Minnesota has been a part of the solar energy boom that has swept across the nation over the past decade.

Research has shown solar energy is now the cheapest form of electricity in the history of electric power generation, but politics on the state and federal level could trigger challenges for the renewable resource.

MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner talked to Brian Martucci, an energy reporter with the Minnesota Reformer, about the issues solar power could face in Minnesota.

Recycled plastics reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 to 80 percent compared to creating new plastics. But the process isn’t always waste-free.

Eureka Recycling, a 20-year-old mission-driven zero-waste recycler, has upgraded its facility to ensure recycled materials are effectively repurposed.

“It’s incredible how much less energy it takes,” said Miriam Holsinger, co-President and COO of Eureka Recycling.

“We really work hard to keep the material we sort as local as possible — a lot of it stays right here in Minnesota, where it gets turned into new products, and 95 percent of what we sort actually stays in the Midwest.”

Holsinger spoke with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about how the climate can benefit from recycling materials.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Tech companies are looking to the land of 10,000 lakes as a suitable environment to expand their data footprint.

About 10 tech giants, such as Microsoft and Meta, are vying to build data centers in Minnesota to support their growing AI networks.

“The Midwest is kind of a big emerging market right now,” said Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter for Axios. “That's because we have abundant water, which oftentimes is used to cool these [centers] down, and also because we have much cooler temperatures.”

That’s because data centers in cooler climates require less energy to cool their facilities than those in warm Southern states.

Some tech companies are also targeting Minnesota because of the state’s renewable energy mandates, Halter said.

“The big question here is: How can we get to a place where we have 100 percent renewable energy in Minnesota, which is our goal, while the 10 proposed [data centers] would be the equivalent of the entire state's households’ electricity use?”

To hear the full conversation with Nick Halter and Paul Huttner, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.