• Akira Yano Speaks to Students About Environmental Racism in Northern Minneapolis

    STA Project Updates: May 2022

    Hello from the Sustainability Office, and happy spring! After an eventful Earth Week and a sad farewell to Alex Miller, our waste, food, outreach, data and energy, and policy and…

  • Cities using LEDs to save costs

    In the interest of cutting energy costs in half, St. Paul is experimenting with LED (light-emitting diode) lighting in city streetlamps.  This new application of LED technology is still in its infancy with only a few pilot projects already begun in Anchorage, AK, Austin, TX, and Ann Arbor, MI.  The use of these bright white lights in traffic signals and stop signs has already saved the city $85,000 in labor and $180,000 in electricity. LED technology in streetlamps could significantly reduce the $3.16 billion required to maintain St. Paul’s 37,000 streetlamps and would result in a 50% reduction in energy use.  For now, however, the new lights only pepper about a block or two in the Como neighborhood.  For the full article, see here.