CERTs Monthly Update - January 2009
Hello CERT members and friends, and welcome to the January 2009 edition of our Monthly Update!
We’ve got a lot of exciting things happening at the beginning of 2009!
First of all, thanks to everyone who attended the 2009 CERTs Conference! It was a huge success with over 500 attendees during the two-day events. Presentations, audio and select video from the conference will be available very soon.
For this Monthly Update, we want to highlight and congratulate the charter members of the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program. 103 public high schools, colleges and universities will be working with us to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint. The official website is being launched this week and students and teachers will be entering their information and pictures as we all work together on this exciting three year journey. Come with us! We have listed all the participating schools below, along with some of the priorities they have identified as potential project areas. Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon is a joint program of the Clean Energy Resource Teams, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and Minnesota Office of Energy Security. Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
Regional Highlights & Activities
Statewide
CERTs 2009 Conference a Huge Success! Thanks to the more than 500 people who attended the two-day event. Visit the conference page to find out what you missed—learn more about the agenda and our more than 100 speakers (speaker presentations and audio coming soon)—and learn more about our supporters!
Click here >>
Tax Info from the Minnesota Office of Energy Security: With income taxes around the corner, these links to the federal tax forms for solar and other energy improvement credits may be useful. However, be sure you check with your tax accountant or tax preparer to assure you are submitting the proper documents. The IRS Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit form is at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf. IRS form 3648 to claim a business investment tax credit for solar and other energy improvements is at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f3468—dft.pdf. It is in draft form, but the proper form number will be 3648.
Central Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Battle Lake Public School
- Central Lakes College
- Crosby-Ironton High School
- Minnesota State Community & Technical College
- New York Mills Public School
- Perham-Dent Public Schools
- Princeton High School
- Sebeka Public School
- Staples Motley High School
Klobuchar Awards “Carbon Buster” to West Central Telephone: Sebeka-based West Central Telephone earned a Senator Klobuchar ‘Carbon Buster’ Award for their clean energy initiatives. “We were honored to have Sen. Klobuchar visit WCTA a few weeks back,” said Tony Mayer, CEO of WCTA. “Now to be recognized with this Carbon Buster Award of Excellence furthers our plan to be recognized as a leader in clean, renewable energy here in Minnesota.”
Metro Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Atkin Road Elementary
- Como Park Senior High School
- Dakota County Technical College
- Eagle Ridge Junior High
- Edina High School
- Harding High School
- Higher Ground Academy
- Highland Park Senior High School
- Hopkins High School
- Humboldt Senior High School
- IA LEAP High School
- Interdistrict Downtown School
- Irondale High School
- Jordan High School
- Lakeville South High School
- Metro State University
- Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC)
- North High School
- North Lakes Academy
- Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech)
- Northwest Passage High School
- Osseo Senior High School
- Patrick Henry High School
- Roosevelt High School
- Rosemount High School
- School of Environmental Studies
- Sibley High School
- South High School
- Southwest High School
- St. Michael-Albertville High School
- St. Paul Central High School
- Tartan High School
- The City Inc.
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- Washburn High School
- Watertown-Mayer High School
Metro CERTs co-hosted a workshop in Lake Elmo: The workshop on January 14, 2009 taught participants how to save money and energy at home and at work. The event was organized by the Lake Elmo Rotary Club and also featured speakers from Xcel Energy, Minnesota Waste Wise, and the Office of Energy Security. About twenty people attended the event on a frigid Thursday night, learning how they could use low-cost and no-cost energy efficiency measures to save money.
Metro CERTs staff Diana McKeown moderated Green Government Panel: Diana moderated a panel about evaluating renewable energy options for the “Reducing Energy Costs in Local Government” conference in St. Cloud on January 22, 2009.
Metro CERTs and Shoreview Green Community workshop: Metro CERTs also partnered with Shoreview Green Community to give a workshop on residential energy efficiency on January 28, 2009. The workshop drew nearly 60 people. We launched a contest for the residents of SummerHouse, an independent senior living facility, to reduce their energy use in the month of February and win a gift certificate. We also handed out CFL bulbs and information about how to reduce energy use. The next day the manager of the facility ordered new CFL bulbs for some of the common areas! Shoreview Green Community is a local chapter associated with the Sierra Club that has been working to make Shoreview a more sustainable community since 2005.
Northeast Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Aitkin Public Schools
- Hibbing Community College
- Itasca Community College
- Lake Superior College
- Mesabi Range Community and Technical College-Eveleth Campus
- Proctor High School
- Rainy River Community College
- Two Harbors High School
- University of Minnesota Duluth
- Vermilion Community College
- Virginia Secondary School
Northwest Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Bemidji High School
- Bemidji State University
- Fertile Beltrami Schools
- Goodridge Public Schools
- Grygla Public Schools
- Hawley Public Schools
- Minnesota State University Moorhead
- Northland Community and Technical College
- Northwest Technical College
- Stephen-Argyle Central High School
- University of Minnesota Crookston
Bemidji State Green Campus Forum: In other Northwest news, over 30 people attended the Green Campus Forum hosted by the NW Region CERT at Bemidji State University. To learn more please read the Bemidji Pioneer article at http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/articles/index.cfm?id=21108§ion=news.
Southeast Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Austin High School
- Byron High School
- Century High School
- Faribault
- John Marshall High School
- La Crescent Public Schools
- Mayo High School
- Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical
- Pine Island High School
- Plainview-Elgin-Millville Jr. High
- Spring Grove Public School
- Winona Senior High School
- Winona State University
SE CERT Blog: People can check out the new SE Region CERT blog at http://southeastcerts.blogspot.com.
Southwest Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- Lincoln High School
- Marshall School District
- Mountain Lake Public School
- Redwood Area Schools
- Round Lake Brewster Secondary
- Springfield High School
- St. James High School
- Truman High School
- Wabasso Secondary
West Central Region
Schools Cutting Carbon:
- ACGC (Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City)
- Canby High School
- Dawson-Boyd School
- Eden Valley – Watkins High School
- GFW Schools
- Glencoe-Silver Lake Public Schools
- Hutchinson High School
- Lac qui Parle Valley Schools
- Mankato East High School
- Morris Area School
- Ortonville High School
- Ridgewater College-Willmar Campus
- University of Minnesota Morris
- Willmar High School
Links of the Month
Peer-Awareness Energy Billing – Are you saving as much as your neighbors?
Here is an interesting article about peer awareness energy billing, which lets you compare your family’s energy usage with those of your peers. Read the article, Utilities turn their customers green, with envy >>
Owatonna & Austin Public Utilities (part of Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency) and Connexus and Lake Country Power (part of Great River Energy) are all launching pilot projects along these lines to promote home energy conservation. Stay tuned for more information.
Institute on Renewable Energy and the Environment Videos
Play the video below to learn about some of IREE’s clean energy research, and click on the link above visit their Web site and watch more.
Action Alerts
Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon Web site
The new Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program has selected 103 schools to participate and will be rolling out its new Web site on Thursday, February 19th, 2009. Visit www.SchoolsCuttingCarbon.org to learn more about the program and the schools involved!
Minnesota GreenStep Cities Report
A report to the Minnesota legislature regarding Green Star award expansion and a program proposal to assist local governments in taking the next step to implement carbon reductions and other environmental actions
This report outlines the recommendations for developing a “Green Star Award Expansion” for Minnesota cities and communities to help meet the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, as required by the Laws of Minnesota 2008, Chapter 356, Section 13.
We recommend this concept be developed into a program called “GreenStep Cities.” The plan for this program was collaboratively developed by a broad public-private partnership, and represents the work of dozens of people spending hundreds of hours contributing to the effort. In this era of concern for spending public dollars wisely, we believe this program would achieve efficiencies by developing common and effective approaches for local governments to save energy while also achieving other beneficial environmental outcomes.
The workgroup recommends focusing existing efforts at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Prevention and Assistance Division under the umbrella of the GreenStep Cities program. This would be developed as an actionoriented voluntary program for local governments, starting with cities, that provides a cost-effective and simple pathway to encourage the adoption of sustainable development best practices focusing on greenhouse gas reduction. It would also be an avenue for providing technical assistance to local governments from state agencies, utilities, nonprofit organizations, and others.
This program would have the following goals and outcomes:
- Achieve meaningful reductions in greenhouse gases and other positive environmental outcomes;
- Provide assistance for local governments to achieve best practices in energy use reduction and sustainable development;
- Provide a “Pathway to Sustainability” that is cost-effective, pragmatic, and achievable for all cities;
- Identify specific existing state agency staff and others who are committed to and technically able to help cities implement each specific best practice;
- Promote innovation;
- Inspire and assist residents, businesses, and community institutions to take action; and
- Recognize local governments for their past accomplishments and their new efforts spurred by the program.
Clean Energy Resource Teams