The last agenda item at the final city council meeting of the decade in Saint Paul, Minnesota was the adoption of the Saint Paul Climate Action and Resilience Plan. After more than 30 residents stood in line to publicly share their support for the plan for Minnesota’s capital city, the council unanimously voted to adopt it. It was a momentous and triumphant moment and there is much for the city to be proud of. Continue reading »
Xcel Energy explored increasing its demand response portfolio by 50 percent with Minnesota stakeholders from 2017-2019. The results highlight considerations for utilities looking to deploy larger portfolios of advanced demand response. This blog, the first in a three-part series, shares demand response design principles and filing objectives developed by stakeholders to inform Xcel Energy’s planning for new demand response programs. Continue reading »
I am excited to share that my colleagues and I have developed a new approach for cities to achieve their energy and climate goals more quickly and affordably: climate action work plans. These work plans are intended to support cities in setting near-term targets by creating an implementation schedule with specific steps for completing high-impact actions. Continue reading »
Great Plains Institute President and CEO Rolf Nordstrom will serve a two-year term on the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Sustainable Transportation Advisory Council. Continue reading »
Cities increasingly understand their role in addressing climate change, and some are finding ways to use a traditional tool—comprehensive planning—as part of their climate and energy planning efforts. In Minnesota, a recent inventory of actions at the local level shows how a broad range of communities are incorporating climate, energy, resilience, and sustainability in their planning processes. This blog digs into GPI’s analysis and findings from this inventory, explores motivators for the change, and highlights the next steps for communities interested in local climate and energy planning. Continue reading »
The 2020 Minnesota legislative session is right around the corner, and Drive Electric Minnesota is ready to continue supporting a policy and regulatory landscape that drives electric vehicle (EV) adoption and infrastructure. With that, I want to share a 2020 Minnesota legislative preview for Drive Electric Minnesota’s policy and regulatory positions and some quick thoughts about how accomplishments in 2019 set the stage for this year. Continue reading »
Brad Crabtree, Great Plains Institute’s (GPI’s) vice president of carbon management, was asked to testify before the US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis in his role as director of the multi-sector Carbon Capture Coalition, which is convened by GPI. He spoke at the hearing, “Solving the Climate Crisis: Reducing Industrial Emissions Through US Innovation,” last fall about the critical need for economywide deployment of carbon capture to reduce industrial carbon emissions at scale. Following the hearing, the committee had a number of follow up questions, which Brad answered and submitted for the record. Those written responses can be downloaded or read below. Continue reading »
What if we could harness the energy produced by the sun and maximize its potential to power electric vehicles (EVs) with zero-carbon electricity? That’s exactly what GPI has been working on in a pilot project that studies how managed EV charging can pull varying levels of power from the solar panels on our rooftop based on how much solar is being produced at a given time. This ability to use “solar synchronization” could have big implications for reducing carbon emissions in both the electricity and transportation sectors, and presents potential benefits for consumers and businesses alike. Continue reading »
The Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative, facilitated by the Great Plains Institute, has released a new report detailing how a successful clean fuels policy for the Midwest should be designed. Continue reading »
The calendar has turned to 2020 and the carbon capture industry is still waiting on the US Department of the Treasury to release additional guidance on the implementation of the reformed and expanded 45Q credit. Continue reading »
