A solar air heating system located at the Leech Lake Department of Natural Resources
This is a guest blog post by Kristin Mroz, local government coordinator with the Environmental Quality Board which is an official partner of the GreenStep Cities and Tribal Nations program. Kristin’s role supports the needs of local and tribal governments and assists with coordinating efforts by state agencies to support communities in climate and sustainability actions. Continue reading »
The Great Plains Institute is working with cities, counties, and regional governments to routinely incorporate energy planning into local policies, plans, and regulations. To address local energy issues, local governments must first understand community energy use and anticipate how energy resources, markets, and technologies evolve over time. Continue reading »
How can city environmental commissions connect with and learn more from each other? Commissioners from the Minneapolis, MN metro area and other stakeholders recently gathered to foster such connections and explore how they could increase learning opportunities with one another. Continue reading »
The modern electric grid often seems like a miracle. Thousands of generating sources, from residential solar power systems to huge power plants, kept in almost instantaneous sync with millions of electricity consumers. All with a reliability rate of better than 99 percent. Continue reading »
The May GreenStep Cities workshop focused on walkable cities and pedestrian planning. After Philipp Muessig (MPCA) introduced the topic and facilitated a round of introductions (00:00:20), Emily Smoak (MDH) discussed Pedestrian Plans, including sidewalk repair and snow clearing practices (00:17:43). Next, Max Musicant (Musicant Group) gave a presentation about Placemaking Successes (00:48:40), and Fay Simer (City of St. Paul) discussed her work as a full-time pedestrian coordinator (01:22:00). The workshop closed after some time for discussion and questions from the audience (01:50:28). Continue reading »
The April GreenStep Cities workshop focused on racial equity. Abby Finis (Great Plains Institute) introduced Gordon Goodwin, the Midwest Region Project Manager for the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). Gordon gave a presentation about the importance of racial equity, facilitated a discussion with the audience, and described the work of GARE (2:00). Kevin Frazell and Danielle Cabot (League of Minnesota Cities) then gave an overview of LMC’s involvement with GARE and how LMC has begun to incorporate racial equity into its internal and external work (1:07:40 ). Continue reading »
Communities can forge their own path to achieve a broad range of benefits from renewable electricity and efficiency by setting clear goals at the outset. Across the country cities are setting 100 percent renewable electricity goals. Is that the right goal for every community? It depends. For some communities, setting such a renewable electricity goal may be at odds with what a community actually wants to achieve. Continue reading »
The March GreenStep Cities workshop focused on invasive species and kicked off with introductions from Kristin Mroz (EQB), followed by an overview of terrestrial invasive species by Angie Ambourn of MDA (2:15). Next, Michael Orange (Orange Environmental, LLC) discussed management plans for Emerald Ash Borer, particularly the strategy of “Save the Best, Replace the Rest.” (34:35) After some time for questions, Tina Wolbers’ (DNR) talked about Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) and DNR AIS Prevention Planners & Local AIS Plan Framework. Finally, Kristin Mroz (EQB) touched on helpful resources related to invasive species. Continue reading »
As part of the Grow Solar Partnership, toolkits have been assembled to equip local governments in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois with information regarding solar development as it relates to planning, zoning, and permitting. The toolkits were created in 2016, then model ordinances are being updated in 2020 to reflect new best practices and lessons learned since 2016. Minnesota and Iowa are updated and Illinois and Wisconsin are in process, with ordinance for Indiana and Michigan under development. The purpose of these toolkits is to provide resources that will assist communities in addressing barriers to solar energy installations in a manner tailored to each community’s needs. Continue reading »
There has been a growing interest from cities in Minnesota to explore options for adding electric vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in their communities. Continue reading »
