Energy : Development News

The Soap Factory is one of the largest galleries nationwide that focuses on emerging talent, according to its executive director Ben Heywood.

But the historic wood and brick building which houses the edgy gallery, a one-time soap factory, is on the decline. 

The 48,000 square foot warehouse in Southeast Minneapolis, which dates back to the 1890s, has no heat or air conditioning, and on top of that, no insulation. As a result, "It's not a stable structure," Heywood says.   

To stop the effects of aging, the Soap Factory, which has made many other building improvements since it moved into the space in 1995, is preparing for a more ambitious rehab. Getting an efficient heating system in place, Heywood explains, is key. "We want to own this building into perpetuity."   

And finding green solutions to these issues, he says, is of strong interest. The gallery is looking into a passive air conditioning system, which would siphon cool air from the basement into the rest of the building during the warmer months, plus the possibility of a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar energy options.

Although going down any of those paths would require a big upfront investment, "the lifetime costs tend to be less," says Heywood.    

Ultimately, the rehab would preserve the look of the building,he says, adding, "The rawness is what works for our art projects."  

This year the gallery received a $46,800 grant from the State of Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that the Minnesota Historical Society administered, to help get going with a structural review and heating survey, which are underway from MacDonald & Mack Architects and Dunham Associates.   

When those pieces come out next year, they'll inform a larger design plan for the building. Afterward, the gallery will take on a full-fledged capital campaign for the estimated $3.5 million project, Heywood says.

For now, "We're starting to assemble what we need to make strong pitches" to public and private groups, he says.
 
Source: Ben Heywood, executive director, Soap Factory
Writer: Anna Pratt

Construction of the leading solar thermal energy project in the Midwest, the scale of which is comparable to two-thirds the size of a football field, recently began at the downtown Saint Paul RiverCentre.

On the convention center's 30,000-square-foot rooftop will soon be 144 commercial-grade solar thermal panels, which run 8 feet by 20 feet individually, according to project materials.   

The $2.1 million rooftop array will kick out 1 megawatt of energy and decrease carbon-dioxide emissions by 900,000 pounds yearly, materials state.    

District Energy St. Paul, which operates a biomass-fueled hot water district heating system and a combined heat and power plant and supplies the convention center's energy, will run it.

Solar thermal energy derives from heating water, explains District Energy project manager Nina Axelson. "It's a very efficient and effective way to use energy," which, she adds, outperforms solar electric power. 

Additionally, the RiverCentre's system stands out for its "fuel flexibility," Axelson says.

Extra energy will be shared with the rest of the District Energy system, which includes 80 percent of city buildings, through a grid of heating pipes. Even though similar scenarios are common in Europe, she says, "We never found any other systems like this in the U.S."

As a heating company that has a goal to eventually become 100 percent renewable, Axelson says, "It's a critical part of what we're trying to do here."

The system will be up and running sometime in January thanks to a $1 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which District Energy matched. It's the first project that will reach completion as part of a broader DOE initiative called "Solar America Cities," which includes 26 cities--Minneapolis among them--that are tackling various solar energy technologies.    
 

Source: Nina Axelson, project manager, St. Paul District Energy  
Writer: Anna Pratt

One of the Eastside Food Coop's objectives is to minimize its environmental impact.  

Early on, though, the food coop, opened in Northeast Minneapolis in 2003, had accrued a lot of debt, according to its general manager, Amy Fields.

While the coop wanted to invest in energy-saving infrastructure, its bills made it difficult to go there.

But it wasn't long before the coop, which is housed in an old, largely cement building in the Audubon neighborhood, underwent an eye-opening analysis of its energy use. The study showed there was plenty of room for improvement.

It pushed the coop to get creative to reduce its carbon footprint and increase efficiency. After doing some digging to find energy-saving solutions, architect Brandon Sigrist, who is a coop member, along with the local Sundial Solar Consultants, proposed a solar photovoltaic array--which converts solar radiation into electrical energy--for the coop's 12,000 square foot rooftop, Fields says.

A combination of Xcel Energy rebates, including one for Minnesota-made solar products, plus a U.S. Treasury Green Energy grant, helped make the $167,000 project doable.

The coop was able to get a cutting-edge photovoltaic solar panel array from the Bloomington-based company, TenK Solar, which specializes in the contraptions. Six rows of 18 panels with reflectors, all on tracks, will put out about 28,000 kilowatt hours a year, which accounts for between five and 10 percent of the store's electrical costs.

The system is 50 percent more productive than traditional photovoltaic systems because the inverted-V-shaped panels can handle direct sunlight. It's effective even on overcast days, Fields adds.

It'll save the coop several thousand dollars annually and decrease its carbon emissions by 20 tons a year. Over the next five years, the system, which will soon be running, will pay for itself, says Fields.  

"Part of what excites me," he adds, "is that now 3,200 [coop members] in Northeast Minneapolis own a piece of solar. Hopefully it'll open us up to more alternative energy from all of us."


Source: Amy Fields, general manager at Eastside Food Coop
Writer: Anna Pratt

Minneapolis will soon be a "beta" tester for a federal Energy Score program, along with nine other U.S. cities.

The energy-saving program, which Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu presented last week, is comparable to the well-known Energy STAR label for appliances, program materials state.

In Minneapolis, the program begins with an educational workshop that gives homeowners the chance to sign up for a home visit from a two-person team of experts, according to Carl Nelson, the program and policy manager of the local nonprofit Center for Energy and Environment, which administers a related Community Energy Services program in Minneapolis.

For $30, the experts will check out a home's energy use and offer tips for improving efficiency. A blower door test, for instance, can show how much air is escaping through open spaces, Nelson explains.

Another benefit of the walk-through is "It'll give [homeowners] perspective on how they're doing in terms of other homes per square foot," he says.  

Beyond that initial inspection, homeowners will get periodic progress reports that are based on their energy bills. By installing recommended items such as fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and low-flow showerheads, or tackling retrofit projects, people can improve their marks and save money.

"Staff can help figure out how to finance it as well," he says, referencing various rebates and credits that are out there. "People can come to us and say 'what can we get?' and we can hook them up," he says.

Nelson hopes the program, which will be rolled out neighborhood by neighborhood starting with about 300 homes, will transform the market for energy-efficient upgrades.

"There's a lot of potential for something like this," he says, adding, "We want to try to make it as easy as possible for people to save energy in ways that are cost-effective."   

Source: Carl Nelson, program and policy manager for the Center for Energy and Environment
Writer: Anna Pratt

A system of tunnels that at one time provided the the Pillsbury "A" Mill with all the power it needed, thanks to the Mississippi River's 50-foot drop at nearby St. Anthony Falls, may soon serve as an energy center once again.

A Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage grant is paying for a new study to determine if the tunnels below what was once the world's biggest flour mill can once again harness hydropower in one form or another, or perhaps be a staging area for tapping into the earth's moderating temperatures for geothermal heating and cooling.

Energy created would be used not only for the 1881 "A" Mill once it is redeveloped, but for a massive proposed complex of new and renovated buildings across a three-block stretch of the Minneapolis riverfront.

The tunnels were part of the greatest direct-drive waterpower complex ever built but fell into disuse with the advent of hydroelectric power generation and the slow exodus of grain milling to cities such as Buffalo, N.Y.

"Given their age, they are in remarkably good condition," says Kathryn Klatt of development firm Schafer Richardson.  The tunnels, or millraces, brought water from above the falls into the "A" Mill via headraces, let it fall down vertical tunnels called drop shafts, then delivered it back to the river by way of two tailraces. Those enormous openings can still be seen at the base of the riverbank in Father Hennepin Bluffs Park.

The $7,000 scoping study for the tunnels complements a $30,000 separate study into the feasibility of engineering for such a project that's already underway.

Source: Kathryn Klatt, Schafer Richardson
Writer: Chris Steller