Did you know that Minnesota families and businesses spend $18 billion every year to import the energy that we use to light, heat and cool our homes, run our appliances, and charge our gadgets? That means every time we pay our electric bills, we’re supporting jobs in some community in North Dakota or the Middle East. Imagine for a moment what it would be like if we spent even a fraction of that $18 billion right here in Minnesota developing clean, renewable energy resources.

Thanks to a bipartisan bill passed back in 2007, Minnesota has started producing more of its own homegrown energy like wind and solar. As the cost of wind and solar continue to drop, it’s becoming more and more feasible for communities to produce energy right here at home. That means jobs in manufacturing the components (there are roughly 8,000 component parts in every turbine), installing them and maintaining them. Nordic Fiberglass, Inc., in Warren, Minn., is one of 19 active manufacturing facilities for the wind industry in the state. According to a Department of Employment and Economic Development report, there are a total of 722 clean energy businesses in Minnesota, representing a 122 percent increase since 2000. And, in 2014, there were 15,300 clean energy jobs in Minnesota. These are good, family-supporting jobs that exist in our community and others across the state.

Technical and community colleges across the state have also seen opportunity knocking from our initial surge of clean energy development. They have started offering programs for technicians, builders, and engineers specifically in the energy sector. In fact, the Minnesota West Community and Technical College in southwestern Minnesota recently reported that it has received more job openings than they have students to fill them. What a wonderful problem and opportunity.

Some parts of our state have already seen the benefits of homegrown energy, and not just from jobs. Whether it is annual land lease payments from an outside developer or actual revenue streams coming directly from the production of clean, renewable energy; communities all across Minnesota are seeing jobs and energy dollars staying put and their local economies revitalized. The American Wind Energy Association states that land lease payments made to landowners in Minnesota amounts to more than $9 million per year. And a National Renewable Energy Laboratory report suggests that renewable energy projects that are locally owned have the potential to generate up to three times more value to a community than projects that are built on land leases by an outside developer.

The actions and choices that we make today will shape tomorrow’s opportunities and challenges. Do we want a future where we continue to send billions of our energy dollars to other communities to develop finite energy resources that threaten our health and environmental quality? Do we want a future where we are challenged to address dependency on economically and environmentally volatile energy sources and the consequences of a changing climate? Or do we want an energy future that grows our local economies, protects our natural environment, creates resilient communities and challenges us to create flexible, dynamic and sustainable power systems reliant on clean, local, renewable power?

We should encourage our legislators to support this bipartisan effort that would improve our existing Renewable Energy Standard to 40 percent by 2030. Senate File 1077 would create more homegrown, fossil fuel-free energy, save us money in the long run and create good paying jobs across the state all the while protecting the outstanding beauty and health of our treasured environment we value so much here in Minnesota. I hope you’ll join me in supporting them.

Anna Carlson is the Assistant Sustainability Director at Bemidji State University; the Northwest Regional Coordinator for Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams and is an active member of the City of Bemidji’s Sustainability Committee. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bemidji State University, the Clean Energy Resource Teams or the city of Bemidji.