Projects will identify ways to maximize energy savings in Minnesota 

The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced grant awards of nearly $4.5 million to advance research and innovation in energy conservation. The grants are awarded through the State’s /commerce/energy/industry-government/cip/applied-research-development/index.jspConservation Applied Research and Development (CARD) program. In addition to these grants, the projects leverage more than $462,000 in matching funds from grantees, for almost $5 million in research and development in energy conservation projects.

“Energy efficiency helps customers use less energy and save money,” said Minnesota Department of Commerce Temporary Commissioner Grace Arnold. “Improved energy efficiency comes with many benefits, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to creating jobs.”

The primary purpose for the research and development projects receiving grant funding are to identify new technologies or strategies to maximize energy savings, improve effectiveness of energy conservation programs or document carbon dioxide reductions from energy conservation programs.

“Minnesota is a leader in energy policy. These grants, and the research projects they help fund, are important tools to help us make progress toward our state’s energy and environmental goals,” said Department of Commerce Temporary Commissioner Arnold. “These grants help accelerate innovation across Minnesota.”

Projects for this year’s CARD grants were selected from a pool of 44 proposals submitted through a competitive grant process. Grant recipients include a range of nonprofit groups and businesses, many with years of experience working alongside utilities to help achieve energy conservation goals and benefit Minnesota utility ratepayers.

Funded by utility companies, the CARD program was created to help achieve the state’s energy conservation goals, as established by the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. The goal, as stated in the act, is “to achieve annual energy savings equal to 1.5% of annual retail energy sales of electricity and natural gas” directly through utility conservation improvement programs and indirectly through energy codes, education, market transformation programs, consumer behavioral changes and other methods.

More information on the CARD program is available on the Minnesota Department of Commerce website. Questions can be directed to the Commerce Department’s Energy Information Center at energy.info@state.mn.us, 651-539-1886 or 800-657-3710.

CARD Grant Awardees:

The Cadmus Group
Award: $111,270
Project: Collect Minnesota-specific data to rigorously quantify heating, ventilation and air conditioning usage hours for residential furnace, air conditioner and heat pump measures so that utilities can more accurately calculate and attribute savings from the installation of energy efficient equipment.

Award: $120,180
Project: Quantify the savings produced by smart thermostats installed in single-family homes in Minnesota.

Center for Energy and Environment
Amount: $288,659
Project: Measure the savings potential and characterize the market for a commercially available fan controller to increase the efficiency of residential heating and cooling systems.

Amount: $392,393
Project: Evaluate the savings and program potential for various design features related to the use of carbon dioxide as a refrigerant in commercial refrigerated systems in Minnesota.

Amount: $330,048
Project: Characterize available air-to-water heat pump systems and the best configurations to serve Minnesota residential load priorities and measure the energy savings and cost-effectiveness for heating, cooling and hot water loads.

Amount: $153,380
Project: Investigate the potential for cold climate air source heat pumps as a direct AC replacement, including examining the technical and market barriers and making recommendations useful to utility programs to overcome those barriers.

Amount: $175,521
Project: Develop strategies to overcome the market barriers to proven energy efficiency improvements of existing commercial rooftop units in Minnesota commercial buildings.

Amount: $202,737
Project: Conduct a market analysis to determine the optimal mix of smart technologies for “intelligent buildings” for the Minnesota commercial building sector.

Amount: $49,839
Project: Assess the energy savings opportunities for residential zoned air distribution systems, including identifying current and future system configurations for the Minnesota’s residential market and determining the potential statewide energy savings.

Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota
Amount: $50,000
Project: Increase the efficacy of utility programs for all users by using culturally-responsive best practices to make programs more accessible for the most challenging communities to serve, including renters, low and moderate income households and BIPOC households.

EcoMetric Consulting, LLC
Award: $209,312
Project: Provide in-depth data on the motivations and barriers that drive the decisions of individual heating, ventilation and air conditioning installers working in residential and smaller commercial buildings in order to ensure program interventions are meaningful to decision-makers and responsive to market conditions.

GDS Associates, Inc.
Amount: $125,520
Project: Quantify energy savings that can be achieved by using radio wave grain drying compared to conventional grain drying technology in Minnesota’s agricultural sector.

Great Plains Institute
Award: $50,000
Project: Quantify participation rates by Latinx-owned businesses in utility energy efficiency programs and assess potential to increase participation rates by identifying barriers to participation and pathways to mitigate those barriers, including leveraging community-based business support networks.

Michaels Energy
Amount: $295,894
Project: Conduct a field study and engineering evaluation of a novel ground source heat exchanger technology appropriate for retrofit applications for urban commercial buildings without space for traditional well fields, including non-traditional cooling-only building system applications.

Slipstream, Inc.
Award: $378,957
Project: Demonstrate cold climate air source variable refrigerant flow systems in Minnesota buildings, and provide market, product and program research aimed at increasing market penetration and lowering market barriers.

Award: $449,885
Project: Conduct a randomized controlled pilot that integrates home energy feedback programs with a social networking app and community-based training program in order to increase energy savings and center equity and inclusion in attracting utility program participants.

Award: $266,650
Project: Demonstrate refrigeration thermal energy storage systems for energy savings and peak demand reduction in Minnesota refrigerated systems in order to identify market barriers, quantify impact and cost-effectiveness and provide data on scalability.

Award: $364,710
Project: Field demonstrate control retrofit process improvements by implementing ASHRAE Guideline 36 and measure energy savings, determine cost-effectiveness, estimate energy and carbon reductions, evaluate customer acceptance and engage utilities to identify program opportunities.

Award: $47,180
Project: Use the lens and framework of utility conservation programs to understand the energy issues related to food sovereignty and resilience in Minnesota Tribal Communities and the barriers that impede Tribes from greater success in food cultivation, processing, storage and distribution.

ThermoLift, Inc.
Award: $100,000
Project: Install an innovative thermal compression heat pump in a Minnesota commercial building to validate its potential contribution to the 1.5% energy reduction goal of Minnesota.

University of Minnesota – Center for Sustainable Building Research
Award: $255,580
Project: Use data from completed regional Passive House-certified multifamily projects to understand the potential costs, energy and carbon savings, market barriers of such projects and determine their suitability for a new utility program focused on high efficiency, whole-building energy performance.

Award: $50.000
Project: Explore and present a novel, panelized wall and roof system to enable fast, cost-effective energy upgrades to multi-family residential buildings in Minnesota and describe its potential to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in Minnesota.

With You Every Day

Wherever you are in Minnesota, the Department of Commerce is with you every day. Whether you’re filling up on gas, purchasing a home, working to reduce energy consumption or rebuilding after a disaster—we are with you, no matter what.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce oversees more than 20 regulated industries, ensuring that Minnesota businesses are strong and Minnesota consumers are protected. Our mission is to protect the public interest, advocate for Minnesota consumers, ensure a strong, competitive and fair marketplace, strengthen the state’s economic future and serve as a trusted public resource for consumers and businesses. Learn more at mn.gov/commerce

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