Initiative for Renewable Energy & the Environment

A program of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, IREE seeks out the most promising new renewable energy ideas and brings them to life with support from Xcel Energy ratepayers via the utility's Renewable Development Fund.

When the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE) launched in 2003, topics like climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels and energy security were just entering the mainstream dialogue.

Since then, these issues have taken center stage in America and around the world. In the same way, IREE has quickly become a central part of Minnesota's renewable energy economy, mobilizing more than 400 experts around one vital mission: 

To promote statewide economic development; sustainable, healthy and diverse ecosystems; and national energy security through development of bio‐based and other renewable resources and processes. 

Fulfilling this mission calls for a systems‐based approach that integrates scientific, economic and social perspectives. Accordingly, IREE‐funded researchers represent the breadth and depth of expertise at the University of Minnesota, including seven colleges, four campuses and three research centers to date.

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Program Lead

2011 Annual Report

  • Check out IREE's research impacts, pioneering projects, external collaborations, educational initiatives and more in the 2011 annual report.