News

The City of Harmony’s Community Center is located inside a refurbished 1950’s-vintage elementary school but it now boasts new energy efficient lighting and occupancy sensors that are saving the community both time and money.

As the Redwood County Building Supervisor, Loren Gewerth oversees the general maintenance for county buildings – which means also overseeing a lot of energy use. With the county facing both budget constraints and a reduction in government aid, Gewerth was growing concerned about energy costs and maintenance and began looking for ways to make efficiency improvements to the county buildings.

Small towns across the country are operating on tight budgets, and the City of Cold Spring, Minnesota (population 4,025) is no different. With poor lighting in several buildings, the city staff longed for better lighting but budget and time constraints kept the projects in limbo.

The Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) has recently worked hard to make local businesses shine. Currently, there are only a few solar photovoltaic (PV) flat roof type installations on Minneapolis small businesses and the Kingfield Neighborhood Association is trying to change that.

Buffalo Public Utilities Director Joe Steffel was looking for a way to engage small businesses in his community by helping them to take advantage of energy-saving opportunities. “I knew that there was no substitute for knowledge,” said Steffel, “and using that knowledge to get people to act.

The Mary MacDonald Business Center is a 58,500 square foot facility located in the town of Silver Bay that was made possible thanks to the time and efforts of community members. Originally an elementary school, the building served a number of purposes after the consolidation of area schools left it student-free.

Several of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBGs) that were distributed to towns and counties across Minnesota focused on increasing the efficiency of commercial buildings that serve the public. Among the businesses that used EECBG funding to make efficiency improvements were food service businesses, municipal liquor stores, and retail stores.

Angela Headlee, Central Region CERT Coordinator, interviewed Jolene Bengtson, Business Manager for the Pine River-Backus School District about a district-wide lighting project done to improve the energy efficiency of classrooms at the elementary and high schools that replaced over 260 lights.

A lot of energy goes into powering parking garages, street lamps, traffic signals, and vehicles. Minnesota has begun to take notice and in 2009, several communities were given a great opportunity to try out transportation efficiency ideas with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding. The hubs of transportation in Minnesota, St.

The City of Woodbury is quickly becoming one of the more energy efficient communities in the Twin Cities Metro area. Having already completed recommissioning studies and lighting retrofits in a majority of its city buildings, Woodbury took another major step toward energy efficiency with the renovation of Bielenberg Sports Ice Arena refrigeration system.

There are a number of things that attract residents and businesses to Edina in the the Twin Cities metro area—among them is the city’s focus on sustainability. Over 50 Edina residents came to the City Hall for a Solar Works! in Edina workshop on November 15th to listen to community members’ stories about their solar systems and the available rebates and incentives for solar energy.

Hockey is big in Edina. The town rallies around the sport and its facilities—giving their support to the teams, sending their kids to the ice arena for lessons, and going out on weeknights to watch games.

Using an innovative financial model, Salut Bar Americain is saving energy, saving money, and doing good for the planet—all while staying focused on their core business. Salut Bar Americain is one of Edina’s most popular neighborhood restaurants, known for great service and an eclectic french menu.

When Chisago City purchased 70 acres of beautiful lakefront property just south of town in 2006, the acquisition presented a great opportunity. Not only did it allow Chisago City to establish Ojiketa Regional Park, it offered the chance to provide a community center long desired by the town.

This is so cool: In order to celebrate the start of hockey season, CERTs is launching a series about energy projects done in ice arenas around the state of Minnesota. Ice arenas have a familiar place in many communities, but what is not often thought about is that they are some of the most energy-intensive buildings a city can own.