Sections
- Winona County Water Contest Underway
- Collaboration to Train Local Contractors on Energy Efficiency Installations
- Downtown Winona Energy Efficiency Business Blitz
- Upcoming Teacher Workshop at Whitewater State Park
Winona County Water Contest Underway
This county-wide contest, open to all Winona County residents, supports residents in saving water and reducing their water costs. Residents can choose to participate individually or as team and may enter the contest at any time. The contest runs from April 1st to August 31st during which time participants can earn points by completing water saving actions such as fixing leaks, using a reusable water bottle instead of purchasing bottled water, installing energy efficient appliances, and much more! A full list of actions and point scores for each can be found on the Water Contest page under the Contest tab on Sustain Winona’s website.
Get started today: Install a rain barrel and earn 150 points! Collect rain water to re-use for watering your lawn or garden.Purchase a rain barrel from Sustain Winona for $25 or sign up for the DIY Rain Barrel Workshop on May 9th and make your own rain barrel for only $16.50.
To purchase a rain barrel contact Anne Morse at amorse@co.winona.mn.us or by phone at 507-457-6468.
To register for the DIY Rain Barrel Workshop follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diy-rain-barrel-workshop-tickets-44915066172
Get started today: Install a rain garden and earn 200 points! Rain gardens require no watering once established, prevent stormwater runoff, and replenish your groundwater. The City of Winona and Winona County each have available rain garden cost-share grants for residents interested in installing a rain garden at their home. Resources are available on Sustain Winona’s website under the Take Action tab or by contacting Lauren at ljensen@co.winona.mn.us, 507-457-6574.
Partners Collaborate to Train Local Contractors on Energy Efficiency Installations
A 10% residential energy use reduction is one of the goals of Winona’s Energy Action Plan, but both the city and Xcel Energy realized that once the Home Energy Squad accomplished their energy audits, there would be a barrier to completing the proposed recommendations. The problem, it seems, is that there are too few contractors in the region with required certifications to complete needed installations. Under Xcel’s rebate program installers must maintain a Building Performance Institute (BPI) installation certificate, also known as the Air Leakage Control (ALC) certification to show proof of necessary skills to complete energy efficiency work. This barrier soon may be removed, thanks to a group of partners who arranged for free training and testing for four local contractors. Now, not only can homeowners save money with reduced energy costs, but the jobs will benefit our local economy.
To encourage contractors to take the training Xcel came forward with scholarships of $400 for each student and $600 in promotional support. Minnesota State College Southeast wrote and received a grant of $3500 from the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs). Finally, a local consulting company, Efficiency Detectives LLC , stepped in to cover the balance of the costs. During the first week of April all efforts came together and four contractors were trained and tested.
The training lasted a day while the rigorous testing for each individual lasted up to seven hours. The skills were assessed by a BPI qualified proctor and soon we’ll know which companies are qualified and now available for all those homes that had energy audits in 2017. One of the students, Jonathan Powell will be the new Construction Technology instructor at MSCS and plans to include these very same skills into the new program when it starts in the Fall. “The training and testing were very eye opening, the amount of energy someone can save by taking these simple steps in air sealing is great knowledge to not only the installer but also to future students” says Jonathan Powell. “I am excited to introduce this into my program”.
Downtown Winona Energy Efficiency Business Blitz
After a snowstorm delayed plans, five staff from the City of Winona and Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) set out on Wednesday, March 7th for the first Business Blitz in downtown Winona. The blitz involved walking door-to-door in downtown Winona to speak with small and medium businesses about reducing energy use and saving money on their energy bills. They achieved their goal of reaching 100 small and medium businesses, and signed 29 businesses up for free energy assessments with EnergySmart, a program offered by the State Chamber of Commerce.
Throughout the day, the Business Blitz team informed business owners about programs available to Xcel energy customers, rebates they may be eligible for from past or future energy efficient updates, and financing available including Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) – an innovative funding opportunity available in Winona County.
On March 19th and 20th, three EnergySmart energy efficiency specialists made a visit to Winona to conduct on-site energy assessments with the 29 local businesses. The assessments included a discussion of recent building updates, a tour of the business’ HVAC, lighting and appliances, and concluded with rebate paperwork where applicable.
The energy efficiency specialists took note of specific appliance and lighting models and gained permission to access businesses’ past energy bills in order to create specialized recommendation reports for each business. The reports include proposed project costs, estimated savings, available rebates and a return on investment spreadsheet.
To learn more contact the City of Winona’s Natural Resources Sustainability Coordinator John Howard at jhoward@ci.winona.mn.us or the Business Energy Efficiency Outreach Intern Sadie Neuman at sneuman@ci.winona.mn.us.
Upcoming Teacher Workshop at Whitewater State Park
This two-day workshop is for educators interested in gaining resources for using water as a context for learning—while meeting state education standards in science, social studies, technology, and language arts. The content of this workshop, developed with input from surveyed teachers in Olmstead, Winona, and Wabasha Counties, is catered specifically to Southeastern Minnesota and the Whitewater Watershed.
For a $35 registration free, participants will receive:
- Instruction and hands-on participation in water-based education activities, indoors and in the field
- Sample lessons from MinnAqua, Project WET, Project Learning Tree, Project WILD, and River of Dreams curricula
- Introduction to ESRI Story Mapping and WHAF online technologies
- Tour of the Whitewater Watershed
- Two catered lunches from local farms and Q&A about farmers’ conservation practices
- Annual Minnesota State Parks Vehicle Permit valid through June, 2019 ($35 value)
- Collaborative curriculum planning time
- 16 CEUs
Ten full scholarships are available upon request. Act quickly because registration is limited to 50 educators! Learn more and find the Registration Form at: https://friendsofwhitewater.weebly.com/teacher-workshop.html