RETAP Celebrates 20 Years!

The Minnesota Retired Environmental Professionals Assistance Program (RETAP) has been providing free help to Minnesotans for two decades. A virtual presentation on October 27th, co-hosted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Minnesota GreenStep Cities, highlighted the program’s achievements.

We celebrated the program’s facility assessments and community sustainability projects. RETAPers have completed 422 facility assessments over that past 20 years. After a facility assessment, the assessors draft a report with recommendations. Reports identify retrofits, equipment upgrades, and behavior changes with payback projections. All the proposed recommendations over the years add up to savings of over $4 million. Facilities are encouraged to address all the “low hanging fruit” opportunities. These are things like lighting retrofits and a prescribed control of indoor temperatures. This mix of behavioral and equipment changes has experienced a high implementation rate.

The community sustainability team has been involved in highly impactful work. Work has ranged from quantifying the true cost of public parking, municipal water, urban trees, bike lanes, and more. Providing metrics and realistic action plans has been their recipe for success. RETAP work has engaged local government staff and elected officials in sustainability. This work has supported better long-term decision-making. It often provides the groundwork for continuous improvements.

Agenda: 

9:00: Welcome & Introductions
9:15-9:20 - RETAP overview - Alison Cameron, MPCA
9:20-9:40 - Community Sustainability - Michael Orange and Barb Thoman
9:40-9:55 - Facility Assessments overview - Don Bailey and Rick Person
10:05-10:20 - RETAP highlight projects - Rick Person
10:20-10:40 - RETAP History - Tom Segar
10:40-11:00 - Who should utilize RETAP services, and why? - Rin Porter and Rick Person

View the recording: 

View the slides and additional materials: 

Resources: 

• RETAP website and contacts 
• Join RETAP - applicants may be retired engineers, scientists, managers, or other professionals from a wide range of technical and non-technical fields. You must be a self-starter and independent worker, and be comfortable working with computers. 

• 20-Years of RETAP Infographic

• Road Diet Summary (Barb Thoman)

• New Approaches to Parking Management Guide (Barb Thoman) and Nov. 17 webinar

• West Saint Paul Sustainability Assessment (Michael Orange)

• EAB cost-benefit analysis calculator (Michael Orange)

• Addressing the Sustainability Gap in the Development Review Process (Michael Orange)

Best Practice Actions Related to this Topic: 

• 1.3 Invest in larger energy efficiency projects through performance contracting or other funding or through smaller retro-commissioning/retrofit projects in city-owned/school buildings.
• 2.4 Describe energy/water efficiency outcomes and other green building practices at businesses and not-for-profit organizations located within/nearby the city.
• 25.2 Create or participate in a marketing/outreach program to connect businesses with assistance providers, including utilities, who provide personalized energy, waste or sustainability audits and assistance. 

Register for upcoming GreenStep Cities and Tribal Nations workshops here. You do not need to be a GreenStep community to attend.

 Visit the GreenStep Cities and Tribal Nations program website at www.mngreenstep.org.