by jboullion | Oct 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Public Service Commission will take public testimony on We Energies’ proposed Glacier Hills Wind Park.
Wednesday, November 4
3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Randolph Town Hall
109 S. Madison St. – Friesland
Those opposed to wind projects will likely make arguments like the one below from letter-to-the-editor of the Manitowoc Times Herald. The writere offered this outrageous explanation for why the Legislature passed and the govenor signed the bill on wind siting reform:
Blinded by a feel-good solution for a problem that never existed [global warming], legislators are being misled into a belief that something like wind turbines will not have a negative effect on those who are left to live around them . . .
To understand the problem you needed to be at the hearing in Mandison on May 12, held by the Senate and Assembly Energy Committee. . . .
It was obvious that the pro-wind lobby, paid with your tax money from RENEW Wisconsin, had the minds of legislators on their side long before the hearing.
Read more wild assertions from the letter.
by jboullion | Oct 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Governor Jim Doyle:
MADISON – Governor Doyle announced today that $500,000 in funds from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program are available to communities working toward energy independence. The grants are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will help communities create a plan to reach the Governor’s “25×25” goal of generating 25 percent of the state’s electricity and transportation fuels from renewable resources by the year 2025.
“Local communities are critical leaders in the state’s efforts to work toward energy independence,” Governor Doyle said. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants will build on local leadership and invest in a clean energy future that will clean our air and water, create jobs, and save money for our citizens.”
The “25×25” Plan will help Energy Independent Communities understand their community’s overall energy consumption and create a plan to address opportunities in energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
The Wisconsin Energy Independent (EI) Community Partnership is the first of its kind in the nation and is an integral part of Clean Energy Wisconsin, Governor Doyle’s plan to move Wisconsin toward energy independence. The partnership includes counties, cities, villages, towns, tribes, and schools in the state that have committed to Governor Doyle’s “25×25” challenge. Currently, there are over 100 EI Communities, with 10 EI Pilots working on the inaugural “25×25” Plan.
Governor Doyle and the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence encourage communities to apply for the “25×25” Plan Grant. Communities that join the EI Community Partnership before the December 15, 2009 deadline are eligible to apply. To access the application go to: http://energyindependence.wi.gov/docview.asp?docid=18164&locid=160
by jboullion | Oct 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by Governor Jim Doyle:
MADISON – Governor Doyle announced today that $500,000 in funds from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program are available to communities working toward energy independence. The grants are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will help communities create a plan to reach the Governor’s “25×25” goal of generating 25 percent of the state’s electricity and transportation fuels from renewable resources by the year 2025.
“Local communities are critical leaders in the state’s efforts to work toward energy independence,” Governor Doyle said. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants will build on local leadership and invest in a clean energy future that will clean our air and water, create jobs, and save money for our citizens.”
The “25×25” Plan will help Energy Independent Communities understand their community’s overall energy consumption and create a plan to address opportunities in energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
The Wisconsin Energy Independent (EI) Community Partnership is the first of its kind in the nation and is an integral part of Clean Energy Wisconsin, Governor Doyle’s plan to move Wisconsin toward energy independence. The partnership includes counties, cities, villages, towns, tribes, and schools in the state that have committed to Governor Doyle’s “25×25” challenge. Currently, there are over 100 EI Communities, with 10 EI Pilots working on the inaugural “25×25” Plan.
Governor Doyle and the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence encourage communities to apply for the “25×25” Plan Grant. Communities that join the EI Community Partnership before the December 15, 2009 deadline are eligible to apply. To access the application go to: http://energyindependence.wi.gov/docview.asp?docid=18164&locid=160
by jboullion | Oct 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nick Paulson in the Wausau Daily Herald:
CUSTER — The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers will use $270,000 in grant money to train its members in advanced photovoltaic technologies.
Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association in Custer that the money is part of $2.6 million being distributed statewide for training in alternative energies.
Last week, MREA received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to create a regional solar training network.
Combined, the programs will fund training for hundreds of instructors, who can then take what they learn back to classrooms and workshops and train a new work force for a growing industry.
“We’re already seeing major new investment in solar operations,” Doyle said. “We want to make sure we have workers, skilled workers, who are trained in the technical skills needed for the installation of solar systems.”
Much of the renewable energy technology, while not exactly new, has not been widely available. Although many of the skills are similar to that of all electricians, additional training is needed.
“We have a lot of great skilled people, but for many of them, they came up as electrical workers or carpenters at a time when there was no renewable energy industry,” Doyle said. “Those are all skills that need to be taught.”
The IBEW grant will train 24 electricians, who will then train up to 180 students during the next three years.
by jboullion | Oct 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a blog post by Tom Content on JSonline:
Milwaukee will receive $650,000 and Madison will receive $370,000 from the federal stimulus package to advance their programs to develop solar energy. Milwaukee established the Milwaukee Shines program several years ago after it won funding for
The city will use the grant to establish a Solar Hot Water Business Council, with an eye toward linking its own solar initiative with the work of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council.
The Milwaukee Shines’ goal is to increase the number of solar installers and install more than 100 solar-electric and 50 solar thermal systems by 2012.
“What’s going to happen is we are going to be able to use less energy, at a time that that’s very, very important,” said Barrett during a news conference at the Milwaukee Public Library. The central library building is incorporating solar into a green roof that is now under construction.
The aim of the council is educate and enable local water technology manufacturers to shift into the growing solar industry, leading to the creation of a solar manufacturing cluster in the region.
Milwaukee Shines is particularly interested in helping manufacturers re-tool their facilities to start producing solar energy components, said Erick Shambarger of the city’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. “We believe this could become a niche market for Milwaukee.”
The proposed business council helped set Milwaukee’s application apart from others received by the Department of Energy. DOE received applications for funding from 25 different cities but granted funding to 16 cities, said Steve Palmeri, project officer with the U.D. Department of Energy in Golden, Colo.
by jboullion | Oct 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a column by Margaret Krome in The Capital Times:
President Obama toured renewable energy research facilities recently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He wanted to drive home the point that homegrown, low-carbon energy sources and energy conservation strategies are crucial to steer the planet toward a safer climate and the nation toward greater energy security. In addition, policy based on renewable energy and conservation creates jobs.
The president could just as well have toured Wisconsin to make his point. Wisconsin’s researchers are forging ahead on many fronts, such as ways to grow biomass crops in a sustainable manner; economically viable processes to convert biomass into transportation fuels; and the siting, processing, and transportation protocols associated with using biomass for heat and power. Given the state’s large biomass capacity in forests and crops like switchgrass, researchers are making an investment in the state’s future.
But more is happening. The Legislature will soon consider recommendations from the Governor’s Global Warming Task Force, some of which offer opportunities for new jobs across the state, in small towns as well as cities. Inevitably, vested interests always fight even obviously necessary change. So it should surprise nobody when coal companies and others who depend on fossil fuels mount campaigns to oppose renewable energy policies. But many objections are borne of fear and misinformation.
For example, some farm groups express concerns about the low carbon fuel standard, a policy that is actually likely to benefit Wisconsin’s farmers. This policy uses a market mechanism to require fuel providers to reduce the total carbon content of fuels sold in the state. Rather than deprive farmers of fuels currently available, it would diversify farmers’ fuel options and reduce volatility. And because the state does not produce fossil fuels but does produce biomass-based energy, this policy plays to the state’s agricultural strengths.
Another policy being considered that supports farmers and rural communities as well as municipalities is the renewable energy buyback program. To meet demand for renewable energy, Wisconsin needs many people to become small-scale renewable energy producers. Some have already done so by installing wind turbines, methane digesters, or solar panels and selling the extra energy back into the grid. But the amount these small-scale producers get paid varies greatly, often making that energy unprofitable to produce.
