Featured Stories

Spring Green: The Rose Sets A New National Sustainability Standard for Affordable Housing

Joel Hoekstra Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A recently completed affordable-housing complex in the South Quarter of Minneapolis is arguably the most healthy and sustainable in the U.S.

Affordable Housing, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Emerging Technologies, Energy, Sustainability

Lake Street

December in the Cities: Art and Culture To Go

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, December 08, 2015

It's culture to go this month in our feature highlighting arts, entertainment and culture not to be missed in MSP. Stop into City Center for an on-the-fly dance performance. Check out--on your laptop, phone or tablet--Greycoats' music video shot in architect Ralph Rapson's Glass Cube. Catch District Energy's plume in the night sky in downtown St. Paul.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Strong Local Economy

Downtown, Downtown/Lowertown

TC Solar Entrepreneurship Powers Economic Development

Lee Egerstrom Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Minnesota's rapid spread and development of solar energy generation is sparking Twin Cities entrepreneurship.

Creative Leadership, Emerging Technologies, Emerging Technology, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs

Longfellow, Summit - University

Installing the Boyces' array, courtesy EcoMetro Tour

Solar Twin Cities: Where Urban Farming, Social Justice, Green Tech and Sustainable Living Meet

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A sneak peek at the solar initiatives of a Twin Cities homeowner, nonprofit and entrepreneurial restaurant/farm featured during the EcoMetro Sustainable Living Tour on May 31 sponsored by the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society.

Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Emerging Technologies, Emerging Technology, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability, Transit Oriented Development

University, Saint Anthony Park, Southwest, North Side, Downtown/Lowertown

Connecting to the cities by bus, photo by Kyle Mianulli

Car Free and Carefree in MSP: Why Ali Lozoff Kicked Car Ownership to the Curb

Kyle Mianulli Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Welcome to a new series on Twin Cities' residents who live car-free by walking, bicycling and using Metro Transit. Ali Lozoff: "If I can navigate this city all hours of the day and night on a bus, then anyone can do it.”

Energy, Transportation

Uptown/Lyn Lake, Downtown/Lowertown

The Challenges of Building "The Essential House"

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Architect Daniel Yudchitz decided to design and build a small, sustainable, low-cost, energy-efficient house for himself in Saint Paul's challenged Rondo neighborhood, to demonstrate how architecture could promote urban reinvestment. And then the banks weighed in.

Affordable Housing, Design, Energy, Sustainability

Summit - University

Our next hot neighborhood? Put your money on Payne Avenue

Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 20, 2013

It's weathered industry exoduses and foreclosure--but now the proud old East Side Saint Paul neighborhood is home to a hot new bar/restaurant, Ward 6, that's both a sign of, and a force in, a wider renewal.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Greater East Side

A Recipe for Real Change

Michelle Vigen Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Adapted from Bush Fellow Michelle Vigen's blog, Common Spark: a simple (if not easy) process to help organizations turn the good ideas and information with which we're inundated--why we should recycle, bike, eat better, revive citizenship, you name it--into real changes of habit and life.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Energy, Green Jobs, Sustainability

RangerOnCall: a high-tech tour of the mighty Mississippi

Anna Pratt Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Did you know that there's a National Park right in the middle of the Twin Cities metro? It's long and narrow, and it's called the Mississippi River. The National Park Service and its local ally, the Mississippi River Fund, want you to know more about our stretch of the river. Get your cell phones, tablets, and laptops out.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Energy, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Target Center's Tom Reller giving Meleah Maynard a rooftop tour

Target Center's green roof: a prairie in the sky

Meleah Maynard Wednesday, August 10, 2011

It's been two years since the green roof on downtown Minneapolis' massive auditorium and sports venue was installed. The Line took a tour to see how things are going and growing.

Design, Emerging Technology, Energy, Green Jobs, Sustainability

Downtown

Kerrik Wessel wants to plug your car into the sun

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Inspired by his kids' toy building set, he designed a colorful modular carport that incorporates solar panels--and may soon become nothing but solar panels. Is this how we'll recharge the electric vehicles of the future?

Design, Emerging Technology, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs, Sustainability, Transportation

Dale Connelly, Resident Tourist: Saint Anthony Falls Lab, where water meets the future

Dale Connelly Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Our Resident Tourist takes a tour of a boxcar-shaped building on the Minneapolis riverfront where, even in winter, scientists use inflowing water from the Mississippi to model all kinds of interactions between land and water. Scientific esoterica? Not really. The scientists at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory want to help Louisiana rebuild its delta. They want to understand the algae blooms that create fish-killing "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico. And with new federal support, they're turning their expertise toward the study of wind power, biofuels, and "hydrokinetics"--nothing less than the discovery of "new ways to power our civilization."

Creative Leadership, Energy, Green Jobs

Riverfront/Mill District, Downtown

The green question mark: State researchers are trying to define just what a green job is

Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, September 22, 2010

There's a lot of excitement about "green jobs" and their potential to put America back to work. But defining what a green job actually is can be difficult, say some clued-in researchers in the state Department of Employment and Economic Development whose efforts have helped put Minnesota is in the forefront of the infant science of green-labor-market studies. A few real-world trends: there are many shades of green in the job market, the total number of certifiably green jobs in the state isn't large yet, and yet the potential for green-job growth is real.

Energy, Green Jobs, Regionalism

Downtown/Lowertown

Energy : Featured Stories