Some schools in Minnesota are getting educated to the power of wind energy, as they look to stretch their dollars to meet the demands of rising energy costs.
This story on the TwinCities.com web site talks about a district in Washington County and how officials are looking at putting up a wind turbine on school property… a growing trend in the state where wind energy has also become a growing trend:
Schools in the wind energy business are becoming more common. Dozens of Minnesota districts are looking to build turbines in their back yards or invest in southern Minnesota wind farms to generate green energy and extra cash.
Some have undertaken projects on their own, as South Washington County is proposing. The School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley turned on its 20-kilowatt turbine last month.
Others are teaming up with private companies. For example, dozens of Minnesota districts are considering a partnership with Johnson Controls Inc. to build turbines on leased farmland near Austin, Minn.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to involve districts in producing energy and bringing in another revenue stream that’s not relying on the political process,” said Wabasso Superintendent Ted Suss. “Plus, we can use it to teach students about clean, renewable energy sources. It’s one way for us to do our part.”
Wabasso’s portion of the wind farm would produce 10 times the amount of energy the 400-student district uses, Suss said. Suss said turbines could produce energy by early 2010.
Officials admit that the wind energy game can be a bit of a risk for districts looking to raise much-needed revenues, but they also believe it beats selling naming rights to some of the school’s property.
Patents for biofuels dominated renewable energy patents in 2007… outdistancing patents for solar and wind combined.
Researchers at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia are looking at a new way of turning algae into biodiesel. 
A documentary about biofuels makes its world premiere at the 
“Fields of Fuel”
Keynote speakers for the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, or 
Minnesota might already be the home of the NFL’s Vikings, but lawmakers in that state are trying to lure some modern-day descendants of the marauders to set up a wind energy research center.
House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and several other Democrats said they’re considering a package of unspecified incentives – possibly bonding dollars, or tax breaks – to draw Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems to the state. Vestas, the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, plans to build a U.S. research center, but hasn’t picked a location.
A new biodiesel blending facility located at a petroleum terminal in Aurora, Colorado is seen as key to improving the availability of biodiesel in the area while helping integrate the green fuel into the nation’s petroleum infrastructure.
“Today we are witnessing a renewable energy revolution in our state and in our nation,” said U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), who spoke at the opening ceremony. “This revolution is fueled by innovative firms like Magellan and CHS who understand that the production of clean, renewable biofuels not only strengthens America’s national and environmental security, but offers an unprecedented opportunity to spur economic growth and job creation in our rural communities as well. I commend them for their work and urge other firms to follow suit.”