The Silver Bay Veterans Home is basking in the glow of a special recognition: the State of Minnesota’s Energy Conservation Award.

The facility, located on the shores of Lake Superior just north of Duluth, is home to 57 Minnesota Veterans or their spouses. This year the Home was recognized for its efforts to reduce energy use. Specifically, the Home had a 70% reduction in natural gas use and related costs.

“In essence, we replaced the old steam boilers that were installed in 1956 when the Home was built,” says Mike Jandro, Facilities Director at the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA). “We installed what’s known as a variable refrigerant flow system with dedicated outside air system units. Basically, it’s a large scale, high efficiency system that doesn’t need as many air ducts to cool or heat a space.”

“There is nothing more important than keeping our Residents warm in winter and cool in summer,” says Dani Donner, Administrator of the Minnesota Veterans Home – Silver Bay. “Innovation to us means finding new, leading-edge ways to care for our Veterans and their families. This new system will help us do that well into the future.”

“Between April of 2022 and 2023, the Home reduced its natural gas consumption by 70%,” says Kim Grosenheider, Sustainability Coordinator at the MDVA. “Translated into dollars, that’s an annual savings of nearly $5,000 between gas and water costs.”

The award, in part, acknowledges our intentional work to improve efficiency and help manage the cost of keeping our Residents cool in summer and warm in winter. The award, in part, reads: “Your commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability is important. We will be holding up your work as an example to other agencies, local units of government, and the public to show the state is leading by example on reducing our environmental impact, mitigating climate change, and being responsible stewards of public resources.”

As MDVA continues to expand our facilities and the space we dedicate to Veterans over the next year, we will continue to invest in renewable energy and other technologies to reduce GHG emissions associated with our energy use. This will include community and on-site solar, wind power, renewable energy credits, and geothermal technology.