News

The field of solar energy is growing at an amazing rate. But before new technologies can make it into our homes and businesses, extensive research must be done first. This is precisely what the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) and Apex Solar have done recently with solar thermal air heating for ventilation.

The Ely Area Senior Center is an important fixture in the Ely community. It has operated out of an old mechanic’s garage since 1982 and provides services to seniors six days a week.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has been looking at all things energy in a series of videos and reports on energy use. He and other reporters have been trying to break down how and where different types of energy are employed in the U.S.

As it stands, renewable energy makes up only about 10 percent of what we use in the United States.

In 2011 the Town Board of Thomson Township was looking for a way to increase energy efficiency in the township’s public buildings as a way to reduce costs for their citizens. Every public building got an energy audit to determine the best ways that energy could be saved through upgrades such as new light fixtures, occupancy controls, and heating and cooling adjustments.

Tis’ the season for new steering committee members! We’re excited to introduce you to our new batch of volunteer steering committee members who will be working hard to bring more clean energy projects into their regions across Minnesota.

Do you work for or own a green business or organization? NOW is the time to get your business or organization more exposure to the green community in Minnesota.

As many folks know, the cleanest energy of all is the BTU we never use. With this in mind, recycling products is a great energy saver. CERTs has participated for several years with the Recycle Your Holidays campaign to help homeowners recycle old, broken holiday light strands, and we also have a fantastic location finder available for recycling other lights, like CFLs and fluorescents.

The Northland Arboretum (the Arb) in Brainerd, Minnesota, has worked to educate and engage its visitors on important environmental issues for decades. This nonprofit organization provides nature trails that are available year-round for hiking, biking, snow-shoeing and skiing. The Arb also offers classes, workshops, and seminars that are held at the Arboretum’s Visitor Center.

The Minnesota GreenStep Cities program includes 28 best practices that cities strive to achieve, some of which involve making energy efficient changes to both existing buildings and infrastructure and new developments. Although progress can be tracked within the program by how many best practices have been achieved, hard data of the improvements has been lacking—until now.

The City of River Falls has broken ground on a net-zero home community called Eco Village. The collective goal is to show that sustainable housing can and should be “beautiful and affordable for all.” Main partners in the project include Habitat for Humanity, the City of River Falls, University of Wisconsin, Frisbie Architects, St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that in 2012, wind energy was the fastest-growing power-generation sector for the first time in our nation’s history. The sector accounted for 43 percent of all new U.S. electric generation capacity and $25 billion in new investment.

A drafty city shop in Warren, Minnesota was the first target in the city’s work to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. In 2011 Warren passed a resolution to join the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program. This program allows cities all over the state to follow best practices targeted at improving energy efficiency, sustainability, and quality of life.

The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES) is a member-run non-profit organization that promotes the use of renewable energy in Minnesota through education and practical demonstrations, with a particular emphasis on solar technologies. One of the ways MRES has tried to keep people informed about renewable energy is through various publications.

Metro CERT Director Diana McKeown recently caught up with Scott Cramer, owner of Northern Sun in south Minneapolis (pictured on right side of photos), to ask him about the community solar garden that will be installed on the roof of his business.

Halogen, CFLs, LEDs, Watts, Lumens—what’s the difference? What’s best? We’ve got you covered! Lighting a typical Minnesota home accounts for about 10 percent of the energy needed to power one’s home.

A plant once thought of as only a weed is being investigated as a potential biofuel. Camelina, a two-foot tall plant described as “spindly,” packs a mighty punch.

The seeds are 30-32% oil and can withstand temperatures down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. A 24 acre plot is currently being utilized for testing camelina alongside soybeans at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Cambridge, Minnesota.

Back in April 2012, Oklahoma State University concluded an LED lighting project with a dairy farm. Much like The Minnesota Project’s LED poultry project, the OSU researchers sought to test the LED lights’ energy savings potential and the durability of the bulbs.

In addition, they tracked cow health and milk productivity out of concern the LEDs might harm the dairy cows.

The Home Energy Exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience building will feature several displays dedicated to solar and wind energy.

Please welcome Lindsay Wimmer to the Clean Energy Resource Teams! Lindsay will be working with cities, counties, schools, and other local units of government to curb energy use in their buildings through the Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP).

The West Central Research and Outreach Center has recently turned what was just a dream in 2002 into a reality. The project began with a vision of capturing wind energy and using it in an innovative way; the end product was the completion of the Renewable Hydrogen and Ammonia Pilot Plant located in Morris, Minnesota. The plant’s function is to ultimately create NH3 (ammonia).

Xcel Energy recently announced the 20 recipients of $30 million in renewable energy grants, seven of which are solar projects.

The projects vary in size and location throughout the state of Minnesota as well as one in Wisconsin. The largest project will be a 1.18 megawatt solar installation at a Terminal One parking ramp at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A new trend is sweeping the metro! Light emitting diode (LED) street lights are starting to pop up in suburbs including Eden Prairie and Brooklyn Park. The lights are not only brighter and emit purer white light (rather than yellow), but LEDs are also far more energy and cost efficient. The technology for LED lights is homegrown, Lighting House USA the founding company, is based in Plymouth.

The tiny Minnesota farming town of Milan may be small in terms of population—about 1,000 for the greater Milan area—but it is big time when it comes to energy efficiency. The west central town, through its Greater Milan Initiative, committed in 2009 to develop a long-term community culture of reducing energy usage and costs and promoting renewable energy to end users.