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 »
JACKSON HOLE (WY) – A new effort to promote broad-scale deployment of infrastructure for carbon capture, CO2 pipelines, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), other forms of geologic storage, and beneficial utilization of CO2 in the Northern Plains/Rockies and Midwest regions was announced by Wyoming Governor Matt Mead and Montana Governor Steve Bullock today as part of CO2NNECT 2018. Continue reading »
GPI‘s Brendan Jordan recently presented at the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition in Copenhagen. In a Q&A with GPI’s Will Dunder, Brendan shares some key highlights below from his presentation and some insights gained through experience at the conference which gathered biomass leaders and experts from around the world.
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The Great Plains Institute (GPI) is pleased to announce Will Kaul has taken the helm of the board of directors, effective May of 2018. Continue reading »
Electricity systems are increasingly becoming interactive and dynamic, opening up opportunities for energy technologies to “talk” to each other and create numerous benefits for energy consumers (e.g., increased efficiency, lower costs, and reduced emissions). This opportunity is one that GPI and our partners are exploring through the combination of electric vehicles (EVs) and solar energy.
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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 »
From videos to the latest analysis, you can check out what we’re interested in right now. Also view previous GPI staff picks from this series, which launched in 2017. 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 »
