by jboullion | May 21, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jake Miller in the Marshfield News-Herald:
Four dollars a gallon was enough inspiration for Steven Uthmeier to ditch the car.
Several years later, and in the midst of national Bike-to-Work week, the 56-year-old still bikes to work almost daily, huffing it into Marshfield on an old Schwinn that’s made for a commute, not for looks.
Uthmeier cruises in from Hewitt, making a round trip of about 11 miles each day to and from home and his desk at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital.
Inhumane gasoline prices sparked his interest, but how Uthmeier feels after a ride has kept him going. He’s refreshed and refocused.
“After I got into it, I felt better,” Uthmeier said. “Then I was actually doing it for the exercise also, and I found on the way home after I finished a day of work it was very decompressing and relaxing.”
Biking to work is by no means the primary mode of transportation and it isn’t without inherent risks. There’s the off-chance you’ll be hit by a car, or you may get a flat at the most inopportune time.
Marshfield has continued to develop its network of bike trails, which for people like Uthmeier, has made the ride nearly as safe as it’s going to get. He’s only riding in traffic for about a mile before he reaches the path along Veterans Parkway.
“You do have cars going 45 (mph),” Uthmeier said, “but as soon as you get to the boulevard it’s just beautiful.”
He typically bikes to work from April to October, unless a heavy rain or snow storm hits.
by jboullion | May 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Larry Bivins in the Stevens Point Journal:
WASHINGTON — Wisconsin is the nation’s fifth most coal-dependent state for generating electricity, according to a report released this week.
Because the state has no coal supplies of its own, it spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to import the fuel for power generation. Coal imports accounted for 68 percent of all power used in the state in 2008, research by the Union of Concerned Scientists found.
Wisconsin spent $853 million in 2008, or $152 per person, to import 25 million tons of coal from nine states, according to the report released Tuesday.
The state ranked 12th in the amount spent and in the amount of coal imported. Wyoming, which provided 40 percent of all U.S. coal in 2008, received $702 million of Wisconsin’s money.
Coal-fired plants are the nation’s biggest source of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that leading scientists say is causing global warming. Carbon dioxide emissions pose a danger to public health as well as the environment.
The Union of Concerned Scientists report, “Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal,” covers 38 states that are net importers of domestic and foreign coal. Those states spent $27.7 billion on domestic and foreign coal imports in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available from the U.S. Energy Department.
Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky produce most of the domestic coal burned in U.S. plants.
The report’s authors conclude that all states would be better served if the money spent on coal were diverted to the development of renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs.
by jboullion | May 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
Disregarding the pleas from RENEW and others for a veto, Doyle signed Senate Bill 273, as reported by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday signed into law a bill that wind power developers and environmental groups had asked him to veto.
The bill, known as the Renewable Resource Credits bill, would allow energy generation produced from waste such as garbage to be classified as renewable and qualify that electricity for the state’s renewable power mandate.
The bill was drafted to grant renewable status to the Apollo light pipe, a a small glass skylight dome that, when mounted in a roof, reflects daylight inside to help cut energy use. The light pipe is a technology developed by Orion Energy Systems Inc. of Manitowoc, a maker of high-efficiency lighting systems.
Environmental and renewable energy groups had called on Doyle to veto the bill after it was amended to allow garbage-to-energy projects to be classified as renewable as well.
Doyle said he was torn on whether to sign the bill but said that, ultimately, Orion is the kind of business the state wants to see grow and succeed.
“I certainly didn’t want to be in the position I was in. To me the (state) Senate’s refusal to go ahead with the Clean Energy Jobs Act put everybody in a very difficult spot on this bill,” he said.
Doyle conceded that there would be some effect on the wind industry from the new law but said it would be so slight as to be negligible.
A waste-to-energy process known as plasma gasification is being envisioned by Alliance Federated Energy, which announced a plan in February to build a waste-to-energy plant in Milwaukee that would create up to 250 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs.
by jboullion | May 19, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story by Brittany Earl on WSAW-TV, Wausau:
There are ways you can cut your electricity costs.
Wisconsin Public Service offers a variety of programs to help you save money.
For example the Time Of Use Program, helps people who use their electricity between 10PM and 7AM which are off peak hours. But you should always call in and speak to a representative first to make sure your lifestyle fits the program.
Kelly Zagrzebski of Wisconsin Public Service says, “You want to make sure your flexible, that you can do your laundry if you have an electric hot water heater during the off peak hours or if you have a electric heater.”
If you stick to the off peak hours time frame, you could save between 5 and 20 percent, possibly even 50 percent if you’re strict.
by jboullion | May 18, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a blog post by Tom Content on JSonline:
Energy Composites Corp. will receive $45 million of tax-exempt bonds to assist in the construction of its wind power blade factory in Wisconsin Rapids, Gov. Jim Doyle’s office announced.
The company is receiving Recovery Zone Facility Bonds, which the facility is eligible for under a law that passed earlier this year that allows the state to maximize federal bonds to help fund projects.
Energy Composites, which employs 67 people, projects that its expansion will create up to 600 jobs.
The company’s factory is designed to produce up to 1,500 utility-scale wind blades per year, for use in both onshore and offshore wind farms.
Energy Composites said in a statement that it has completed the purchase of land in Wisconsin Rapids for its new factory. Two different properties were acquired — a 54-acre parcel for the 535,000-square-foot factory and a 41-acre parcel for the company’s logistics center.
The $54.4 million investment will be the first factory in North America designed to produce blades up to 65 meters long, which could position the company to deliver blades for large turbines both on land and offshore, according to the governor’s office.
Site improvements by the city of Wisconsin Rapids are under way, and the city has committed $7.5 million in development incentives toward the project.
by jboullion | May 18, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Sean Ryan in The Daily Reporter:
Planners of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail Monday gave up on waiting for state approval for transit taxes and chose to apply for federal planning money.
The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority will not get federal construction money for the estimated $232.7 million project without a state law letting local governments raise taxes to pay for transit. But the authority is eligible for planning money and, after delaying the application since January, chose to push ahead without the state law.
Lee Holloway, a member of the Southeastern RTA, said the approach will lead to pointless planning for the rail project.
“Why should we be moving forward if we don’t know what is going to take place?” said Holloway, who is chairman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.
The RTA by June 21 will apply for Federal Transit Authority approval to begin engineering the KRM project.
A change in FTA policy means the agency now will consider an application for engineering money. But the project will not get federal construction grants until the state Legislature approves new taxes, such as a sales tax, for buses in the region, said Ken Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.
The Legislature closed its session in April without Assembly or Senate votes on an RTA bill. The Legislature is unlikely to reconvene to discuss an RTA bill until early 2011, after state elections in November, said state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha.
