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Minnesotans share clean energy “Ways That Make 'CENTS'” at home and at work

March 2025

By Shaylyn Bernhardt
Northwest, MN Southwest, MN

International filmmaker and producer Erika Gilsdorf loves to inspire people with video.

Since 2007, Detroit Lakes-based Gilsdorf has traveled the globe — often road tripping in an electric vehicle — to share human experiences, from normalizing mental health issues to showcasing environmental champions. She's full of ideas and energy, and she’s always on the go!

The recent surge in clean energy incentives gave Gilsdorf a new road trip idea. If she highlighted Minnesotans living and working with energy efficient projects, renewable energy technologies, and combinations of the two, it might inspire others to take advantage of the current incentives with their own clean energy projects.

“There's a lot of good things happening out there! I learned so much about clean energy technologies that I didn't understand before and new energy efficiency construction materials, like hempcrete, that I didn't know existed.”

-Erika Gilsdorf

Ways That Make 'Cents' is Gilsdorf's series of 26 stories filmed throughout northwestern and southwestern Minnesota featuring residents, businesses, and community organizations. She captures a variety of clean energy projects ranging from 28-second clips at a busy business, to 30-minute tours of Bemidji homes. Her genuine curiosity about the projects encourages the people she's interviewing to share more tips and insights that are a bonus for us viewers.

“Some of the newer technologies seemed complicated and I found myself either too busy to dive into research or too embarrassed to ask a lot of questions. I wanted this series to take away that anxiety for people and answer questions, like it did for me.”

-Erika Gilsdorf

Watch all the ways

Catch a glimpse of the people and the spaces featured in Ways That Make 'Cents' before you dive into each region's video playlist! 

Woman and man outside explaining

Northwest Minnesota Trailer

View all NW videos
Erika and two men outside of a hempcrete house

Southwest Minnesota Trailer

View all SW videos

“Creating this series really answered a lot of questions for me and took away my anxiety of not knowing how to get into the clean energy space more. I learned it's not complicated and there's a lot of help, resources, and encouragement out there.”

-Erika Gilsdorf
ways that make 'cents'

Ways That Make 'CENTS'

Learn more about this video project and the videographer, herself!

Ways That Make 'Cents'
seed grants
January 2024

2024 CERTs Seed Grants awarded to 45 community-based clean energy projects

erika and crew
July 2020

Producer Erika Gilsdorf makes environmental videos fun

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