From WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE – Solar power is becoming more affordable than ever, and you don’t need acres of solar panels to make it work in Wisconsin. FOX6 Reporter Gus Gnorski says some Milwaukee alderman would like to see more of those panels on the city’s rooftops.
From an article by Richard Mial in the La Crosse Tribune:
On a map of northern Canada, Fort McMurray marks where the highway ends. But it’s the starting point for much of the fuel that runs vehicles in the Coulee Region.
The sands of north Alberta — not the Middle East — provide most of the petroleum that becomes gasoline sold in the La Crosse area.
A pipeline channels that Canadian crude to the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, Minn.
La Crosse-based Kwik Trip is among its primary customers. A fleet of 110 tanker trucks ferries gasoline and diesel fuel 24 hours a day from the refinery to the company’s 363 convenience stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
The Tribune traced petroleum’s path from the forests of Canada to the pumps.
It’s a route that keeps the region from relying on crude oil from overseas. But it also has raised questions about the environmental costs, both to Canada and Wisconsin.
Oil sands
Alberta’s oil sands region yields about half of the petroleum converted into local gasoline. Production averages about 1.5 million barrels a day, and that’s expected to go up to 1.8 million by 2012, according to estimates by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
The mixture of sand and thick, tar-like bitumen is mined from the earth with huge shovels, many of them Wisconsin-made.
Large amounts of water are used to separate the oil from the sand — about two to three gallons of water for every barrel of oil, said Don Thompson, president of the Oil Sands Developers Group. Natural gas-fired power plants provide the electricity needed for the energy-intensive process.
Large-scale oil sands mining in the Fort McMurray area dates back to the late 1960s through the Great Canadian Oil Sands, now known as Suncor Energy Inc., said Thompson, a former oil company executive who now lives in Calgary.
Another company, Syncrude, began mining the oil sands in the late 1970s, Thompson said in a telephone interview.
But oil sand production remained limited until the price of a barrel of oil rose enough to justify the expense of oil sand mining, and the quality of technology improved, Thompson said.
Now, about 208 square miles of northern Alberta have been cleared for mines, tailing ponds and “upgraders,” plants that provide some refining before the oil is sent by pipeline to the United States and elsewhere.
A story in National Geographic Magazine includes dramatic photos of tar sands mining.
From a story on WQOW-TV (Eau Claire):
Eau Claire (WQOW) – A recent local fire serves as a good reminder to check your gas meter. This time of year ice can build up and the results could be dangerous.
Warmer temperatures mean melting ice, but Wisconsin’s weather can take a turn for the worse, freezing that water back into ice.
“It’s a typical problem with freezing and thawing within the springtime. When you have the dripping off of the roof line from the ice and from the snow, it can fall on top of the gas meters says Julie Simon, Xcel Energy Director of Gas and Electricity.
Energy companies want people to check their gas meters, because the ventilator can freeze over causing big problems.
“The gas needs someplace to go. And so if it can’t vent out the vent, it could have the possibility that it could back up into the house,” says Simon.
Fire fighters were called to a house in Eau Claire earlier this week because of an iced over gas meter. Gas pressure had built up in the water heater, starting a fire. No one was injured, but the damage was $5,000.
From the newsletter of the People’s Food Co-op:
People’s Food Co-op and its partners, the Bluff Country Co-op in Winona, MN, and the Viroqua Food Co-op, are pleased to announce the 4th annual request for proposals for the Coulee Region Cooperative Community Fund Grant. This grant fund was established in 2003 by the People’s Food Co-op with a mission to provide supplemental or project-specific funding to local nonprofit organizations that have missions consistent with the goals of our co-ops.
Priority is given to grant requests for educational projects, development projects and events that have a focus on, but are not necessarily limited to, food and food systems, nutrition, health and well-being, sustainable agriculture, cooperative education and social change.
Applications should be received by Thursday, April 15, 2010, at 5 p.m.
Applications can be submitted electronically to liz@bluff.coop
or mailed to: CRCCF Grant Committee, c/o Bluff Country Co-op
121 W 2nd Street
Winona, MN, 55987
The grant committee will complete its review by the end of May and awardees will be contacted. Application forms, directions and more information about the CRCCF can be found at the web site (www.bluff.coop). Questions can be directed to Liz Haywood, General Manager, at 507.452.1815, or liz@bluff.coop.
Past recipients of the CRCCF awards have included Coulee Children’s Center, the Cornucopia Institute, Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School, La Crescent-Hokah Community Gardens, the Women’s Resource Center of Winona, Riverway Learning Community and Houston Community Gardens.
From an article by Kim Shankland in The Pointer (UW-Stevens Point):
Now that we’ve taken a look at the renewable energy sphere, let’s take a look at one of the leaders in the industry. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association is a non-profit organization located just nine miles east of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Custer, Wis.
The MREA’s mission is to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable living through education and demonstration. They are considered a national leader in the renewable energy field. In fact, the organization recently received a $3.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to organize a regional solar training network.
This organization is a great resource for UWSP students who would like to get into the field or learn more about energy efficiency and renewable energy practices.
The MREA strives to train and educate through the classes, internships and volunteer opportunities they provide. They hold workshops to educate people on the best way to use renewable energy in their houses or businesses and counsel people on how to be more energy-efficient.
MREA property includes a newly built classroom building to conduct more workshops at once. They also have training roofs for students, in order to practice installing solar panels in their installation workshops.
“A great way to get a basic introduction to renewable energy is to take our workshops. All of our basic 101 workshops are one day. It’s a nine to five class that can teach you about solar electric/solar hot water wind energy – one class for each technology. It’s a great way to see if you’re interested in it before you pursue it,” said Gina Sinisi, communications coordinator for the MREA.
The energy fair is an influential event for the MREA, community members and people involved in the renewable energy field all over the nation. Held each June, this event takes place at the ReNew the Earth institute on the MREA property in Custer.
The fair is host to thousands of people from all over the U.S. who connect with and learn from each other as they eat, drink, listen to music and camp.
From a letter by PSC Chair Eric Callisto to the special committees on clean energy jobs:
. . . [W]hat follows is a summary of preliminary PSC cost modeling of the RPS and energy efficiency components of the CEJA. . . .
The modeling shows that in every case in which GHGs are monetized (i.e., there is a compliance cost associated with emitting GHGs), the cost of the CEJA is less than the cost of the status quo over the long run. That is, we will in all likelihood be spending more on electricity in the long run if we don’t act now and enact enhanced renewable portfolio standards and take more aggressive action on energy efficiency. . . . (Note: emphasis in original letter)
Table 4 (Note: Tables 1 – 3 were deleted for this summary) shows the forecasted impact of the proposed legislation on monthly electricity bills for an average residential customer. As in previous tables, these values show the incremental impact of the CEJA compared to the Status Quo. For example, the table indicates that monthly bills will be $1.08 lower under CEJA than under the Status Quo if GHG emissions cost $10/ton. Monthly bill impacts were not calculated for commercial and industrial customers because bills in those customer classes vary more widely than residential bills. . . .