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This post is an interview between CERTs Staffer Joel Haskard and USDA Rural Development “Rural Energy for America Program” grant writer, Kellye Rose The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) guidelines are about to be released.

With expanded and enhanced tax credits and other incentives from the recent federal stimulus bill, NOW is the time to do energy efficiency upgrades on your home and install the renewable energy system of your dreams! There are several helpful resources listed below, but you can always find up-to-date incentive information on Minnesota renewables and efficiency at DSIRE.

This session is being live-blogged from the 2009 Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Technology Conference, New Times – New Tech.

Presented by Gavin Clabaugh, vice president of information services for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, this session offers an introduction to Web 2.0 and the age of ambient communities.

The Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program is pleased to announce the release of its new Web site to the public today, Thursday, February 19th, 2009. Visit www.SchoolsCuttingCarbon.

When some residents around the United States open their monthly utility bills these days, they know with a simple glance if they are model energy-using citizens for their area, or if they need to do some major efficiency and conservation work to keep up with the Jones and the Smiths.

Following several months of planning and weeks of negotiation, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today in Denver. The bill contains $87 billion in green investment funds (and up to $112.9 billion depending on what you include as green)—a combination of direct energy spending, tax relief, and infrastructure improvements.

CERTs is pleased to announce that we received several fantastic submissions for our Clean + Green Video Shorts Contest! The videos are all streaming on our Web site, and ready for you to watch so that you can vote for your favorites! Voting is open from January 20th to February 2nd, so tell us which videos you like the best as soon as possible. All videos will be screened during the Feb.

Kerri Miller, Feb 11 Legislative Forum Moderator Kerri joined Minnesota Public Radio in June 2004 as host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning and Talking Volumes, the joint book club of MPR, the Star Tribune and the Loft Literary Center. She has been a radio and television news reporter since 1981, serving as a political reporter for KARE-11 for several years.

Representative Jeremy Kalin, Feb 11 Welcoming Plenary Address Jeremy Kalin is the 2nd term Democratic Farmer Labor Representative from Minnesota District 17B. He was first elected in 2006.

The Phillips Community Energy Co-op (PCEC) is an urban energy co-op working to significantly lower energy costs and increase the use of clean energy throughout the Phillips community in South Minneapolis. The PCEC is committed to bringing affordable energy-efficient products and services to Phillips community renters, homeowners, landlords, and small businesses.

Governor Tim Pawlenty recently announced the Stay Warm Minnesota campaign that features a new website for information and resources to help Minnesota families get through another cold winter. The website www.staywarm.mn.gov is a collaborative effort between state government agencies, the state’s major utilities, and several non profit organizations in the energy and social service fields.

Community-Based Energy Development During this workshop you will learn the basics of Community-Based Energy Development, the steps for putting together a community wind project, business models for wind development featuring a panel of developers.

We need your help. We are working to identify 100 public high schools, colleges and universities across Minnesota to take part in the Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon program.   There are so many schools doing great things right now to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprints; we hope that this will be an additional resource to help them meet their goals.

Recently, the Minnesota Energy Challenge, in partnership with Eureka Recycling and the City of Minneapolis, added recycling and composting actions to the actions people can take on the challenge.

If you’re as interested in seeing our schools cutting energy costs and their total carbon footprint as Senator Clinton and the United States Green Building Council are then there’s no doubt you’ll want to get involved with their upcoming series of webinars aimed to help schools across the country get a better idea of just how valuable some simple investments in green infrastructure can be.

The University of Minnesota recently received one of five Champions of Sustainability in Communities Awards given by the Sustainable Endowments Institute for the first time this year. The Champions Award recognizes schools with community partnerships that demonstrate the impact of collaboration in achieving sustainability goals.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Southwest Regional Development Commission recently received a National Association of Development Organization (NADO) 2008 Excellence in Regional Transportation Award for their Wind Development, Roads, Bridges, and Land Use Initiative.

On October 15th, 2008 from 1:30–3:30pm the Office of Energy Security hosted a webinar on the kickoff of Phase II of the DRG Study.

With energy costs on the rise and low-income families feeling the greatest pressure, the Otter Tail-Wadena Community Action Council and the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance are teaming up to weatherize homes and install solar heat systems, with a little help from the Central Clean Energy Resource Team.

Cross-posted from Center for American Progress

In The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, acclaimed activist and environmental leader Van Jones tackles the challenges of oil dependence, a sagging economy, and global warming itself, transforming these looming threats into enormous financial opportunities.

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA, October 6, 2008. Solar is the big winner after the US Congress passed the tax credits extensions for renewable energy generation on Friday 3 October as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

On Saturday, September 27th a fired up crowd gathered at the Minneapolis Urban League to help create a new clean, green, inclusive economy.

Recently, Minnesota Environmental Initiative hosted a forum on carbon cap-and-trade. The keynote speaker, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, spoke from personal experience in support of a carbon cap-and-trade policy at the federal level.