Minnesota Appliance Rebate

It's the moment we've all been waiting for... help buying those energy-efficient appliances!

Starting this Monday, March 1st, at 8:00am, the Minnesota’s Office of Energy Security has $5 million available for Minnesotans buying energy-efficient appliances (clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and freezers). All you have to do is reserve a rebate (not until March 1st).

The two primary goals of the rebate are to improve the energy efficiency of appliances in Minnesota, and to safely dispose of old ones. The appliance must be Energy Star rated.

The program is likely to catch on quickly, so sign up before the funds are gone.

Click here for more information on the Trade-In and Save program.

Greening your existing home in Minnesota

The summer is almost over, and now is a great time to be making those energy improvements to your home! One great resource in Minnesota is the Neighborhood Energy Consortium. They can help you test your home's energy efficiency and also find energy loans, rebates and tax incentives to pay for improvements.

They also offer a great online tool which takes you room by room of a house, focusing on ways to reduce energy use without making huge improvements. Click here for the ENERGYSTAR @ Home Tool.

Assistance for home energy improvements

Recent changes to federal tax credits mean that thankfully there is a little money and a variety of options (including geothermal, biomass, and solar hot water) for making your home more energy efficient - for both homeowner and builders. Follow this link to the Energy Star website to find more.

For incentives related directly to Minnesota, visit the DSIRE website.

Minnesota Climate Change Initiatives

Taking steps for climate change has reached the local level in a big way. Mayors and cities councils in Minnesota (and across the world) have declared their intentions of working with a number of programs, which are going to have some impacts on how buildings are built in Minnesota.

Below is the list of Minnesota cities and counties that have formally declared their intent through the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the Sierra Club's Cool Counties or Cool Cities, and/or Cities for Climate Protection in an effort to lessen their local contribution to global climate change:

Apple Valley
Aurora
Bemidji
Buhl
Burnsville
Chisholm
Duluth
Eagan
Eden Prairie
Edina

Hennepin County

Hibbing

Hutchinson
International Falls
Lake City
Mahtomedi
Milan
Minneapolis
Mountain Iron
Ramsey County

Red Wing
Rochester
Roseville
Sauk Rapids
St. Paul
Sunfish Lake
Tower
Turtle River
Virginia
White Bear Lake
Winona

In addition, Minnesota also recently became the seventh state to pass the “Next Generation Energy Act of 2007” into policy, which sets a state goal of certifying 100 commercial buildings to the Green Globes or U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standard by December 31, 2010. The bill also mandates utilities to include in their conservation improvement plans programs that facilitate professional engineering verification to qualify a building as Green Globes-certified, Energy Star-labeled or LEED-certified.

Be sure to keep an eye out for more great Minnesota initiatives, and if you can, attend the Mayors' Forum on Green Initiatives on November 27, 2007, 3:45 - 6:00 p.m. at the University of Minnesota to see more on what is happening in the Twin Cities regarding green initiatives. Click here for more information.

Do you know of any local climate change initiatives not mentioned here? Let me know!

And great job, Minnesota!

Understanding Energy Star and LEED®

The Energy and Atmosphere category of LEED^® for Homes can be met through two different paths. One path consists of meeting LEED's own specific energy criteria. The other path is to follow Energy Star standards, increasing the level of energy efficiency beyond Energy Star standards to obtain more points.

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. It was formed in 1992 on a voluntary-basis, and has become a noted standard for energy-efficiency. There are currently more than 750,000 Energy Star rated homes in the US -- 200,000 of which were built in the last year. That number is expected to exceed 2 million by the end of the decade.

New homes built to Energy Star standards are at least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC). Your local codes may be more or less stringent depending on where you live. Energy Star homes utilize effective insulation, high performance windows, tight construction practices and ductwork, Energy Star lighting and appliances, and energy-efficient heating/cooling equipment. Besides having lower energy costs, energy-efficient homes pollute less (16 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are generated from the energy used in houses nationwide).

Homes earn Energy Star certification through verification of a third-party organization or an individual called an energy rater. There are two verification options. One is called the Performance Path, in which the energy rater uses software to model the home’s energy use, verifying that it meets a target HERS score. This option looks at existing homes or design plans that have already been completed. The other option is the Prescriptive Path. This home is built using a prescribed set of construction specs that meet the program’s requirements.

Concern about energy-efficiency is increasing (obviously), and the Energy Star name is becoming more familiar to the general public. A study from late 2006 shows that 68% of consumers recognize the Energy Star label and that energy-efficiency is important in the buying process. Some mortgage companies now offer incentives to buyers purchasing energy-efficient homes (such as Energy Star), and there are tax benefits for building an Energy Star home as well.

The Greenbush project will follow the Energy Star route so that the house will be certified as both LEED and Energy Star. I am very excited because it is a great way to provide both Energy Star and LEED education to contractors in the Greenbush area. Rural communities are especially interested in energy efficiency, they just don't always have all of the information!

Click here to find an Energy Star energy rater, builder, or lender in your area. When we get further along in the process, I'll explain more about Energy Star.

Podcasts offered by Energy Star

I like to think that by using an electronic calendar, I'm minimizing my paper use. But according to the EPA, most of us do not realize that even when not being used, these products can consume substantial amounts of energy.

Energy Star is offering podcasts on how the many small gadgets and electronic appliances affect our energy conumption. They are also in written format.

Click here to learn how your little gadgets may be sucking energy.