News

Winona State University and collaborative partners have launched a new curriculum, the Energy & Resource Advisor (ERA) certificate, to accelerate public understanding of energy efficiency, clean energy, carbon emissions, resource conservation, green technologies, and green jobs. The next class begins on March 1, 2011, and registrations are being accepted now.

“Why would you have your vending machine lights and compressors on or running when nobody is around?” asked Bill Bieganek of EnergyMisers, LLC, the Minnesota company that sells the “VendingMiser”. You might not know it, but the average beverage vending machine runs more often than is needed to keep drinks cold and attract customers.

We heard from quite a few of you that you’d like a little more time to pre-register for the CERTs 2011 Conference coming up on February 2-3, 2011, so we’re answering that request!

Pre-registration has now been extended through midnight tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th.

We have been confirming speakers like wild and are pleased to share with your our full agenda complete with speaker names! Take a look >>.

You be the judge! The Clean Energy Resource Teams received 12 fantastic submissions for our CERTs 2011 Clean + Green Video Shorts Contest, and we need you to help determine the winners of $500 and other great prizes!

Everyone is the world is encouraged to vote once and spread the word! Voting will continue until midnight on Monday, January 31st.

CERTs 2011 Clean Energy Convergence will unite you with other Minnesotans who are blazing the paths to a clean energy future by working on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in their communities.

If so, then you’re in luck! Several undergraduate students from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus are seeking paid or unpaid internships with cities that are interested in participating in the GreenStep Cities program.

 
Student interns would spend four or ten hours a week on their internship starting in mid-January 2011 and ending in late April.

At the start of 2010 CERTs announced the funding of 55 projects from all over Minnesota with seed grants of up to $11,000. Those recipients have been hard at work for the past year, and we’re getting ready to share their successes and lessons learned! In the coming months CERTs staff will be busy writing case studies about all of these great projects—so stay tuned for those.

As many of you likely know, Minnesota GreenStep Cities is a voluntary challenge, assistance and recognition program to help cities achieve their sustainability goals through implementation of 28 best practices. Each best practice can be implemented by completing one or more specific actions from a list of four to eight actions.

Five years ago, Project Green Fleet set out to make every eligible school bus in the state cleaner and greener. We are nearing the finish line—have YOU joined yet? From Rochester to Roseau, and Minneapolis to Morris, school bus fleets all over Minnesota have partnered with Project Green Fleet to retrofit over 2,100 buses, keeping our air clean and our kids healthy.

Let Honeywell send you a little holiday gift in the New Year! If you purchased a Honeywell Do-It-Yourself Programmable Thermostat before November 30th, you are eligible for up to $10 off your model with a special rebate from CERTs and Honeywell. The deadline for postmarking your rebate form is December 31st, so be sure to fill out your form and mail it in.

Xcel Energy and The Green Institute launched a free energy efficiency makeover for the Lao Family Community in Saint Paul.

An energy audit determined ways the nonprofit could save energy and money. Those measures will be implemented over the coming months.

Fargo’s Green Vision Group could make this a reality by 2014.

Excerpt from Sugar beets could be next big biofuel by Marino Eccher of INFORUM:

A Fargo-based energy company is moving forward with plans for the nation’s first-ever beet ethanol plant – the first step in an ambitious plan to turn one of the Red River Valley’s top crops into a biofuel mainstay.

Phantom power is the energy being drained from your devices when you’re not using them.

It can be difficult to know and understand this, but a website from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can tell you exactly what wattage your electronic devices are using when they are on, off, or in “sleep” mode.

D&E Management’s lofts just got an energy boost.

The Minneapolis lofts just received a 12 kW solar array, which boasts a carbon offset equivalent of 21,602 pounds of carbon, 1,193 gallons of gas saved and the equivalent of 273 trees saved each year.

Solarflow Energy installed 52 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the loft’s roof.

The University of Minnesota retrofitted more than 7,400 inefficient, T12 lamped, magnetic ballasted fluorescent light fixtures with modern solid state ballasts and high efficiency T8 lamps in eight residence halls on the Twin Cities campus.

The lighting retrofit has improved the quality of light provided in the students’ living spaces, study areas, common areas and dining facilities.

There are many groups in Minnesota trying to figure out how to save energy in multifamily properties, which has often been a challenge since residents don’t have the same financial incentives to save energy as homeowners do.

Northfield School of Arts and Technology (or ARTech, for short) is a small charter school in southeastern Minnesota. Many people would call ARTech a “green” school, with good reason!

During the summer of 2008, a student-driven project installed a 2kw solar array on the south of the school, in part with a SE CERT seed grant.

Watch this short video to find out how a group of Minnesota high school students, a faculty member, and a community worked together to install a solar PV project to produce renewable energy for their school, reduce their carbon footprint, provide leadership and career development opportunities for students, and create an educational resource for the school and the community at large.

If you’re a small business in Minnesota that’s considered putting in a wind turbine, now is a great time to act! Minnesota’s Office of Energy Security recently introduced wind turbine rebates for businesses with 20 or fewer full-time employees (Non-profits also qualify assuming they meet all other criteria). The rebates are for up to 35% project costs, capped at $25,000.

The CERTs 2011 Clean Energy Convergence will unite you with other Minnesotans who are blazing the paths to a clean energy future by working on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in their communities.

Find a camera and get ready!

 
Submit a digital short for a chance to win $500 or cool clean energy prizes! Videos are due on January 7th at 5pm.

The Minneapolis & D.C. based Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) recently launched the website Energy Self-Reliant States. The website hopes to “provide the tools and rules for states and communities to maximize their returns from renewable energy.” We spoke with primary author and ILSR senior researcher John Farrell to learn more.

iSEEK Solutions has developed two new career pathways for the residential and commercial energy efficiency sectors.

These interactive tools allow users to view common job titles, wages, job openings, and training/education requirements specific to Minnesota. In addition, expanded pathways for wind and ethanol careers are also now online.