News

From Earth Day 2012 to Earth Day 2013, two Minnesota families and hundreds of their teammates have been competing in the Family Energy FACE-OFF to see who can save more energy. This community-based energy competition was launched in a partnership between the Minnesota-based, Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) and the University of Minnesota Morris, Office of Sustainability.

The Minnesota Division of the Izaak Walton League awards a scholarship of up to $1,000 per year to assist students who enter or continue in an education program in Environmental Education, Environmental Law, Wildlife Management or some program whose primary focus is conservation of resources or environmental science.

Qualifications:

Applicant must be a Minnesota resident.

Red Lake Falls, MN—Over thirty people toured the Northwest Manufacturing plant in Red Lake Falls on April 4th to learn about the biomass industry in Minnesota. Northwest Manufacturing is home of the Wood Master furnaces, which use cord wood and biomass pellets as their fuel source.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is now accepting applications from organizations interested in participating as a host site for the 2013-14 year of the Minnesota GreenCorps progam and up to 28 full time members with various host sites.

If you’re going to be a clean energy advocate, you’ve got to walk the walk. And that’s just what Moorhead Public Service (MPS), the municipal electric utility for Moorhead, Minn., has done. They’re using solar arrays and wind turbines to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy systems in their community.

The 9th Annual Small Wind Conference will be held June 18 – 19 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center. This pivotal event brings together small wind installers, manufacturers, dealers and distributors, supply chain stakeholders, educators, public benefits program managers, site assessors and advocates, all working together to move the small wind industry forward.

May 1st marks an exciting day for the clean energy community of Minnesota! The 2013 Energy for Defense II event will center on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)—the world’s largest consumer and developer of power and energy solutions—and will showcase to the DoD the innovative energy solutions available in the Midwest region.

In the summer of 2012, Lawrence Landherr undertook a project to replace a very energy inefficient house in need of substantial repairs on the North Shore of Lake Superior with a state-of-the-art energy-efficient home.

Folks who attended the last session of the CERTs 2013 Conference gave themselves a unique challenge.

Announcements, Announcements! Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are available for two interesting opportunities for clean energy service providers!

Deadline: The deadline for submitting both proposals is April 22, 2013.

Wednesday evenings are filled with the promise that the work week is more than halfway over and the vision of the weekend is on the horizon.

That is precisely why I am ECSTATIC about the upcoming event with Metro CERT on Wednesday April 17th.

Hennepin County has done a lot to become more energy efficient, and they did it fast. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the county received $2.8 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Cottage Grove, a city located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Saint Croix Rivers, was ready to make some energy efficiency improvements when a new financing opportunity from the Department of Energy was introduced.

Reposted from Cleantechnica and Greentech Media with permission. Article by Shayle Kann.
Last month GTM Research published a report on the U.S. residential solar financing landscape. We undertook that research partly because we perceived a general lack of understanding of both who the residential third-party ownership (TPO) companies are and how they are differentiated.

There is a new kid on the block when it comes to biomass energy: torrefaction—the process of making biocoal out of biomass. Working to discover all of its advantages is Douglas G. Tiffany of the University of Minnesota and a team of partners. Currently, torrefied biomass boasts a reduction in greenhouse gasses by 85% per unit of energy substituted for coal.

“We believe in the power of the sun” was the slogan for the small, Durham, North Carolina 4th grade class that together succeed in making their classroom 100% solar photovoltaic (PV)-powered. When the class, taught by Aaron Sebens, started a Kickstarter campaign, Our Solar Powered Classroom, they could not have imagined how far the project would exceed their expectations.

Eagan, Minnesota residents, Don and Pat Vasatka, struggled with a problem many Minnesotans face: ice dam build ups and leaks. However, unlike most residents, the Vasatka’s decided to take an innovative and energy efficient approach that would do more than put a Band-Aid on the problem, it would heal it completely.

One of the newest developments in the electric fence industry is the increased use of solar-powered electric fences, which are slowly taking hold in Minnesota, in part through a new statewide program. What are solar electric fence chargers, and how do they work? Like a normal electric fence, a solar-powered electric fence can be used to protect livestock, pets, or land from wildlife and pests.

The U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities University Workforce Development Program (CCWUDP) has 29 workforce development program positions open across the nation. The Development Program is a wonderful opportunity for undergraduate (juniors or seniors) or graduate students to gain experience in energy and transportation areas.