Minnesota is Moving in the Right Direction

Solar Panels - Image borrowed from the Fresh Energy website

My church, Prospect Park UMC, has been putting on a series of monthly seminars on how we can approach global warming. At tonight's seminar, we heard from a home owner about his family's experience with the installation of a solar system for their home; we heard from a physicist about the mathematical approach to recognizing that spending the money to really insulate your home is a good idea and we heard from a representative of Fresh Energy who brought us up to date on the significant strides towards reducing our carbon generation gained at the Minnesota Legislature in 2013.

It made me proud to be a Minnesotan.  2013 was a banner year.  A lot of legislation was passed that moves Minnesota closer to significant carbon reduction.  I was particularly happy to learn that this is a bipartisan feeling at the state capitol.  It is nice to hear the word bipartisan used to describe good lawmaking accomplished rather than just wishful thinking.  The legislation and policies included:

•  the adoption of Minnesota's first solar energy standards,
•  the institution of solar policy and tax incentives to implement solar gardens,
•  improving the way energy rates are determined
•  and even changing the way legislators and rule makers think about the cost of power by adopting a policy that recognizes the value of efficiency. 

There is more.  Here is a summary of the energy related accomplishments by Fresh Energy with Minnesota's lawmakers and rule makers and power plants in 2013.  Fresh Energy is a Minnesota public policy organization devoted to clean energy.  I'm going to follow their work more closely from now on.