by jboullion | Aug 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Wisconsin Machine Tool Show (WMTS) features an Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Pavilion to introduce show participants to energy efficient, lean, green, and sustainable manufacturing processes.
The American Wind Energy Association will have a presentation on the wind industry supply chain.
Dave Jenkins from the Office of Energy Independence will update show attendees on ARRA programs and funds.
The German-American Chamber of Commerce will make two presentations:
+ Energy Efficiency in Germany: How U.S. Manufacturers Can Benefit;
+ Supply Chain Opportunities in Renewable Energy.
Focus on Energy will be the Gold Sponsor of the Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Pavilion. They plan to make a presentation each day of the show:
+ Controlling your Energy Costs – An overview of Focus on Energy;
+ A Case Study on Energy Efficiency;
+ Save Energy, Save Money – Getting started with energy self-assessments for small-mid size industrial facilities.
MATC’s Center for Energy Conservation and Advanced Manufacturing and RENEW are also sponsors.
by jboullion | Aug 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Department of Workforce Development:
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – On behalf of Governor Jim Doyle, Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman today awarded a $100,000 workforce training grant to prepare the first of 400 workers for green jobs when a new Wisconsin Rapids business starts manufacturing wind turbine blades. . . .
The $100,000 grant awarded to the North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board will be matched by more than $60,000 locally. Among the goals of the Renewable Electric Power project is to train 35 individuals, including dislocated workers, for the first openings at the Energy Composites Corporation. Earlier this year, the firm announced its plans to construct of a 350,000-square-foot, composites fabrication plant to manufacture wind turbine blades.
As part of the project, Mid-State Technical College is creating a 12-credit Composite Certificate, intensive , short-term, customized training in turbine blade fabrication. The 35 trainees are to complete six-months of instruction in June, allowing others to enter the pipeline for employment opportunities at the plant. In the process, the project will develop a green job career pathway for the emerging renewable energy sector in the north central region.
“This is our future,” Secretary Gassman said, “seizing green opportunities that will create good jobs for our citizens and fuel economic growth in the emerging industries of renewable energy, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.”
by jboullion | Aug 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Wisconsin Machine Tool Show (WMTS) features an Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Pavilion to introduce show participants to energy efficient, lean, green, and sustainable manufacturing processes.
The American Wind Energy Association will have a presentation on the wind industry supply chain.
Dave Jenkins from the Office of Energy Independence will update show attendees on ARRA programs and funds.
The German-American Chamber of Commerce will make two presentations:
+ Energy Efficiency in Germany: How U.S. Manufacturers Can Benefit;
+ Supply Chain Opportunities in Renewable Energy.
Focus on Energy will be the Gold Sponsor of the Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Pavilion. They plan to make a presentation each day of the show:
+ Controlling your Energy Costs – An overview of Focus on Energy;
+ A Case Study on Energy Efficiency;
+ Save Energy, Save Money – Getting started with energy self-assessments for small-mid size industrial facilities.
MATC’s Center for Energy Conservation and Advanced Manufacturing and RENEW are also sponsors.
by jboullion | Aug 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Peter Passi in the Superior Telegram:
When most viewers think of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” visions of lavish over-the-top houses spring to mind.
But the dwelling now being built for the Howard and Jessica Huber family in Wisconsin’s Oakland Township breaks the mold.
“This is going to be the greenest show they’ve ever done,” said Thad Whitesel, president of Builders Commonwealth, the Duluth cooperative overseeing the first “Extreme Makeover” project ever tackled in the Northland. “This also is the smallest house they’ve ever built, by quite a bit,” he said.
At 2,300 square feet, the Hubers’ new home won’t be small by most people’s standards, but the majority of residences built during other episodes of the show would dwarf it.
The home’s modest size will make it less expensive to heat. But the energy-efficient design of the residence also will have much to do with keeping its heating bills in check. The home is being built upon a super-insulated concrete slab and will incorporate high-efficiency 8-inch thick panel walls and triple-glazed windows.
Although Whitesel said there wasn’t sufficient lead time to procure solar panels for the home, Builders Commonwealth was able to incorporate passive solar heating into the design. The home will be heated with a combination of fuels, including wood, propane and electricity, allowing it to operate with off-peak electrical heat.
To help the home retain heat, it will feature a 6,000-pound heat sink and a thermal-storage wall behind its wood burner, according to Arno Kahn project manager and co-founder of Builders Commonwealth.
Plans also call for a wind turbine which should meet most of the home’s daytime electrical needs. Kahn explained that building in a fuel efficient manner is key to ensuring the longevity of the home, which he fully expects to exceed a century.
“Fuel is expensive now, but think of what it could cost in 40 or 50 years from now,” he said.
by jboullion | Aug 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Department of Workforce Development:
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – On behalf of Governor Jim Doyle, Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman today awarded a $100,000 workforce training grant to prepare the first of 400 workers for green jobs when a new Wisconsin Rapids business starts manufacturing wind turbine blades. . . .
The $100,000 grant awarded to the North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board will be matched by more than $60,000 locally. Among the goals of the Renewable Electric Power project is to train 35 individuals, including dislocated workers, for the first openings at the Energy Composites Corporation. Earlier this year, the firm announced its plans to construct of a 350,000-square-foot, composites fabrication plant to manufacture wind turbine blades.
As part of the project, Mid-State Technical College is creating a 12-credit Composite Certificate, intensive , short-term, customized training in turbine blade fabrication. The 35 trainees are to complete six-months of instruction in June, allowing others to enter the pipeline for employment opportunities at the plant. In the process, the project will develop a green job career pathway for the emerging renewable energy sector in the north central region.
“This is our future,” Secretary Gassman said, “seizing green opportunities that will create good jobs for our citizens and fuel economic growth in the emerging industries of renewable energy, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.”
by jboullion | Aug 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW-TV:
Menomonie (WQOW) – One local business got some green Wednesday for going green.
Governor Doyle is giving out $600,000 under his emerging industries skills partnership initiative for businesses in green industries. . . .
Specialty Pallet and Crate is one local company that will be receiving some of this grant money. The Menomonie business recycles old pallets and turns them into new products.
“Our business takes a wood pallet that is damaged, repairs it, if it can’t be repaired, the wood is cut off, and that wood is used to make custom or fix other pallets. And then if it can’t be used for anything else, it comes out here and is ground into either animal bedding or landscape mulch and then colored, and sold locally to landscapers around the Menomonie area and Dunn County and Eau Claire County,” says Wendell Noble, vice-president of Specialty Pallet and Crate.
They will be receiving some of the money, in part, because of a new business they created called Bioensertech. That company will make biofuel beginning this winter.
Says Noble, “The biofuel, that is going to be a wood pellet, about that size, and hopefully it will replace coal. It burns 95 percent cleaner than coal and the waste can be used for fertilizer instead of trying to sell it to somebody to discard it. This is made from wood waste, all wood waste, so it’s all 100 percent recyclable material.”
With this new product, Bioensertech hopes to work with the department of workforce development to train current employees and gain new ones.
