Energizing Education in Minnesota: Proximity of Conventional and Renewable Facilities to Universities

Minnesota has taken significant initiative tackling the global energy crisis while addressing energy security, education, availability, and prices within communities across the state. With no coal, oil, or natural gas reserves, the state was free from fossil fuel dependence and able to quickly begin its renewable energy economy. I am interested in identifying locations of major fossil fuel and renewable energy powered plants across Minnesota and understand the locality of each source to a higher education campus. From this, I plan to examine higher education institutions highly dedicated to advancing the research, implementation, and project development of renewable energy resources across the state, while identifying colleges and universities with little to no energy resources or education. Education is essential to further current and future projects by providing information, knowledge, and awareness to this regional and global issue of the energy transition, thus Minnesota’s energy education in higher education demands to be examined. In order to display this data, I used the national site, U.S. Energy Information Administration, to collect data of the locations, energy output, and type of major power plants within the state. Furthermore, I am using data across the internet to pinpoint the location of every higher education institution within the state