Tag Archives: dakota county

Dakota County Adopts Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target

Posted on by
Reply
Lebanon Hills Visitor Center - A LEED Certified Dakota County Building

Lebanon Hills Visitor Center - A LEED Certified Dakota County Building

Dakota County is the first county in Minnesota to complete an greenhouse gas emissions inventory for government operations and adopt a target for reductions.  Now the County has the beginnings of a plan to get there as well.

I am happy to say that I was heavily involved in the process to develop this plan for reductions and bring it to review and adoption by the County Board.  Our 15% reduction target for 2015 matches those adopted by the State of Minnesota, Hennepin County and the Midwest Governors Accord.  The plan includes energy efficiency improvements to buildings, improving fleet efficiency, exploring renewable energy alternatives and reducing employee commute impacts.  We will also be completing a county-wide emissions inventory, likely in 2010.

We believe the 15% reduction is totally doable, and will likely even save the County money.  However, even after tons of research, I can still say that the devil will be in the details, and the next year will be challenging.  Wish us luck!

Dakota County firsts

Posted on by
Reply
image source: Met Council

image source: Met Council

Ok, my-own-horn tooting time.  Or, my employers horn I guess.  Dakota County had some cool firsts recently that I thought I should briefly mention.

In April the Lebanon Hills Visitor Center became the state’s first LEED-certified County building.   Dakota County also completed a greenhouse gas inventory for their operations, a first for any Minnesota County (take that Hennepin County).  Click through for more details.

Continue reading →

Your author moves from private to public

Posted on by
Reply
courtesy flickr user: Punchup

Hastings Bridge. Courtesy flickr user: Punchup

From the dark side to the side of good, from the hard working side to the side that gets Columbus day off, apply whatever stereotype you’d like.  I’m moving on to new and (hopefully) better things as a planner at Dakota County.  On January 5th, I’ll be starting at the Office of Planning and Analysis.  Projects I know that I’ll be starting on:

  • Staffing a homelessness policy board
  • Helping to develop a Vermillion River environmental protection overlay of some sort
  • Exploring strategies for implementing new energy policies, including GHG reduction strategies

The blog will carry on, hopefully aided by new public sector experience.