I would love for any Minnesota community to be the prized Google Gig community – but I have to give it to Duluth, they are doing an amazing job flaring the flames of hope. Earlier this week they made Minnesota Public Radio with the reasons that Duluth’s Mayor Ness jumped in the lake last winter…

He jumped in the lake back in February — in part to get Google’s attention.

But it might have been more than just a stunt. The computer equipment Google likely needs for an experimental high-speed network generates a lot of heat. And Google is known to look for innovation — particularly of the money saving variety.

“There’s been a great deal of research given right now into how you can use cold water to cool these data centers, in a very natural and environmentally friendly way,” Ness said. “Instead of using massive air conditioners, let’s use the cold water we have so abundantly in Lake Superior.”

Also they listed many good reasons that Google would be crazy not to come to Duluth:

• Access to affordable energy
• No earthquakes
• Reasonably priced sites
• Quality workforce
• Proximity to a university, hospital and federally funded broadband project
• Community creativity

It occurs to me that if that’s a good recipe for Google, it might be a good recipe regardless.