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Klobuchar Honors Students, Organizations for Saving Energy & Fighting Global Warming

Student from Chaska recognized

December 18, 2008

Minneapolis, MN – To showcase Minnesota efforts to save energy and combat global climate change, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar presented her “Carbon Buster Awards of Excellence” to several college students as well as a nonprofit human services organization and a rural telephone cooperative.  Chaska native Mark Schiller was the recipient of the college essay award.

At the awards ceremony on the campus of the University of Minnesota, the featured guest speaker was renowned Arctic explorer Will Steger.

Klobuchar said she established the Carbon Buster Awards program “to put the spotlight on some of the best efforts by Minnesotans to raise public awareness and show what can be done to save energy, reduce greenhouse gas pollution and combat global warming.”

She added:  “Climate change is a real problem, but it also has real solutions.  Among these solutions is changing how we produce and consume our energy, which would also save us money and strengthen our economy.  These award recipients are showing us how we can take serious action and make a difference.”

Klobuchar is a national leader on energy and climate change issues.  All four of the Senate committees on which she serves are dealing directly with these issues:  Environment, Agriculture, Commerce and the Joint Economic Committee.  Last year, Klobuchar visited Greenland as part of the bipartisan Senate Environment Committee delegation to observe firsthand the dramatic effects of climate change evident there.

Klobuchar presented Carbon Buster Awards to the following:

College Essay:  Mark Schiller, of Chaska, a student at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, who is also an intern in the corporate environmental affairs department of Best Buy.

College Multimedia Project:  Applied Environmental Solutions, a student group in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Minnesota.

Nonprofit Organization:  Merrick, Inc ( http://www.merrickinc.org/) is a service provider to adults with disabilities.  It acquired and retrofitted an old commercial building in Vadnais Heights, adding a geothermal heating/cooling system and a large rooftop solar power array.

Business: West Central Telephone Association (http://www.wcta.net/) is a cooperative located in Sebeka that has done pioneering work on solar/wind hybrid power systems and has launched Zenergy (http://www.zenergyguide.com) to provide and install renewable energy systems.  

Previous recipients of Carbon Buster Awards include QBP, a Bloomington-based bicycle parts company employing 400 people that built a new energy-efficient “green” distribution center; and the Center for Energy and Environment, a nonprofit organization that sponsors the “Minnesota Energy Challenge” to empower Minnesotans to take simple steps to reduce their energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.

Previous K-12 student recipients included a 4th grade class, from Baxter Elementary School in Baxter; an 8th grade class from Washington Technology Magnet Middle School in St. Paul; a 3rd grade student from Twin Lakes Elementary School in Elk River; a 3rd grade from Northrop Urban Environmental School in Minneapolis; and a 12th grade student from Mayo High School in Rochester.


Photo caption:  U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar presents Chaska native Mark Schiller with a “Carbon Buster Award.”

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