In 2013, Minneapolis adopted their Climate Action Plan, which put into place a comprehensive set of emission reduction strategies. These strategies cover 3 areas: Buildings and energy, Transportation and land use, Waste and recycling.
For buildings and energy, the goal is to reduce energy usage by 17%, and generate 10% of electricity from local, renewable sources. On the residential building side of things, Minneapolis is proposing a "home energy audit" as part of the Truth In Housing program (TIH or TISH, Truth In Sale of Housing). This would require sellers to have an energy score when listing their house for sale. They are proposing that the TISH inspectors be trained to perform this component of the inspection process. The end result of this energy score would be a single number, for example 37 on a scale of 1 to 100. 100 would mean that the house would have virtually no energy costs.
Another part of this program is to make incentives for sellers to improve their homes energy-wise so that they can get a higher sale price due to energy efficiencies. If they don't, the buyers will at least have some knowledge about the energy efficiency of the house, making it an incentive to them to improve the house energy-wise.
Also on the residential side of things, Minneapolis is proposing a "time of rent" energy disclosure for renters. Renters currently have no way of knowing how much their utility bills will be before renting a unit. The disclosure would be mandated so that renters could compare units on energy efficiency. This would give incentives to the landlord (owners) to improve their buildings to make them more attractive to the rental market.
On the commercial side of things, some of them already have to do an energy score of sorts and disclose to purchasers. Minneapolis would like to extend that to all commercial buildings. They also have an Energy Reduction Challenge called the "Kilowatt Crackdown" to encourage commercial buildings to reduce usage.
For renewable energy, Minneapolis is trying to create policies that promote renewable energy, develop a "solar-ready" certification, and encourage "net-zero" buildings.
Making a building "solar-ready" adds virtually no cost at the time of construction, and would potentially have some value to purchasers. This would involve adding some structural supports and electrical conduit so that solar could be installed without adding structural support to the roof trusses, and/or digging in walls to add conduit. Both of these items can be added at a very low cost when in the construction phase.
What is a net-zero building? Basically net-zero means the building (or house) would generate all the energy it needs to power the building itself. This generally means that the building is super insulated so that it requires less energy to heat and cool the building, as well as solar panels to generate the energy it needs. Oftentimes this type of building uses geo-thermal heat pumps to heat and cool the building, running off solar energy. You can read more about "Net-Zero" buildings at this link.
You can read the entire action plan at the link below. Minneapolis Climate Action Plan:
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/sustainability/climate-action-goals/climate-action-planLake Harriet Park is a favorite for all of Minneapolis. It’s most well known feature is the band shell, which is right on the lake and hosts many different music groups and other shows and it even plays movies, throughout the warmer months. The park also has several beaches along with a walking/biking path that goes all the way around Lake Harriet. There is a garden, a dock and a pier, a playground and picnic area, and even a beautiful fountain at this park.
Lynnhurst Park is obviously named after the neighborhood and has a lot to offer. It has a playground, a biking/walking path, sport courts and fields, and an ice rink in the winter for skating and hockey. The park is also located only two blocks from Lake Harriet.
George & the Dragon is actually more of a bar. It serves all kinds of beers but also offers a menu with pub grub and lots of fried foods.
Lake Harriet Pizza is a neighborhood favorite. It is a delivery or take out pizza joint only, but the community loves the pizza and that it is local!
St. Genevieve is a French restaurant that is very much styled after Paris. It serves all kinds of French foods and breads. The restaurant specializes in wines and is most well known for its champagne.
One of them is called Terzo and is a more modern-styled Italian restaurant. It has a very large wine list that offers over 300 selections as well as beers. The most interesting part about Terzo, though, is the walk up window called Porchetteria. It is year-round throughout the day and serves food to go, mainly pork sandwiches called Porchetta. This is a major draw to the restaurant and the neighborhood.
The Malt Shop has been an old-fashioned community favorite since the 1970s. The cute spot originally served mostly burgers, fries, and of course malts. Over the years the menu has greatly expanded with all kinds of American style plates, but malts and shakes still remain the specialty!
One community favorite is the Paperback Exchange, a little bookstore that has been around since 1975. It sells both used and new books and has a wide variety, from bestsellers to books that are out of print, adding up to about 150,000 books in stock.
Patino, is a little shop started by a couple in 1993 that now has 7 different locations. The products here are constantly evolving as the art and style of the couple evolves. Their goal is to create a little escape that inspires more art.
Zinnia sells all Mexican folk art and handcrafted goods. It is a fair trade shop and everything sold has been made by Mexican artisans throughout the country.
Kites of all shapes, sizes, colors, and themes will fly over frozen Lake Harriet. Other fun family activities at the festival include ice fishing, snowshoeing, and a marshmallow roast. This event is free and open to the public! No registration required.
