CERTs goes door to door with main street businesses

Energy Hero is a voluntary program in Austin, Minn. where businesses can sign up to receive notices to reduce their energy use during high-demand periods (think afternoons on the hottest days). This benefits the community as a whole by helping to lower energy costs and contributes to overall energy efficiency for the community.

In late August, a team of four CERTs staff and one Southeast CERT steering committee member spent the day with Austin Utility employees, visiting local businesses to learn and share information about the Energy Hero program. That outreach helped double the number of businesses enrolled in the program. Beyond that, several businesses self-identified recent projects they had installed that were eligible for rebates, or brought up ideas for energy efficiency or renewable energy projects they wanted to pursue in 2026.    

“It was really rewarding to see how engaged business owners were about simple ways to save energy and reduce costs,” noted Jennifer Lindahl, SE CERT coordinator. “Some were excited to share what they had already done and what they are thinking about with their next upgrades." 

With support from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), for several years CERTs has provided unbiased information to farmers and rural small businesses looking to reduce their energy costs with energy efficiency or renewable energy. This work often led to assisting these small businesses with applying to the Rural Energy for America Program grants. Those grants have been halted by the current administration. Still, the work to help farmers with solar site assessments, energy audits, and locating funding options goes on.

Colby Abazs, business renewable energy consultant for CERTs, says, “It is so nice to be able to work one on one with small businesses so that we can personalize CERTs support to the unique needs of that local business.”

CERTs staff know how busy small businesses are. So in early September CERTs coordinated with Dakota Electric Association and the cities of Burnsville and Eagan to hit the streets and connect with small businesses. To make the connections as successful and easy as possible for the businesses, CERTs and the cities reached out beforehand to business owners via mail and phone calls to give them a heads up on the impending visits.

“We could tell the effort was appreciated through all the questions and conversations we had,” says Jacob Selseth, business energy efficiency consultant with CERTs who led the effort. “You never know what connections you can make doing these quick visits. One of our stops at a youth sporting goods store, the clerk was literally working on her environmental studies thesis. How much fun is that? We were able to share our real world experiences with someone excited about doing this same thing.” 

From seeing new LED lights installed at a local consignment shop, to helping ensure a business was on the right electric rate, these short visits build connections and make it easier for busy businesses to save a little green.

With the support of the Carolyn Foundation, and in partnership with the Lake Street Council and others, CERTs has been working along Lake Street on the Small Business Equitable Energy Decarbonization Initiative (SBEEDi) project. The SBEEDi is turbocharging implementation of energy efficiency improvements and solar installations with Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrant-owned businesses in the Twin Cities. This work will generate a whole story (or stories!) onto itself, but serves as a reminder that CERTs is working with small businesses in the metro, as well as in rural communities. 

Alongside the Empower Crookston community efforts, CERTs staff have been working with industrial park businesses on energy efficiency improvements. This fits squarely into Empower Crookston’s goals to “improve Crookston's quality of life, economy, and affordability.”

One project in particular stood out to Anna Peterson, Northwest CERT coordinator: a business had purchased an adjacent building. Anna worked with Otter Tail Power, who conducted an energy assessment for the business owner. The assessment provided the business with options to make their new building as energy-efficient as possible before they moved into it. 

“I had a lot of fun working on this project and seeing all the different things available to help businesses,” Anna shares. “This person opens their overhead doors frequently, and Otter Tail had suggestions for Green Hinges for their doors. There’s so much low-hanging fruit that businesses can use to increase their energy efficiency.”