Center for Energy and Environment

Energy Conservation Services: CEE helps energy utility companies and communities to design and implement useful and cost-effective energy efficiency programs for residents, with an emphasis on community-tailored approaches and innovation. Utility-sponsored energy savings projects are part of Minnesota's Conservation Improvement Programs, mandated by state law. CEE's commercial programs are positioned to address the diverse energy needs of Minnesota businesses and multifamily building owners. Sponsored by Xcel Energy and delivered by CEE, the One-Stop Efficiency Shop is a full-service rebate program designed to reduce the biggest barriers for small businesses when shifting to better lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The One Stop Efficiency Shop(R) (OSES) program provides free energy audits to small businesses and rebates and low interest financing for businesses that make upgrades. In the filing year, CEE's One-Stop team completed over 1,600 projects conserving 9.7 megawatts and 38.4 gigawatt hours of energy. These savings were realized through energy efficient lighting and HVAC installations in small businesses and nonprofits throughout Minnesota. CEE's commercial refrigeration program sponsored by Xcel Energy generated 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity saved by helping 30 businesses upgrade their refrigeration equipment. CEE's largest residential program is the Home Energy Squad, delivered on behalf of CenterPoint Energy and Xcel Energy, as well as in partnership with local cities and neighborhoods to help subsidize the visit costs for residents. In the filing period, the Home Energy Squad visited more than 5,500 homes, including standard visits to install energy-saving materials and provide maintenance information, as well as enhanced visits that add diagnostic testing, system safety checks, and tailored recommendations for improvement. This program also offers free visits to income-qualifying households. CEE provides free home energy audits and installation of energy saving measures for low-income residents and provides reduced cost audits and rebates for residents who do not qualify as low-income. This program helped save about 2.8 gigawatt hours and 20,000 decatherms in total energy. More than 1,000 Minnesotans called on CEE's free Energy Advisor service to complete energy efficiency projects and earn rebates. CEE's Energy Fit Homes certification program further promotes upgrades by assigning an "Energy Fitness Score" that evaluates each participant's home energy use in five areas. CEE's cost-free energy advisor service connects residents to resources and contractors to resolve home energy concerns and achieve home energy goals. In Greater Minnesota cities served by Minnesota Energy Resources Corporation, CEE leads workshops as an entry point to local home energy audit participation, implements a multifamily efficiency program that has served several dozen buildings, and manages a program for insulation contractors to help maintain high-quality standards and program compliance through inspections. The Multifamily program serves low-income housing, senior housing, assisted living, on-campus college housing, condominiums, and apartments to provide energy savings for low-income residents. Specific to new home construction, CEE consults with builders to help their new construction multifamily housing developments and single-family homes reach their energy efficiency goals often including energy certifications like EnergyStar and Passive House. In partnership with Greater Minnesota Gas, CEE facilitates free energy code compliance services and rebates to improve energy efficiency. CEE's team also conducts onsite and classroom training on topics related to energy efficiency in building rehabilitation and new construction. CEE's engineers provide technical assistance and problem-solving for commercial and industrial buildings, focusing on everything from building automation systems to ventilation and lighting. Because efficiency is every company's lowest-cost option for energy savings, we empower building owners to better understand their energy use and improve operations and systems in practical ways, generally through low-cost measures to optimize existing systems. By engineering for efficiency, CEE offers solutions to improve worker comfort and productivity through enhancing ventilation, indoor air quality, and building operations, and by training each building's staff for ongoing efficiency savings. From ventilation analysis to new construction and existing building commissioning, CEE's building engineers addressed a variety of unique energy management needs.

Community Rehab Services: CEE has provided over $200 million in energy improvement loans since the early 1980s which are funded through designated CEE funds as well as various state and city programs. In partnership with many cities, utilities, and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency's Fix-Up program, the Lending Center offers financing to residential property owners for rehabilitation and energy efficiency projects, and to businesses for energy-related improvements. Homeowners and landlords may receive loans, often income-targeted, to make improvements to their properties. Low-interest and no-interest loan programs are also available to nonprofits and small businesses for energy efficiency improvements. The Lending Center partners with local governments and neighborhood groups to provide targeted low-interest, zero-interest, or even forgivable loans to lower income Minnesotans. CEE also offers financing for residential solar projects, helping homeowners to choose renewable energy options for their homes, as well as partner-funded remodeling advisory services to assist homeowners in reviewing bids and prioritizing improvements. CEE's Lending Center originated loans totaling $24.9 million. We issued 166 residential solar loans totaling $5.6 million, leading to the installation of 674 kilowatts of clean energy. CEE also administers the Metropolitan Airports Commission's residential noise mitigation program, providing noise mitigation improvements to homes located in and around the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

Research: Primarily funded by government grants, CEE's research team conducts technology and market assessments to identify tomorrow's best clean energy strategies. Through their efforts, CEE informs the development of innovative technologies to support the advancement of energy efficiency and public health. For more than three decades, CEE's researchers have pursued field research into building science, mechanical system performance, and program policy design. From homes to high-rises, CEE's data-driven field research assesses savings and performance characteristics of specific energy approaches including building envelopes, air leakage, HVAC design and retrofits, indoor air quality, and energy feedback and behavior. CEE performs field research to identify various optimization techniques and to gather data that informs the organization and allows for better program design. During the filing year, CEE researchers maintained active projects on subjects such as commercial energy recovery ventilation systems, duct leakage reduction, data centers, sustainable building design, commercial energy code, and commercial building leakage. Individual research projects are co-funded by CEE and the Minnesota Department of Commerce through the Conservation Applied Research and Development grant program; the U.S. Department of Energy; and private funders such as utility companies.

Policy and Community Education: CEE advances effective clean energy policies for a healthy, low-carbon economy. Driven by a longstanding focus on community, consumer protection and the environment, while operating at local, state, and national levels, CEE works across sectors and interests to achieve broad support for clean energy policies. CEE emphasizes energy efficiency as the lowest cost way to meet energy needs and reduce harmful emissions. CEE is mission-driven to share its staff's knowledge with energy community stakeholders and offers reports and resources for practitioners and experts to share best practices and new ideas and discover the next generation of energy solutions. Findings are disseminated to the public through technical reports, trainings, workshops, webinars, and conference presentations. During the filing year, CEE shared its findings and analysis with more than 149,095 unique website visitors viewing over 430,082 web pages and disseminated energy efficiency best practices through 11 news releases and more than 44 independent news stories on our social or policy issues. Schools and communities receive free education from CEE staff on how best to save energy and communities can receive free technical planning services through our Education & Engagement Department. CEE staff have provided local learning opportunities for state leaders to better understand the impacts of Minnesota's Conservation Improvement Program. At each tour stop, local business owners and electrical contractors talk about the state-mandated program's importance to the lives and livelihoods in their district, and legislators hear firsthand about supported projects and the jobs and local savings they elicit. Also in the filing year, CEE continued to co-coordinate Minnesota's e21 Initiative which works to unite consumer advocates, regulators, and environmental advocates to develop a 21st century energy system that better aligns a financially viable utility business model with increasing consumer expectations and evolving policy goals. Also, in Minnesota, CEE implements Xcel Energy's Partners in Energy program, which provides free services to help entire communities develop an energy plan. Additionally, CEE's community energy consulting connects communities of all sizes to energy efficiency resources, planning and facilitation support, and meaningful stakeholder engagement.