St. Cloud undertakes extensive renewable energy efforts

Liz Kramer, St. Cloud’s GreenStep Coordinator, sees that there is a lot of variety within the city’s sustainability goals. The extent of their range grows as they continue to work on renewable energy projects—community solar, biofuel energy, and others. Kramer states: "St. Cloud is most proud of our renewable energy actions. Starting at almost 0% of energy coming from renewable sources in 2016, we are at 70% from renewables in 2019. This also leads to an increased focus on education. It’s the perfect opportunity to get the word out to St. Cloud’s diverse audience, made up of residents, industry professionals, city staff, and other community members." According to Kramer, such initiatives allow many individuals to come together and see how clean energy actions can tie into many different fields, opening up conversations regarding the impacts of clean energy on the city’s community. And people, including the media, are taking notice.

See Best Practice Actions for more information on installing public renewable energy projects (26.5).

Many of these actions became achievable through the GreenStep Cities program. Kramer states, “One of the big things that GreenStep Cities provides is a framework. How can we take what we’re doing and take it one step further or think of something that hasn’t occurred to us quite yet.” Drawing ideas from other member communities’ projects are all part of the bigger picture while moving in the right direction. Kramer elaborates that, “you can also use everything that other people are doing to inspire your own actions.” The program has assisted not only in guiding the city, but also helping St. Cloud keep track of their sustainable actions. Kramer adds, “It’s a great way to track what you’re doing and keep up with what you’re doing, and hold yourself accountable, as well as getting inspiration and ideas from other communities.”

However, as many as there are visible and interactive displays to prove the growth of the community’s efforts, there are just as many actions that go into these projects that can’t be seen. This is especially true when it comes to long-term sustainability and energy initiatives such as the layout of steps in the city’s comprehensive plan or data taken on water quality. These components are just as important, forming plans to provide a path for where St. Cloud will head next on its greener journey. 

See Best Practice Actions for more information on comprehensive plans (6.1), monitoring water quality data (19.1).

Notably, the city’s successful work thus far has not always been easy to accomplish. Barriers come to St. Cloud in the form of time and funds. Projects either require a funding source or they’re designed to cover costs for themselves in the long-run. Kramer stresses the importance of not putting a financial burden on residents—projects should not only help with clean energy goals, but also remove any financial risk to tax-payers. On the other hand, time can become a challenge when there are ideas Kramer wants to implement right away. She exposes this issue by saying that, “actions will be long-term solutions for our community, so you have to take the time to formulate the ideas. We’re choosing the best possible steps for St. Cloud, and want to ensure that they’re going to serve our residents for a really long time, but sometimes I really wish you could get started right away, even though you have to move through all the steps to make sure it’s the best possible version of what it could be.”

Yet, these obstacles do not discourage the city; clean energy and climate change are both topics that drive St. Cloud's sustainability efforts. Both are important to the community where a shared culture of continuous improvement is fostered via city services, and part of that is seeking the best possible way to provide them. The city is benefiting more from cleaner energy than it ever has before, where the power used to maintain buildings and filter or treat wastewater are all directly energized from the city’s solar arrays and biofuel generators. This leads to an overall reduction in cost—making long-term financial sense to the community as well. Currently, there are 14 solar arrays built on city properties and two biofuel generators; one is already producing energy while the other one prepares to go online in the fall. Street lights, traffic lights, and park lighting have all been transitioned to efficient LED lighting.