[Mpls] Minneapolis, where energy efficency ain't legal...

[Gena Berglund]

I thought that wood burning stoves produced a lot of particulates. If 
many residents started relying more on wood burning, would there not be 
a significant increase in air pollution in the city? Is the same true 
for corn and pellet stoves?

Gena Berglund
Saint Paul
Working temporarily in Mpls.

Dyna wrote:

>     Peter makes excellent points, illustrating that the greatest gains 
> in energy efficiency can be made right in our own Minneapolis 
> structures, and pointing out the roadblocks our city has placed in the 
> way of anyone who dares conserve energy and switch to renewables.
>
>     I write tonight from Starbuck, where we just checked and found 
> this fair city has no quarrel whatsoever with our installing corn or 
> wood burning heating inside or outside our homes and businesses. The 
> population here is booming, many of the new residents fleeing 
> Minneapolis. The only thing holding us back now is the availability of 
> biomass fueled heating devices- Fleet Farm is sold out of corn stoves 
> and the pellet and wood stoves are going fast.!
>
>     Contrast that to Minneapolis where I spent most of the week- my 
> block is half empty as more homes are vacated and boarded every day. 
> With Minneapolis effectively outlawing biofuel burning heating about 
> all we can do is insulate and turn down the thermostat some more. With 
> property values falling and vacancies rising, there's not a lot of 
> incentive to even insulate... Never mind spend thousands on solar 
> water heating only to have it destroyed by the frequent gunfire.
>
>     About this time next year much of the occupied half of the homes 
> in my neighborhood will empty out too.  Their gas shut off as soon as 
> the cold weather rule expires in the spring, they'll be getting too 
> cold to live in. By new years frozen pipes will burst and they'll 
> start going tax forfeit, as more fortunate Minneapolis exiles move to 
> new homes in the exurbs and beyond, and the less fortunate head south 
> to share crowded streets and tents with Katrina evacuees.
>
>     from sustainable Starbuck,
>
>         Dyna Sluyter
>
>> Peter Vevang writes:
>>
>> That idea translates to the city, there is money to be made.  People 
>> can make a living by supporting sustainable practices.  Sustainable 
>> practices are not an economic disadvantage, they are an advantage, it 
>> is an untapped industry.  If you divide up the percentage of energy 
>> usage, 50% of the energy we use goes toward construction, maintanance 
>> and operation of buildings.  Only 20% goes towards transportation, 
>> cars, including air travel, ships, trucking and so on.  We could 
>> completely eliminate all SUV's and replace them with E-85 hybrids and 
>> it would only slightly dent our energy usage.  The single best way to 
>> cut back on wasting energy in the building industry is to renovate, 
>> repair, re-use what we have, to renovate and rebuild our existing 
>> infrastructure in a more energy efficient way and to repair and 
>> maintain our buildings in an energy efficient way.  That is something 
>> we can do here in the city.  It would provide jobs, and it would save 
>> money for the people owning the buildings, giving them more resources 
>> for other projects.
>>
>> Farmers needed government subsidies and help inventing the technology 
>> for ethanol, they had a development model.  What we do not have in 
>> the city is an effective re-development model, we don't have 
>> systematic subsidies, regulatory support or support with the 
>> technology and building process that follow a sustainable model. Our 
>> building codes, ordinances and approval process aren't geared toward 
>> supporting sustainable development.  Our current regulatory process 
>> was invented in the 1940's and implemented in the 50's.  We haven't 
>> changed the fundamental principles we use for 50+ years.
>>
>> I think the trick to making sustainability work is to make it 
>> economically beneficial and to have the proper support and regulatory 
>> system in place.  If you can do that, people will come to you.  You 
>> won't be in a position of forcing people to do something they don't 
>> want to do.  We will not succeed by making others fail or punishing 
>> them.  We succeed together.
>>
>> Peter Vevang
>> Audubon
>
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