SO WHAT?

Making Sense of the Numbers

RII includes data from cities representing nearly half of Minnesota’s population. It includes municipalities of varying sizes and types — from the state’s largest urban cores to mid-sized suburbs to rural centers as small as 500 people. Through the process of compiling over ten years of data for these cities, certain trends have emerged. Key findings are visualized and explained below.

ENERGY

We use more gas than electricity.

In 2020, two-thirds of the energy used within RII cities was gas, which is commonly used for space and water heating, cooking, and many industrial processes.

We use more energy in non-residential buildings than we do in homes.

While the commercial/industrial sector uses about the same amount of gas as the residential sector, it uses nearly twice as much electricity. This breakdown by sector and energy type varies quite a bit between communities; city-specific breakdowns can be found on the City Summaries page.

ENERGY USE BREAKDOWN
TOTAL FOR 31 CITIES | 2020

Electricity use is decreasing. Gas use is not.

Electricity use has decreased in most cities — both in homes and businesses — likely due to actions like replacing lighting with LEDs. The average city saw a 14% drop in electricity use from 2007 to 2020. Since gas is used primarily for heating, it varies significantly from year to year due to changes in the weather. However, even accounting for weather, the gas use in most cities has increased since 2007, with an average increase of 3%.

This dependency on the weather makes us vulnerable — threatening both our ability to pay for the energy we need and our ability to shelter in place if our energy supply is disrupted. The data points to the need to weatherize our buildings while also making efficiency gains by switching to electricity; an electric heat pump can be three times as efficient as a gas furnace since it moves heat rather than creating it.

CHANGE IN ELECTRICITY USE OVER TIME
PERCENT CHANGE FROM 2007 FOR EACH OF 18 CITIES

In addition to showing that electricity use has decreased since 2007 in nearly every city, this graph shows that residential electricity trends are more consistent between cities than commercial/industrial trends. Household electricity use also reflects changes in weather, with warmer summers like 2018 requiring more cooling energy than cooler summers like 2008 and 2009.

CHANGE IN GAS USE OVER TIME
PERCENT CHANGE FROM 2007 FOR EACH OF 18 CITIES

This graph highlights the impact of weather on gas use, with cold winters like 2014 seeing more gas use than warmer winters like 2012. However, gas use has increased beyond what would be expected due to weather, especially in commercial/industrial buildings.

WATER

TRAVEL

WASTE

GHG EMISSIONS

Call To Action

RII provides local government elected officials, staff, and community members with city-wide data and tools to inform their climate planning and action. The RII team recommends the following calls to action:

Take high-impact action.

We all have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen in order to meet our climate goals and this work becomes more urgent every single day. So don’t feel like you need the latest data or the perfect plan before you can act. You can act now to:

Stop installing new gas equipment in buildings.
Transition to heat pumps for space and water heating.
Improve the insulation and air sealing in homes in order to make them less vulnerable to changes in weather. Do this for low-income households first, as these are the most vulnerable to extreme weather.
Reduce reliance on vehicle travel by:

Reexamining zoning patterns and regulations to encourage closer proximity between residents and businesses,
Supporting public transportation,
And implementing Complete Streets that support pedestrian and bike infrastructure. Strategies like adding more street trees can encourage more walking, increase economic activity, improve air quality, reduce urban heat, and sequester carbon.

For the vehicle trips that are still needed, support the rapid adoption of electric vehicles by ensuring adequate charging infrastructure and ensure equitable access to EVs by supporting things like affordable car-share programs.

Advocate for state and federal action.

We’ve seen that state and federal policies can effectively drive change – from federal appliance standards to the state’s clean electricity standards, conservation improvement program requirements, and biofuel mandates. State and federal policies or funding could advance:

Clean energy
More impactful energy codes for both commercial and residential new construction
Large scale investment in building electrification and electric vehicles
And even the institutionalization of data collection efforts like this one, by setting up systems to streamline community-scale energy data reporting and ensuring funding is available for ongoing data collection for all Minnesota communities.

Leverage city-specific opportunities.

Local governments as well as residents can leverage city-specific opportunities that can be found by either looking at the data, doing scenario planning, or simply through local knowledge. For example:

Cities that expect a lot of new development in the coming decade can ensure that zoning and planning approvals prioritize higher density housing, mixed use areas, and transit-oriented development.
They can also implement a sustainable building policy to achieve better energy efficiency and local renewable energy development than is required by code.
Cities served by a utility that doesn’t plan to transition to carbon-free electricity can invest in local renewables or can perhaps enter a partnership with its utilities to meet its goals.
Cities that host large institutions or industries can work together on these topics.
Concentrated areas with diverse heating and cooling loads can share their waste heat through district energy systems.
Cities with a large percentage of a certain type of building – whether restaurants, manufactured homes, or something else – can target programs to these buildings.
And nearly every city will have local people with specialized knowledge, connections, and passion that can be transformative. Climate action in several Minnesota communities has been accelerated by high-schoolers participating in the iMatter program.

Create a work plan.

We said you don’t have to have a plan to take action, but it is a good idea to document some of your decisions to commit to priorities, understand who needs to be involved, and provide a way to hold decision-makers accountable.

Track your progress.

Finally, track your progress. There are a lot of different variables in play, and it’s easy to assume that your actions will make a difference… Prove it and adjust your approach accordingly.