Ride with RENEW was a huge success!

by | Oct 7, 2013 | Uncategorized

Thank you: Your support made it all possible
The first ever RENEW Wisconsin bike event occurred over the weekend of September 28 and 29 and was a major inspirational and fundraising success.
RENEW would like to thank all of you who sent your support and donations to us for our Ride with RENEW bike tour event. 161 of you donated over $8,000 to support this event and work toward a clean, renewable energy future in Wisconsin. We blew way past our goal of raising $5,000, which two of our major donors John and Mary Frantz had generously agreed to match. We were shocked and humbled when John and Mary offered to match the $8,000 all of you had donated, bringing our total to over $16,000!
Here are some of the highlights:
  • 9 riders
  • 2 days
  • 115 miles
  • 1 sag wagon
  • 3106 feet in elevation
  • 161 contributors
  • 9 corporate and in-kind sponsors
  • Over $16,000 raised (includes the match by John & Mary Frantz)
  • 12 renewable sites visited
  • 2 songs written 
  • 1 broken chain, 1 broken spoke
  • Many great experiences
We wanted to share with you some of the highlights of the bike ride, so we created a photo album on our Google+ page.


Continue Your Support: Become a Monthly Sustainer of RENEW!

RENEW’s new executive director, Tyler Huebner, initiated RENEW’s first 100 mile bike ride event to emphasize RENEW’s campaigns, fundraise to support these campaigns, get some exercise, and be part of an adventure. We hit the mark on all of these attributes! In addition, Tyler started this bike ride to get 100 Monthly Sustainers of RENEW Wisconsin, and set the 100 miles as a benchmark to coincide with this goal. We’ve already got 14 Monthly Sustainers: join us as a Monthly Sustainer of RENEW today and continue supporting our work with a monthly contribution of $25 or more!

Ride Summary

Saturday’s event started on the Merrimac ferry, north of Madison, and ventured up the hill to the International Crane Foundation to see their hot water and electric solar systems. The first hill was the second highest on the trip and it was a joy to eventually get on top. The next major stop was at the LEED Platinum Aldo Leopold Center near Baraboo and then the group took the Levee Road, Wisconsin River route on the way back towards the ferry.  Saturday’s event will be remembered by riders as being one that was warm, windy, rainy (at the end), and full of surprises.
Sunday started in the Middleton Park & Ride and quickly ventured past the new Dane County BioDigester being built just west of Middleton. Next stop was the Epic’s new Galactic Wind farm in Northern Dane County. The weather was perfect for biking: sunny, 60 degrees, and no wind. However these conditions meant the Epic system’s wind turbines blades were not spinning.  The group then stopped at a private residence that was heated by 16 solar thermal panels on a south facing roof with an incredible view.
The toughest riding part of the trip was next, up the hill to the Bleu Mont Dairy near Blue Mounds State Park.  Bleu Mont Dairy is a zero energy operation with wind, solar thermal and solar electric  providing all the power for the award winning dairy, which also supports a passive solar greenhouse and cave cheese storage.  We continued up the hill to Britington Park and then were glad to descend down to Mt. Horeb and the solar based Grumpy Troll Brew Pub. The trip ended going on the Military Ridge State Bike Trail and viewing the solar system at Standard Imaging and Middleton Alternative High School’s solar shingles.



All in all, it was a fantastic weekend at the end of September, riding for a really great cause and fun adventure.  Many thanks to all who participated as riders, sponsors, supporters, logistic planners, sage wagon drivers, and renewable site owners. Special thanks to John and Mary Frantz who were able to match all of the other 161 sponsors with a generous gift.



Based on this success, RENEW plans to make the early fall bike ride an annual event. Stay tuned for details at the end of summer 2014.


If you donated $35 or more, you are now considered a member of RENEW and we are happy to have you with us. You will receive e-newsletters from us and can keep up to date via our website and blog. We have a number of events coming up around the state, so be sure to check out our events calendar.

Also, a very special thank you to our sponsors, who generously provided marketing, logistical help, donations, and snacks and support to us during our ride:
Wisconsin Business AllianceAlvarado GroupHome Savings BankDreambikesBerkeley Running CompanyApple WellnessChocolate Shoppe Ice Cream
Thank you again!

RENEW Wisconsin Staff & Board of Directors
222 S. Hamilton St.
Madison, WI 53703

PSC Pulls Plug on Solar and Wind Incentives Again

by | Oct 1, 2013 | Uncategorized

For the second time in three years, state of Wisconsin incentives for customer-sited solar and small wind systems has been suspended, a result of recent Public Service Commission (PSC) decisions affecting Focus on Energy’s renewable energy budget. Incentives for biogas and biomass installations are not affected by the PSC’s decisions.

The cut-off of solar and wind incentives follows an across-the-board suspension of renewable energy incentives that lasted one year before being lifted in July 2012. RENEW Wisconsin has issued a press release concerning the PSC’s decision below.

UPDATE: Check out Tom Content’s article on JSOnline for more information.

For Immediate Release

August 1, 2013 

PSC Pulls Plug on Solar and Wind Incentives Again 

PSC Vote a “Dark Day for Solar Energy in Wisconsin” 

Focus on Energy has suspended incentives for solar and small wind energy systems for the remainder of 2013, as a result of a Public Service Commission (PSC) order approved last week. The funding suspension takes effect even though Focus on Energy has spent only $1.2 million of the $10 million budgeted this year for all renewable energy technologies. 

The PSC split 2-1 on the vote stopping the flow of incentives for solar and small wind energy systems. Commissioners Phil Montgomery and Ellen Nowak approved the suspension order, while Commissioner Eric Callisto voted against the motion.   

“In approving this funding stoppage, the PSC ignored the public comments of over 630 citizens and businesses who urged the agency to provide a consistent, stable program to promote solar and wind energy,” said Executive Director Tyler Huebner.  “This will go down as a dark day for solar energy in Wisconsin.” 

The funding suspension was triggered by a slowdown in demand for incentives for biogas and biomass energy systems. Though up to $7,500,000 in incentives is set aside for bioenergy projects, only $384,448 in incentives have been paid out to date in that category.  Under an order adopted by the PSC in 2012, Focus on Energy must maintain a 75/25 percent funding split between the bioenergy category and the solar/small wind category.  

“Prices for solar projects have dropped steeply in recent years and these projects are as cost-effective for residential and business customers as biogas is for farmers and food processors,” said Huebner. “In addition, the timelines for biogas projects are unrelated to those of wind and solar projects. Add these together, and there is no reason financial incentives for solar and wind should be contingent on the health of bioenergy market.” 

“This decision further ‘boxes in’ the Focus on Energy administrator regarding these incentives. The stipulations added by the Commission appear to make the calculations mathematically unworkable. We can envision the program’s administrator resorting to a Ouija Board to figure out how much funding is available for solar and wind projects going forward.”   

Burke O’Neal, co-owner of Full Spectrum Solar in Madison, discussed the impact on businesses.  He said, “It’s really bad for business in Wisconsin to have a program that appears and then with very little notice disappears. It’s really hard to build a business and a stable industry when programs aren’t consistent.” 

In his dissent, Commissioner Eric Callisto stated that Commission’s goal in its 2012 ruling “was to create market certainty, foster fiscal sustainability and program cost-effectiveness, and ultimately allow the funding of more biogas and biomass projects. The Commission’s decision today helps to advance none of those goals, but rather reintroduces substantial uncertainty into the renewables marketplace.” Callisto added, “If the Commission’s 75/25 split was meant to emphasize biomass and biogas resources, it isn’t working, and today’s decision won’t help.” 

RENEW Wisconsin’s Tyler Huebner added, “In Wisconsin we send $12.5 billion out of the state each year to buy coal, oil, and natural gas. We don’t have any of those energy resources within our state.  The Focus on Energy incentives for solar and wind should be available to help residents, businesses, and farmers take control of their energy bills and produce electricity in a self-sustaining manner.  For a decade, the success of this program helped Wisconsin build a thriving small business market to deliver these alternative energy solutions to customers.  With this latest suspension, that once-thriving market of businesses will take yet another hit, and sadly, the credibility of the entire Focus program certainly takes a hit too.”

—-END—- 

The whey-t is over: GreenWhey Energy’s vision of turning cheese plant waste into useable energy becomes reality – The Country Today: Front Page

by | Sep 30, 2013 | Uncategorized

GreenWhey Energy’s is the nation’s only privately owned facility to process food waste from multiple sources. This new facility will generate enough energy to power about 3,000 homes. Read more in the Country Today article below:

TURTLE LAKE — After more than five years of planning and a few setbacks, GreenWhey Energy is open for business in Turtle Lake. 

“It’s a good day,” said an emotional Tom Ludy, one of the plant’s owners, during an open house Sept. 26 in the plant’s brand-new intake bay. “It’s been a long time coming.” 

Engines in the $30-million facility were fired up for the first time just a few days before the open house. Ludy said it will take about six months to fully ramp up to full production. 

Eventually, GreenWhey’s two anaerobic digesters will bring in 500,000 gallons of wastewater seven days a week from area cheese plants, converting it to electricity, heat and fertilizer. 

GreenWhey is the only privately owned anaerobic digester facility in the U.S. to utilize wastewater from multiple food processors.

The whey-t is over: GreenWhey Energy’s vision of turning cheese plant waste into useable energy becomes reality – The Country Today: Front Page

Wisconsin Libertarian Party surprises observers with endorsement of solar proposal

by | Sep 9, 2013 | Uncategorized

The state’s Libertarians have endorsed a proposal led by RENEW Wisconsin — a local clean energy group — to allow Wisconsin electricity customers to lease solar panels for their energy needs.

”Most of us don’t trust the environmental movement because they’ve cried wolf forever and ever,” Wisconsin Libertarian Party chair Paul Ehlers told a surprised local media over the weekend. ”There are all kinds of philosophical disagreements, but at the end of the day this was pretty much a no-brainer.”

Read more

RENEW Proposes Improvements to WPS’s “Restrictive” Net Metering Service

by | Aug 30, 2013 | Uncategorized

In
testimony submitted yesterday in Wisconsin Public Service Corporation’s ongoing
rate case (Docket 6690-UR-1220), RENEW witness Michael Vickerman takes the
utility to task over its net metering service, which it proposes to weaken even
further. Vickerman’s testimony discusses specific elements of the utility’s net
metering proposal, which, if approved, would unreasonably discriminate against WPS
customer-generators compared to those located in the service territory of other
investor-owned utilities. These proposals include reducing WPS’s net metering
threshold from 100 kW to 20 kW and limiting availability of net metering to
energy-only customers. Vickerman’s testimony also describes the necessary
analysis that would be required for WPSC to claim that net metering customers
are not paying the costs they cause, i.e., that they are “subsidized.” WPS has
not performed such analysis. Vickerman concludes his testimony with recommendations
for aligning WPSC’s net metering tariff with the best practices offered by
other utilities. Click here to view his complete pre-filed testimony.


Public
Service Commission witness Corey Singletary also submitted testimony on net
metering. He describes WPS’s offering as “the most restrictive net metering service
of any Wisconsin utility.” His positions on WPS’s proposals to weaken its net
metering service even further are similar to RENEW’s. Click here to access Singletary‘s pre-filed testimony.

New Berkeley Lab Study Finds No Statistical Evidence of Residential Property Value Impacts Near U.S. Wind Power Projects

by | Aug 28, 2013 | Uncategorized

In
the study released yesterday, Berkeley
Lab analyzed more than 50,000 home sales near 67 wind
facilities in 27 counties
across nine U.S. states.  In
summary, the
research did not find any statistically identifiable impacts
of wind facilities
to nearby home property values. Read the full 2013 report, the previously published 2009 report, and yesterday’s press release below for more information.

Immediate release — Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) analyzed more than
50,000 home
sales near 67 wind facilities in 27 counties across nine U.S.
states, yet was
unable to uncover any impacts to nearby home property values.
“This
is the second of two major studies we have conducted on this
topic [the first
was published in 2009 –
see below], and
in both studies [using two different datasets] we find no
statistical evidence
that operating wind turbines have had any measureable impact on
home sales
prices,” says Ben Hoen, the lead author of the new report.
Hoen
is a researcher in the Environmental Energy Technologies
Division of Berkeley
Lab.
The
new study used a number of sophisticated techniques to control
for other
potential impacts on home prices, including collecting data that
spanned well
before the wind facilities’ development was announced to after
they were
constructed and operating. This allowed the researchers to
control for any
pre-existing differences in home sales prices across their
sample and any
changes that occurred due to the housing bubble. 
This
study, the most comprehensive to-date, builds on both the
previous Berkeley Lab
study as well a number of other academic and published U.S.
studies, which also
generally find no measureable impacts near operating turbines.
“Although
there have been claims of significant property value impacts
near operating wind
turbines that regularly surface in the press or in local
communities, strong evidence
to support those claims has failed to materialize in all of the
major U.S.
studies conducted thus far”, says Hoen. 
“Moreover, our findings comport with the large set of
studies that have
investigated other potentially similar disamenities, such as
high voltage
transmission lines, land fills, and noisy roads, which suggest
that widespread impacts
from wind turbines would be either relatively small or
non-existent.”
The
report was authored by Ben Hoen (Berkeley Lab), Jason P. Brown
(formerly USDA
now Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City), Thomas Jackson (Texas
A & M and
Real Property Analytics), Ryan Wiser (Berkeley Lab), Mark Thayer
(San Diego State University)
and Peter Cappers (Berkeley Lab). The research was supported by
the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy.

Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent
scientific
challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human
health, creating
new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the
universe. Founded in
1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized
with 13 Nobel
prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for
the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

Media
contact: Allan Chen (510) 486-4210, a_chen@lbl.gov

Technical
contact: Ben Hoen (845) 758-1896, bhoen@lbl.gov