Last week, I had the pleasure to present at MPR’s “Minnesota’s Iron Range Ideas for the Future.” Fluctuations in economic cycles are not new and with each iteration of hard times comes an opportunity to innovate and move forward. I’m the lead facilitator of the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota and I would like to share with you an opportunity for building a brand new industry in the Iron Range: sustainable biobased products from wood. Continue reading »
Last week, I had the pleasure to present at MPR’s “Minnesota’s Iron Range Ideas for the Future.” Fluctuations in economic cycles are not new and with each iteration of hard times comes an opportunity to innovate and move forward. I’m the lead facilitator of the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota and I would like to share with you an opportunity for building a brand new industry in the Iron Range: sustainable biobased products from wood. Continue reading »
Nearly 20 leaders from the Woodbury business community attended ENERGY STAR® Community Partner Challenge Kick-Off event held at City Hall in early April. The group included a mix of business representatives, including retail, multi-family housing, office spaces, realtor groups and more. The event demonstrated growing interest among building owners in pursuing energy efficiency goals. Continue reading »
On a sunny spring afternoon in South Minneapolis in late March, just as school was getting out and cars zoomed past on 35W overhead, a celebration of local energy innovation was on display at Taqueria La Hacienda on East Lake Street.
The event, hosted by the Lake Street Council, highlighted the work of the Council and its partners over the past 18 months to pilot “Energy Coaching”—an effort to help under-served and minority-owned small businesses take advantage of rebates and grants that can make energy efficiency improvements palatable, even for businesses with low profit margins.
The program, which I’ve described in more detail here, attempted to build on the small-business energy efficiency programs that are already available in Xcel Energy territory by deploying so-called “Energy Coaches”—individuals with a local presence that can facilitate connections between hard-to-reach business owners and existing utility-funded energy efficiency providers.
While the project’s final report is still in development, the celebration seems deserved. Overall, the Energy Coaching pilot project led to the completion of 84 energy assessments at small businesses on Lake Street. Of those, roughly half were owned by people of color and approximately 60% reported that they had never previously considered having an energy assessment. About 20 businesses have since taken action following their assessment, resulting in over $24,000 of combined savings annually, with individual businesses seeing savings of $1,550 on average.
Matt Kazinka, who served as an Energy Coach on behalf of Lake Street Council for the 84 businesses, spoke at the event about the importance of partnership. He noted how Wells Fargo, the project’s funder, “took a chance on this effort” by offering to fund the pilot project beginning in 2014. Not only that, but the bank’s local charitable giving branch, the Metropolitan Contributions Committee, brought to the event a signed check for an additional $50,000 to continue the work on Lake Street and beyond.
Carolyn Roby, Vice President at Wells Fargo Foundation MN, explained, “Small business development, small business success, is really important to our grantmaking.” She added that Wells Fargo has made significant strides to reduce energy usage in its own buildings.
Other key partners in the project included Energy Smart, a joint program of the MN Chamber of Commerce and MN Waste Wise Foundation that provided energy assessments, technical assistance, and mini-grants to participating businesses, and the Metro Clean Energy Resource Team (Metro CERT), a program of the Great Plains Institute and one of seven regions that comprise the statewide CERTs Partnership.
Also in attendance were representatives from Xcel Energy, whose rebate programs are crucial to reducing the costs of energy efficiency investments for small businesses, staff from the Center for Energy and Environment, which offers a parallel rebate program for lighting retrofits that several participating businesses took advantage of, and staff from the City of Minneapolis who are supporting the City’s Clean Energy Partnership—a unique joint effort between the City and its energy utilities that recently approved $30,000 in funding for outreach to under-served communities.
The achievements of the pilot project may seem small, and in comparison to savings reaped by larger businesses, they are. But the event was also celebrating something larger—a collaborative effort of multiple parties to serve utility customers that are considered difficult-to-reach.
On one hand, this event was just another group of folks enjoying tacos on a sunny afternoon on East Lake Street; on the other, it was a step towards a more equitable energy system—one in which even the hardest-to-reach customers can reap the benefits of energy efficiency.
Operated by the Great Plains Institute, Metro CERT is one of seven regions that comprise Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) — a statewide partnership of four organizations working to connect individuals and their communities to the resources they need to identify and implement community-based clean energy projects.
About Andersen Corporation
Andersen Corporation is a 113 year-old Minnesota window and door manufacturing company located on the scenic St. Croix River. According to its website, the company was founded by Danish immigrant Hans Andersen and his family in Hudson, Wisconsin. Andersen is one of the most prominent window manufacturing companies in the country; most people have, or know someone who has Andersen Windows in their home or business. Continue reading »
Recent analysis done by the Great Plains Institute (GPI) has found that electric vehicles in Minnesota provide a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of at least 61% in most cases (Xcel Energy electric mix) and 95% in many cases (for vehicle charging on renewable energy subscription programs). Continue reading »
A TEN TIMES increase in monthly sales of Nissan Leafs?! Continue reading »
Many states are considering mass-based allowance trading programs to meet the federal requirements under the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Under a mass-based trading approach, states work with a certain number of allowances, or an allowance “budget,” that matches the total emissions limit for each year of the program. States have many options for allocating the allowances that power plants will need to cover their carbon dioxide emissions. Continue reading »
In Minnesota, GPI convenes a stakeholder effort called the e21 Initiative that recommends, in part, shifting toward a more performance-based regulatory approach to determine how electric utilities in the state are compensated.
Recently, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission discussed performance-based regulation (commonly referred to as PBR) with expert Sonia Aggarwal, Director of Strategy at Energy Innovation. Ms. Aggarwal and the commissioners had an interesting discussion (see summary here) that raised key issues about how a PBR approach would work and its implications. Continue reading »
The Great Plains Institute (GPI) has been working with a number of states, industry, non-profit advocates, and institutions helping states to understand and develop strategies for implementing the federal Clean Power Plan. Continue reading »
