Category: Blog

The Benefits of GreenStep Cities and B3 Benchmarking: La Crescent’s Story

This blog post was written by Chris Meyer of the Southeast Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Team

It’s true: the majority of La Crescent is not in Winona County. But, the community has a story to tell about leadership and taking common-sense action. We’re hopeful communities across the state can learn from their experience and understand the financial value in B3 benchmarking.

It’s been just 2 short years since La Crescent, MN (population 5,200) became a GreenStep City in October 2015, but they have big achievements to share. In June of 2017 they advanced to a Step 2 city and City Administrator Bill Waller indicated that they are on track to achieving Step 3 in 2018. They were also one of three finalists in the top 3 “Best of B3 Benchmarking” competition for the state, being narrowly beaten out by the larger Prior Lake.

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Winona County Energy Conservation Program Powered by Collaboration

Ah, winter in Minnesota. Fresh snowfall, ice fishing, polar plunges, cozy sweaters, hot chocolate and… outsized energy bills? While we expect temperature drops as winter approaches, many households struggle with increased heating and light bills as the season begins. That’s changing in Winona County, thanks to a collaboration between Xcel Energy, Semcac, the City of Winona, Winona County, CERTs, Next Step Partners/Sustain Winona, and the Jefferson Center. In 2017 alone, 197 low-income households served by Xcel Energy in Winona County have received Home Energy Squad visits, which include energy audits, upgrades to LED lightbulbs, water and energy-saving showerheads, programmable thermostats, weather stripping for doors, and more – at no cost to the households.

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A New Collaboration to Promote Sustainability in Winona County

A group of Winona County citizens, local nonprofits, and government officials are working together to promote sustainability and climate resilience across the county, thanks to a new grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The collaboration, called Next Step Partners, stems from Sustain Winona – which includes representatives from the City of Winona, Winona County, and local schools and colleges – and a community engagement and organizing process initiated last spring that brought together a representative microcosm of Winona County residents to assess key challenges and opportunities relating to the local impacts of extreme weather and a changing climate. The community recommendations from that process, the Winona County Climate Dialogue, targeted healthy watersheds, clean energy, and community awareness of sustainability and climate resilience.

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