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Learn how clean, renewable, affordable solar energy can provide space heat, hot water, or electricity for your home or business at “Solar 101,” a workshop led by Ralph Jacobson of Innovative Power Systems (IPS Solar). The workshop will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 20 in the Northfield Public Library (210 Washington St.) meeting room.

IPS Solar has designed and installed hundreds of solar energy systems in Minneapolis and the surrounding area since 1990, making the company a Midwest leader in solar energy for more than 15 years. The workshop will include practical information on system costs, photovoltaic system electricity production, assessing site feasibility, and more. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.

Solar systems can save you money and protect your family or business budget from future energy price shocks, reduce fossil fuel combustion and resulting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to our nation’s energy security. Today’s solar technologies are reliable, durable, and can contribute to increased property value.

The workshop, sponsored by RENew Northfield, is free and open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to make a tax-deductible free-will contribution at the meeting.

The Northfield City Council unanimously passed a resolution (see p. 52) on December 5, 2005 committing the city to participation in the international Cities for Climate Protection Campaign (CCPC). This was done at the recommendation of the city’s Environmental Quality Commission (EQC), which had passed a resolution encouraging the council to do so on October 18, 2005.

RENew Northfield proposed Northfield’s participation in the CCPC to the EQC at its October 18 meeting. (See the October 19 CCPC news item below.) Participation commits the city to the CCPC’s five-step process that “allows local governments to understand how municipal decisions affect energy use and how these decisions can be used to mitigate global climate change while improving community quality of life. The CCPC methodology provides a simple, standardized way of acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and of monitoring, measuring, and reporting performance.”

A city staff summary submitted to the City Council along with the resolution included the following language:

“The EQC envisions leading the initiative with its members, recruiting volunteers, and establishing cooperative relationships with RENew Northfield and possibly the colleges in undertaking completion of the designated steps.”

RENew Northfield looks forward to working with the EQC and other community partners to develop an aggressive plan to reduce the community’s greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. This promises to provide an excellent framework for broad-ranging community conversations concerning how to best move rapidly toward energy self-sufficiency based on more-efficient use of energy and local renewable energy development.

If you would like to get involved in the CCPC as a volunteer, contact RENew Northfield by phone or email.

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