The Minnesota Retiree Environmental Technical Assistance Program (RETAP) employs skilled, retired professionals to provide environmental facility assessments and community sustainability assistance to Minnesota’s businesses, institutions, and communities. Services are provided at no cost to clients. CERTs caught up with RETAP Coordinator Mike Vennewitz and RETAP member (and Central CERT Steering Committee member) Rin Porter.
We spoke with Mike first.
Joel Haskard: Tell folks a little bit about your program.
Mike Vennewitz: We got started over 10 years ago, and currently have 16 retired professionals involved in two programs: onsite assessments and community sustainability assistance. Our onsite group conducts assessments of small to medium sized businesses and institutions regarding energy, waste, water, and stormwater management. Our community sustainability assistance group helps primarily local units of government with issues related to sustainability. All of our services are provided at no cost to our clients.
Joel: What kinds of businesses take advantage of RETAP?
Mike: Examples of types of businesses we’ve served include restaurants, grocery stores, small clinics, hotels, nursing homes, office buildings, and warehouses. As I mentioned, we also work for institutions like nonprofits, churches, schools, and local units of government.
Joel: How do people sign up?
Mike: The easiest way for prospective assessment clients to get in touch with us is to call me at 612-781-1307, or to shoot me an email at mvennewitz@yahoo.com. For parties interested in our community sustainability assistance group, Paul Moss should be contacted at 651-757-2586 or at paul.moss@state.mn.us.
Joel: How do you recruit retired engineers for RETAP?
Mike: Our funder, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), periodically (now every 2 to 4 years) issues a request for proposals for RETAP consultants. Interested folks then submit a proposal (a completed application form and resume) that is evaluated by MPCA staff. Selected proposers then enter into a contract with the state. I keep a list of folks interested in joining, so if anyone is interested in learning more about joining RETAP and/or would like to get on my list they can call me.
We then turned to Rin Porter, who is out in the field working with building owners across central Minnesota.
Joel: What are some typical things you see when you do energy audits? Are there common areas where inefficiencies often occur?
Rin Porter: Generally I see problems of two kinds: (1) things the organization was aware of, but just hadn’t decided to address, and (2) things the organization is not aware of and never even thought of looking at or changing.
Joel: What inspired you to be a member of RETAP?
Rin: I have been interested in energy conservation since the Carter administration, and when I retired from university teaching, I was looking for something to do part-time that would follow that interest, and allow me to do some good, to give back.
Joel: What is the worst part of your job?
Rin: Getting the clients to send me the utility bills I need to analyze before I do a site visit.
Joel: What is the best part of your job?
Rin: Finding situations that can be fixed and will give the clients a great return on investment and reduce their operating costs.
Joel: If you had advice for building owners, what would it be?
Rin: My advice is, get an energy audit. Don’t put it off because you are afraid there might be things you have to fix. We always recommend the easiest, cheapest things to fix, along with the more expensive ones. You can reduce your operating costs immediately, sometimes with very little capital outlay.
To find out more or to request an assessment, contact Mike Vennewitz, RETAP Coordinator, at 612-781-1307, or visit the RETAP website to learn about the program.
