Ben and Nancy Collins weren’t only thinking about energy savings when they installed a solar hot water system at their Platteville residence to serve their family of six. They also wanted to influence their children’s attitudes toward
renewable energy use.
Says Nancy Collins: “We want our children to grow up thinking that it’s normal for families to harvest solar energy.”
From an announcement by the Wisconsin Sierra Club:
Wisconsin is on the threshold of modernizing our transit system. With these new opportunities come key decisions that will affect our economy and our future. Come to a FREE discussion and learn more about this critical issue.
Wed, April 29, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
DeKoven Center, 600 21st Street, Racine
Featuring presentations and a panel discussion with:
Kevin Brubaker, Environmental Law & Policy Center
Lori Richards, SE WI Regional Transit Authority
Kerry Thomas, Transit NOW
Following the panel, attendees will hear local perspectives from minority, labor, faith & business leaders. Panelists and community leaders will also be available to answer YOUR questions on transit.
Please RSVP for this FREE event by April 27, 2009
If you’re wondering if a solar hot water system can also be an effective teaching tool for students and community residents alike, look no further than Osceola Middle School. Since going online in August, 2008, Osceola’s solar installation has done double duty, quietly heating three indoor pools and the building’s domestic water while demonstrating to school children how renewable energy can be harnessed and put to productive use.
Water heating can be a significant cost in the operation of multifamily residential buildings. On average, water heaters account for between 15 and 25 percent of the energy consumed by residents in multifamily dwellings, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the independent statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. For some multifamily residences, a solar water heating system, which uses the sun’s energy to preheat water entering an existing gas or electric water heater, may be a cost effective means to reduce monthly heating bills.
When Madison set out in 2004 to become what Mayor David Cieslewicz called a “green capital city,” not one municipal property had yet taken advantage of solar hot water. Four years later, each of Madison’s 11 firehouses is equipped with a solar hot water system, serving anywhere from 45 percent to 60 percent of the buildings’ collective hot water loads and offsetting 205 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year. It’s fair to say that no other city in the country has been as aggressive or as successful as Madison in incorporating solar water heating into its municipal buildings.
A list of events, ranging from poetry readings to a scrap metal drive, in and around the greater Milwaukee area.
Events include:
Earth Day for Afternoon Nappers
Earth Day Festival at Riverside Park
22nd Annual Earth Poets & Musicians Festival
In Celebration of Trees
Earth Day Festival at Washington Park
St. Sebastian Scrap Metal Drive
Party for the Planet