Ohio group creates statewide energy efficiency fund

NOTE TO READERS: Midwest Energy News will be taking a break for Memorial Day. The email digest will resume on Tuesday, May 28.

SOLAR: Minnesota’s governor signs into law a 1.5 percent solar energy standard. But there are other provisions in the law that may have a bigger impact on the industry. (Midwest Energy News)

EFFICIENCY: An Ohio group creates a statewide energy efficiency fund where participants can pay for improvements with savings on their energy bills. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

ALSO: Participants in the nationwide Better Buildings Challenge are saving $58 million a year on energy costs, and a Michigan county issues $1.5 million in bonds to finance major energy upgrades of public buildings. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Alpena News)

OIL: The series of refinery outages and transportation issues that led to a spike in Midwest gasoline prices this week are not seen as indicators of a long-term trend., and activists fighting the Keystone XL pipeline shift to grassroots tactics. (EnergyWire, InsideClimate News)

CLIMATE: Senate Republicans warn President Obama not to combine Keystone XL approval with ​“wholly unrelated” climate policies, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk says climate advocates need to shift the burden of proof onto skeptics. (The Hill)

FRAC SAND: Towns along a scenic stretch of Mississippi River bluffs that ​“lives on tourism and retirement homes” hope to create a ten-mile zone where frac sand mining is prohibited. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

NUCLEAR: Michigan lawmakers say a planned nuclear waste disposal site in Ontario ​“raises serious concerns” about the safety of Lake Huron water supplies. (Toronto Star)

TRANSPORTATION: GM hopes the mistakes of the 1980s don’t haunt the introduction of its new diesel-powered Chevy Cruze. (Detroit Free Press)

OHIO: As part of a high school exchange program, French students travel to a Cincinnati suburb to learn about renewable energy. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

COMMENTARY: Why we need competitive electricity markets, and are microgrids a utility’s best friend or worst enemy? (Grist, Greentech Media)