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Background In 2009, the Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE) received a grant from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund to run a comprehensive neighborhood-based energy efficiency program in eight cities across Minnesota.

The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, or RREAL, has partnered up with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa to work to replicate RREAL’s Solar Assistance Program through outreach and education. The Basics: To accomplish this work, RREAL is looking for highly motivated, action-oriented, and self-directed applicants interested in learning more about solar thermal.

In the small town of Gonvick, Minnesota, the Clear Waters Life Center has revitalized an old building and with it, a community. When the schools of Gonvick and Clearbrook were combined in 1992, a new school building opened north of Clearbrook in 2004 to accommodate the influx of students and the Gonvick School was vacated.

Randy Washburn has a knack for how things operate. Although he has only been Supervisor of Itasca County’s Facilities Management Office for five years, he has made a huge impact. Washburn has a good understanding of the constraints of the county’s energy budget. This is why he started asking questions in 2009, and since then, he has not stopped.

Minnesota is not known for mild winters, which makes keeping heat in buildings a top priority. Weatherization is the prime approach to do just that. Weatherization techniques, such as air sealing and envelope improvements, provide relatively low-cost energy savings and warmer buildings for occupants in wintertime.

From the 1960s to the 1980s many affordable housing projects were developed. As these units have begun to age, they require frequent repair and upgrades to address health, safety and energy efficiency concerns. The Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership (SWMHP) found that incorporating energy efficiency measures into its housing accommodations was a win-win plan.

For cities, school districts, households, and businesses looking to stay a bit warmer this winter and save on energy costs, weatherization techniques such as air sealing, weather-stripping, and insulation of walls and/or roofs could be effective solutions.

Community engagement can be a powerful tool for change, especially when it comes to energy use and conservation. This is because the positive acts of one household can influence how their neighbors act, which in turn can have an effect on an entire neighborhood.

Reduced energy costs can be real budget savers for public entities. But how do you know if your buildings are using too much energy? Benchmarking is a process that allows you to manage your building’s energy use and determine what buildings are a priority for lighting upgrades, HVAC retrofits, and larger overhauls.

We caught up with Anna Jursik, Program Assistant at Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) about their new Innovation Exchange to learn more about the endeavor and how Minnesotans can get involved.

The riverside city of Oak Park Heights knows when to take advantage of a good opportunity. The city received an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) in 2009 through the U. S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Oak Park Heights used the EECBG funding to improve its energy efficiency and conservation efforts.

What’s an efficiency project that most anyone can do? Lighting! Be it in your home, your business, your school or your government office, lighting uses a lot of energy. According to the Energy Information Administration website, “EIA estimates that in 2010, about 499 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were used for lighting by the residential and commercial sectors.

Over the past three years, Minnesota’s local units of government—including municipalities, counties, and schools—have been hard at work completing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The Center for Energy and Environment has developed a home energy efficiency index for use with its residential energy program, targeted at cost-effective retrofits for existing homes. We spoke with Carl Nelson, Manager of Residential Programs, to learn more.

The USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) provides assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to complete a wide variety of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, including solar PV and solar thermal projects. The program, administered by USDA Rural Development, offers grants and loan guarantees to any agricultural producer or rural small business.

The City of Rogers, a new member of the Metro CERT Affiliate Network, is making huge strides in energy efficiency. Since 2009, Rogers has worked with the Center for Energy and Environment and Xcel Energy to retrofit lighting in 8 of its 9 public buildings. Just in the past year, the city also converted 100% of its traffic lights and its municipal liquor store exterior lighting to LED technology.