Welcome to Energy-Smart at DNR!

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) focuses on safely accomplishing our critical mission. Within the context of how we do that work, we also continuously improve our own environmental performance. The DNR’s natural resource mission makes sustainable operations a natural fit in the way we do business.

The Office of Enterprise Sustainability was created in 2017 to guide and coordinate all state Government sustainability work.  There are six areas of focus, along with targets and reporting systems established for all state agencies.

• Waste (waste reduction and recycling)
• Water (efficiency and conservation)
• Facility Energy Use (energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy)
• Fleet Energy Use (fuel efficiency, conservation and non-petroleum fuels)
• Greenhouse Gases (measurement and reduction)
• Procurement (targeted green product purchasing)

We are actively engaged with all other state agencies in addressing our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, water use, waste management and the indirect impacts of our purchasing.

The DNR has 28 sites with renewable energy installations. Most of those are photovoltaic installations that use sunlight to generate electrical power and multiple sites use roof-mounted solar hot water heaters to heat campground shower water, saving the cost and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Glossary:

solar thermal: A process for collecting solar energy and using it for thermal (heat) energy. Solar thermal collectors are generally simpler than solar electric panels, and make more efficient use of solar energy.
photovoltaic: A process for generating electricity from sunlight, commonly used in solar panels.