Recent Case Studies from CERTs

Going All Out at Macalester College: Energy Saving Projects, Workshops & Tracking

Dan Thiede — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:09:45 +0000

February is not only the start of the semester at Macalester College, but also the campus’ energy-themed month. Suzanne Savanick Hansen and her crew of sustainability students hit the ground running this winter with workshops and a host of new resources for the campus community.

Providing Neighborhood Energy Services to Residents through Workshops & Home Visits

Dan Thiede — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:35:48 +0000

This program was designed to combat the two key shortcoming of existing energy efficiency programming. They are: (1) the low level of implementation of energy-saving actions (found in both residential audits and strictly educational programs) and (2) the low number of participants in most conservation programs. To address poor implementation, the home visit portion of the program consisted mostly of the installation of basic energy saving materials, installed for participants by a trained crew. To address low participation, we utilized community organizing tactics and partnered with the neighborhood organizations to create a grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor approach.

Growing at Home: HUG’s Passive Solar Residential Greenhouse

Dan Thiede — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:00:02 +0000

Plenty of us have imagined the ideal sustainable community: Greenhouses attached to every house, growing your own fruits and vegetables, knowing our neighbors, and being able to take a short walk to shops and entertainment. Hunt Utilities Group (HUG) in Pine River, MN is trying to make the idea of resilient living a reality with a number of research projects including building a residential greenhouse attached to the south side of a new house on their campus, which allows for passive solar heating, on-site food production, and the comfort of a sunny four-season porch.

Students Growing Renewable Veggies: The Willmar High School Greenhouse Project

Dan Thiede — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:36:51 +0000

West Central Minnesota has been the hub of much excitement with the beginning of the Youth Energy Summit (YES!) program, which engages teams of youth in action projects to literally put energy into our future. In Willmar, the high school YES! team took a particularly bold approach—fixing up an old greenhouse, heating it with renewable energy, and producing vegetables for their school and local food shelves.

No Winter at Whitewater Gardens Farm: Geothermal Greenhouse Project in Altura, MN

Dan Thiede — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:50:45 +0000

As residents of the Midwest know, the growing season is painfully short. When it’s twenty below, what else can you do besides go to the supermarket and buy tomatoes shipped from thousands of miles away? Whitewater Farms in Altura, Minnesota has found a solution. The farm, owned and operated by Sandy and Lonny Dietz, contains a geothermal greenhouse that allows them to produce fresh vegetables year-round.

Students Take Action and Dig In: ARTech’s Student-Led Greenhouse Project

Dan Thiede — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:07:01 +0000

It’s difficult to get teenagers to clean their room, much less take on a project, but that’s just what the students at Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech) did. ARTech is a charter school in Northfield, Minnesota, comprised of talented students in grades 6-12. The first time the school received a grant from the SE CERTs, it was for an alternative energy project, specifically successful installation of a 2.8 kilowatt solar panel system. This time, the students have done it again, but this time they wanted to construct a greenhouse for life science and sustainable food production seminars, as well as provide space for students to do their own individual projects.

Going Nuts for Clean Energy: Solar-Heated Greenhouse and Biodiesel from Hazelnuts

Dan Thiede — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:24:09 +0000

Norm and Mary Erickson of Hazelnut Valley Farm retired and started a hazelnut farm in Lake City, MN. Their nutty adventures into the business of growing, harvesting, and processing the crop led them to install a solar-heated greenhouse with many innovative features. They look forward to a future where hazelnuts can be profitably converted into biodiesel.

Renewable Energy Inventories: Partnership in Harvesting Renewable Energy Resource Data

Dan Thiede — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:27:00 +0000

With a vast agricultural industry and resources spread over fields and acres, how do you measure the true renewable energy resources of Minnesota? The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute and partners in Southern MN have been working on populating a template to capture the renewable energy potential of their communities.

Dairy Farm Entrepreneur Installs Solar Thermal and Builds Community

Dan Thiede — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:18:28 +0000

Dairy farmers are an industrious group by nature, and farmer and entrepreneur Peter Reese of Goodhue County has eyes for common sense and untapped opportunities. The basic concept of Perpetual Harvest, LLC, came from Peter’s thoughts about how our economy is under-utilizing available and renewable local resources.

A Blast from the Past: 1976 Electric Car Gets a Second Life

Dan Thiede — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:32:52 +0000

Chuck Knierim found a gem in a trash heap when he pulled out a discarded 1976 electric Ford Endura. The Endura traces its origin back to the Arab Oil Embargo of the early 1970s. As oil prices skyrocketed, the federal government allocated funds for alternative transportation options, and every project proposed was an electric car. The Ford Endura was a test model that became obsolete when the oil embargo and its related subsidies ended, leaving it to be found by Chuck.