are excited to announce the projects awarded CERTs seed grants in each of the seven Minnesota CERTs regions. Each region awarded $10,000 worth of seed grants, catalyzing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects...
Julia Eagles
Wed, 01/18/2012 - 8:04am
Want to save energy in your multifamily building but need some tools and support? Look no further! EnergyScoreCards Minnesota is a two-year effort to implement energy benchmarking and monitoring at hundreds of multifamily buildings in Minnesota. And...
Residents & Neighborhoods Case Studies
This program was designed to combat the two key shortcoming of existing energy efficiency programming. They are: (1) the low level of implementation of energy-saving actions (found in both residential audits and strictly educational programs) and (2) the low number of participants in most conservation programs. To address poor implementation, the home...
Plenty of us have imagined the ideal sustainable community: Greenhouses attached to every house, growing your own fruits and vegetables, knowing our neighbors, and being able to take a short walk to shops and entertainment. Hunt Utilities Group (HUG) in Pine River, MN is trying to make the idea of resilient living a reality with a number of research...
How do you help new homeowners financially beyond the initial purchase of their homes? One approach is to renovate the homes with energy use and operating costs in mind. Now the question becomes what is the best use of limited renovation funds? City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT), a nonprofit in Minneapolis committed to providing housing for...
Upcoming Residents & Neighborhoods Events
Residents & Neighborhoods Event Highlights
Residents & Neighborhoods on CERTs TV
Funding & Financing Opportunities
There are various opportunities for funding and financing any clean energy project. CERTs offers a list of funding opportunities currently available in the fields of energy and the environment. Start exploring now! Learn more
Looking for technology resources?
If you’re looking to learn more about a specific technology, like energy efficiency, solar, or wind, we have what you’re looking for. Our technology resources include everything from basic introductions and frequently asked questions to CERTs case studies to recent reports and organizations that can help you go deeper. Learn more
CERTs Supported Projects
CERTs awards mini-grants to community groups for energy efficiency and clean energy projects across Minnesota. We awarded grants in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. The average amount is $5,000. We have descriptions and maps of all of the projects that we’ve funded. Check them out to see what folks are doing! See projects
Detailed Resources for Residents & Neighborhoods
Energy Guides
Home Energy Use Information & Tools – US DOE
Homeowners and renters know saving energy means saving money without sacrificing comfort. There are many things you can do to save energy in your current home, or when designing and building a new energy-efficient house.
Home Energy Guides – MN Department of Commerce Energy Info Center
The Energy Info Center offers 19 easy-to-use pamphlets with tips, suggestions, and instructions about a variety of energy related issues around your home.
Home Advisor Efficiency Tool – ENERGY STAR
Let ENERGY STAR guide you in making your home more energy efficient, reducing high energy bills, improving comfort, and protecting the environment. This tool is a great start.
A Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – US DOE EERE
This guide will help you learn how to use the energy in your home more efficiently, and also how to use renewable energy to provide your home with electricity, heating, cooling, and water heating.
Green Homes Renovation – US Green Building Council & American Society of Interior Designers’ Foundation
This resource features best practice guidelines and targeted educational resources for sustainable residential improvement projects. This program will increase understanding of sustainable renovation project practices and benefits among homeowners, residents, design professionals, product suppliers and service providers to build both demand and industry capacity.
Organizations
Energy Information Center – The Office of Energy Security, MN Dept. of Commerce
The Energy Information Center specializes in consumer and contractor energy issues, and are an incredibly helpful reference for residents. They also provide information about renewable energy sources.
1-800-657-3710 (MN only)
651-296-5175
651-297-7891 fax
energy.info@state.mn.us
The Center for Energy and Environment
CEE offers a variety of financing, rehabilitation, and audit services to thousands of Minnesota property owners in both the seven county metro area and statewide. They have a number of excellent resources for homeowners.
Minnesota Green Communities
Minnesota Green Communities is a collaboration of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, the Family Housing Fund, and Enterprise designed to foster the creation of affordable, healthier, and more energy efficient housing throughout Minnesota. The initiative supports the production of affordable housing with markedly reduced energy costs, use of materials beneficial to the environment, conservation-minded land use planning, and attention to the creation of healthy environments and lifestyles for individuals, children, families, and communities.
Minnesota GreenStar Homes & Remodeling
Minnesota GreenStar is a Green building standard and certification program for both existing and new homes that promotes healthy, durable, high performance homes. MN GreenStar was designed from the ground up to be the best system for Minnesota, giving builders and remodelers the tools to excel, and providing homeowners the knowledge with which to compare the performance of their homes. MN GreenStar embraces Minnesota’s climate extremes and natural resources and leverages its building codes and national leadership in such areas as clean water and combating climate change.
Incentives
Residential Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Incentives in Minnesota – Office of Energy Security
This one-page document is a handy overview of all incentives offered by the state of Minnesota for residential energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. It includes links to more information.
Minnesota Solar Electric and Solar Hot Water Rebate Programs – MN Office of Energy Security
Both programs are open to all residential property owners in Minnesota. Funds are now available for both programs and will be awarded on an on-going basis until funds are exhausted. Because hiring a renewable energy contractor is one of the requirements for both rebates, the Minnesota Office of Energy Security’s Web site also includes a list of questions to ask a renewable energy contractor and a list of solar energy contractors in Minnesota.
Research & Information Resources
Video: It’s Worth It: Money Saving Methods For Home Energy Use
By Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties, this 20-minute video outlines energy- and money-saving methods for you to employ in your home.
Video: Helping with…HEAT: The Energy Assistance Program
By Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties, this 15-minute video introduces through six personal stories the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program that helps homeowners in Minnesota keep their homes warm in the winter.
CERTs Technology Resources
The following technologies are quite applicable to most residential settings:
Residential Building Research Projects – National Renewable Energy Laboratory
NREL’s research objectives in the area of residential buildings are to develop integrated energy efficiency and onsite renewable energy power solutions that can be successfully used on a large production scale to reduce whole-house energy use in new homes by 50% in 2015 and by 90% in 2025.
Clean Energy Resource Teams