September 2017

REPORT

Pat teaching on proper mechanics for bucket

truck entryWorklete trainers: Reece, Ivan and Pat

We often hear those words when we are talking to someone that has experienced an emergency. “I never thought it would

happen to me.” Yet it does. It happens to people down in Texas, Florida, Georgia and So. Carolina or people in our own communities. Emergencies happen in our co-ops. An emergency can be surviving a tornado, having your home swept away in a flood, being in a vehicle accident, and even surviving an accident at work.

September is National Preparedness Month. Today is the day to prepare so you are ready. You can check out the website www.Ready.gov to get information on ways to be ready at home. Here are some key preparations:

• Make an emergency family plan• Prepare an emergency kit and keep it on hand in a backpack• Prepare a financial emergency kit – so you have all the key

documents, passwords, account numbers, etc.• Respond to an accident – this is a great video to watch

explaining your role if you are the help until help arrives: https://community.fema.gov/until-help-arrives (scroll down the page to find the video)

Are you ready for an emergency at work? Let’s find out.

I’ve participated in an emergency drill.

I know where to find our emergency plan.

I have updated my emergency contact information within the last year.

We have practiced a mayday drill, a severe weather drill and an evacuation drill.

I have put key phone numbers in my cell phone.

I know where the first aid kits are located, even when in a co-op or company vehicle.

I’ve taken first aid and CPR/AED training.

I know the way I will be notified to report to work after a storm, even if phone systems are not working.

I know the code words to alert others of an unsafe situation.

So, are YOU ready? If not, then GET READY...as if your life depends on it!

I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME!By Lidia Dilley Jacobson, Director, Safety and Loss Control

Six Minnesota co-ops began their Worklete journey on September 14 by training their champions from the co-ops in a “train the

trainer” program to lead their peers in working safer, smarter and with more power in their movements.

The goal of the Worklete program is to create a lasting change in an organization to prevent injuries (shoulders, knees, back, etc.) and strengthen a safety culture using peers. Material is distributed in two-week increments with five-minute videos, and the second week devoted to practicing the movement. The skills build upon each other as they go through the year.

The champions participated in a day-long class and learned key techniques to lead the efforts in proper body mechanics at their co-ops. Worklete has also been filming crews at MiEnergy, so our co-ops implementing the Worklete program can apply the skills directly to the work we do in our industry in the coming months.

WORKLETE A PROGRAM TO CREATE LASTING CHANGE TO PREVENT WORK RELATED INJURIES By Lidia Dilley Jacobson, Director, Safety and Loss Control

BENEFICIAL ELECTRIFICATION FOR THE HOME

Do you enjoy waking up to the rumble of your neighbor’s lawn mower on a Saturday morning? The days of mowers and

other devices making a rumbling noise and spewing exhaust into the air may be coming to an end.

The concept, known as “environmentally beneficial electrification,” is gaining traction among a growing number of groups in the U.S. including Minnesota’s electric cooperatives. Frequently promoted as a means to reducing greenhouse gases and helping the environment, beneficial electrification also helps consumers by providing products that are cleaner, quieter and easier to maintain.

Beneficial electrification is a departure from the conventional wisdom, which held that appliances fueled on-site, like natural gas water heaters, were more efficient and easier on the environment. The natural gas industry argues that generating and distributing electricity is less efficient than burning fuel on-site.

But that old argument is crumbling, and one of the biggest drivers of this trend is the flexibility of the electric grid itself. As utilities shift to renewable technologies and make existing generation technologies cleaner, electricity uses less fossil fuel per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. Electric appliances become “greener.”

Electric appliances themselves are also becoming more efficient due to technological improvements and increased government standards, and gas appliances aren’t keeping up.

“Over their life, electric products can support the integration of renewable energy generators, onsite renewable generation, and thermal and battery storage programs. The same cannot be said of appliances that require fossil fuel on-site,” says Keith Dennis, NRECA Senior Principal of End-use Solutions and standards. “This applies to electric vehicles, systems that heat and cool homes and many other end-use technologies.” (continued on next page)

MINNESOTA CO-OPS MOBILIZE TO ASSIST FLORIDA’S POWER RESTORATION EFFORTMinnesota electric cooperatives mobilized lineworkers to assist crews in restoring power in parts of Florida that are being ravaged by Hurricane Irma. Fourteen lineworkers from six Minnesota electric cooperatives departed from Minnesota on Sunday, September 10. They will be working in Florida for one to two weeks. Additional crews may be gathered to assist in other parts of Florida and possibly Georgia.

Minnesota Rural Electric Association is coordinating with the Florida Electric Cooperative Association (FECA), which has seventeen member electric co-ops within the state. This crew is headed to Suwannee Valley Co-op (SVEC) in Live Oak, Florida, and should arrive by Tuesday. SVEC maintains over 4,300 miles of electric distribution lines in the Florida counties of Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette and Suwannee.

Update on Friday, September 15, 2017:• At least 16 additional lineworkers from Minnesota are prepared to assist but have not received the call to mobilize.

• Mike Bjorklund, FECA Executive Vice President and General Manager reported, “Florida’s electric cooperatives are making steady progress in tough conditions, and have restored more than 85 percent of Irma outages. An estimated 646,000 accounts are back online thanks to the hard work of nearly 4,100 co-op linemen from Florida and at least 10 other states. Hurricane Irma was a historic storm, and this is a historic restoration effort."

• NRECA Chief Executive Officer Jim Matheson reported 2,000 crews comprised of 50,000 lineworkers and mutual aid workers from 25 states are on the ground providing assistance.

MINNESOTA COOPERATIVES SENDING SUPPORT:

Lake Region Electric Co-op, Pelican Rapids

McLeod Co-op Power Association, Glencoe

Meeker Cooperative, Litchfield

Minnesota Valley Electric Co-op, Jordan

Stearns Electric Association, Melrose

Todd-Wadena Electric Co-op, Wadena

By Thomas Kirk, Associate Analyst of Distributed Energy Resources, NRECA

A CARBON IRABy Mark Glaess, Retired MREA General Manager

Editor’s note: We enjoyed having retired MREA General Manager Mark Glaess back to host a panel during this

year’s Energy Issues Summit. As a follow up to having him on stage, we invited him to share his thoughts on one of the policy ideas he has been working on recently. He graciously responded with the following.

You may recall that the Minn. PUC voted to set the “social” cost of carbon at $4.53/ton. That’s up from the cost of a Shasta soda topping out at $43.00 about the time the Vikings can solidify their offensive line. Xcel was similarly all-in. Imagine the range had Hurricane Harvey occurred when those calculations were being slide ruled.

Think the Clean Power Plan pause will help? Not likely, given that the “endangerment” finding still directs EPA, not to mention the Supreme Court, to reduce that particular emission said to be inconvenient. Already nine, soon to be ten, Eastern states created a cap and trade system called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. They have sold CO2 credits for $2.53/ton down from a high of $7.50. California, which started all of this, sold credits for $13.80. Both RGGI and California plan to spend that dough – well over $1 billion – on energy stuff the average citizen, who is paying for all this, wouldn’t personally buy.

Therein lies the problem with cap and trade, cap and dividend, and carbon taxes. The participating consumer sees no benefit. Jason Makansi, who addressed the Energy Issues Summit in 2015 proposing a different idea: A Carbon Individual Retirement Account.

The Carbon IRA rewards consumers who make sustainable carbon footprint reductions with funds deposited into a savings account, which, like an IRA or 401K, cannot be tapped until retirement but grows through the magic of compound interest and increasing value of carbon. This encourages consumers/members to permanently alter their carbon footprint behaviors, unlike one-time incentives and subsidies. It is a grassroots solution framework, not another onerous top down set of mandates.

The Carbon IRA is consistent with electric cooperative values and culture. It expands customer choice, not mandates. It doesn't automatically lead to higher electric rates. It can leverage existing cooperative mechanisms, such as the Homestead Mutual Fund to manage the savings accounts, the National Information Services Cooperative (NISC) to track and aggregate avoided carbon, and the existing carbon markets as a starting point for monetizing the avoided carbon.

Best of all, the Carbon IRA framework leverages the cooperative spirit inherent in the member/owner. Members take "ownership" of the cooperative's collective carbon future, just like they have, for over a century, taken ownership of electricity supply and delivery for the good of smaller rural communities. Cooperatives are in a unique position to implement a Carbon IRA program. Because the number of meters is small, cooperative boards/managers can "touch" every single member/owner in explaining the program and driving participation.

Carbon IRA can also help drive existing cooperative programs in community solar, rooftop solar PV, renewable facility development, energy efficiency retrofits (lighting, appliances, insulation, smart thermostats, etc.), and electric vehicle infrastructure, wind farm development from the demand side of the equation. At the same time, the cooperative utility is assisting their member/owners in addressing another chronic, potentially catastrophic situation - the lack of retirement savings.

Think about it. Your members are as worried about their future and long-term financial health as they are about carbon footprint. The Carbon IRA program is an opportunity to address both. And it's an opportunity to engage your member/owners in a way that no competitor can.

For further information, contact Jason Makansi or Mark Glaess and/or request a copy of our white paper which fully explains the concept and implementation.

jmakansi@gmail.com mglaess52@gmail.com

(continued from previous page) So, what will change around the home and how will it impact you?

Electric stove tops have long been disliked because they take a long time to heat, and will often heat pans unevenly. However, new induction stovetops heat faster than gas stoves and are more efficient than electric resistance stoves. (continued on next page) The price has fallen tremendously over recent years – from hundreds of dollars per induction stove to well under $100.

The third major change will be to small motors around your home, like the one in your lawnmower or leaf blower. Already there are corded and cordless models available and as batteries continue to improve and fall in cost, consumers can expect to see cordless models dominate.

Lastly, the car in your driveway may change out its gas tank for a battery. Electric vehicles are widely praised for being safer, easier to maintain (no oil changes!) and performing better on the road with more acceleration and torque. Currently more expensive than their gas-fueled counterparts, electric vehicles will fall in price as more companies enter the market and battery technology improves.

Change is often overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. With that in mind, don’t expect to see the electrification of your home unfold completely in the next year or two, but rather over the next five to 10 years. While many of these gas appliances and vehicles have become very familiar to me, I will not miss hearing my neighbor’s noisy lawnmower at 7 a.m. on Saturdays.

Phone: 763.424.1020 Fax: 763.424.5820 Website: www.mrea.org