by jboullion | Feb 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a post on Milwaukee Rising:
It’s hard to figure: a governor who endorsed Barack Obama for president when it was a semi-risky thing to do is letting his transportation department show total disrespect for the man now that he holds the highest office in the land.
President Obama had made a few priorities absolutely clear: this country must reduce both greenhouse gases and dependency on foreign oil.
Gov. Jim Doyle’s WisDOT, in planning for a new Zoo Interchange, is taking a real slap at the president by totally ignoring those priorities. There will be no planning for any transit to be incorporated into the new design, nor will there be a freeway / transit alternatives analysis done, despite the city’s request.
It’s a road-only study — more greenhouse gases, more dependency on foreign oil. Guess the governor doesn’t like the president all that much. . . .
There is no valid engineering, environmental or geopolitical argument against including transit in the Zoo Interchange project. The opposite is true.
by jboullion | Feb 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Fomr an article by Samantha Marcus in the La Crosse Tribune:
The campaign to be La Crosse’s chief executive hasn’t strayed much so far from talking about the familiar troubles — property taxes, jobs and economic development.
La Crosse voters will go to the polls Feb. 17 to pare the city’s mayoral hopefuls from seven to two. Last week, the Tribune invited a dozen community members to a roundtable on what they wanted to hear from the candidates before primary day. . . .
This week the La Crosse Common Council will cast a vote on an aggressive and contentious city/county strategic plan for sustainability.
Lenard helped draft and introduce the plan, which she and Johnsrud called a significant investment in La Crosse’s future.
“It’s going to take some money, and some people are going to be reluctant to spend any money,” Johnsrud said.
Padesky, Richmond and council member Jim Bloedorn said they’re not willing to hire a full-time employee to tell the city to change its light bulbs and turn the heat down.
Some council members will support the plan because it’s “en vogue, but I care too much to foist another artificial bureaucracy on the city of La Crosse,” Bloedorn said.
Harter, Richmond and Lesky said they’d support sustainable practices so long as they’re economically justified.
by jboullion | Feb 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a blog entry by Tom Content on JSonline.com:
A major power line network linking the windiest parts of the Midwest with Milwaukee and Chicago was unveiled today by a Michigan transmission utility.
There’s no word on how such a project would get built, given longstanding opposition to major high-voltage power line projects, but ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC) said it seeks to address the inability of the nation’s power grid to move power around.
ITC has named its project the “Green Power Express.” The express would come through Wisconsin, linking the Madison area with northeastern Iowa and southern Minnesota, according to a conceptual map prepared by ITC.
“The Green Power Express will create the much-needed link between the renewable energy-rich regions of the Midwest and high-demand population centers,” said Joseph L. Welch, chairman, president and chief executive of ITC, a transmission utility that is based in Novi, Mich.
The project carries a price tag of $10 billion to $12 billion and would span 3,000 miles in Wisconsin and six other states with power lines that carry 765,000 volts of electricity. These lines are capable of carrying much more electricity than the largest lines in Wisconsin, which are 345,000 volts.
The project aims to address one of the biggest hurdles seen to having Wisconsin and other states meet targets that would require as much as 25% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, by 2025. Some of those hurdles were described over the weekend in the New York Times.
In short, the best sources where renewable energy can be produced — states such as the Dakotas and Iowa — areas that are far from population centers where most electricity is consumed.
by jboullion | Feb 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a media release issued by CREWE:
(MADISON, Wis.) – Leading Wisconsin companies are joining forces to advocate for the meaningful global warming policy changes proposed by the Governor’s Global Warming Task Force (GWTF).
The business coalition named Clean, Responsible Energy for Wisconsin’s Economy (CREWE) looks forward to working with other members of the GWTF, the Doyle Administration and other companies and organizations to push for the adoption of policies that effectively and responsibly address global warming and capture the economic development and environmental opportunities in Wisconsin, said CREWE Board Chairman Dan Ebert.
“Wisconsin is poised for a transition to a sound economy powered by good, new, green jobs,” Ebert said. “CREWE was formed around the belief that a sustained and shared partnership of government, business and citizens is needed to build a clean energy and reliable future that will benefit all Wisconsin residents and businesses.”
Coalition members include Wisconsin Energy Corp., Madison Gas & Electric, Orion Energy Systems, American Transmission Co., Johnson Controls, MillerCoors, WPPI Energy, Potawatomi Tribe and C5-6 Technologies.
CREWE is dedicated to joining forces with other supporters to promote responsible policies that address climate change, create jobs, promote energy efficiency, reliability and independence, and mitigate the economic impacts of rising energy costs, Ebert added.
by jboullion | Feb 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Charter Street heating plant on the campus of the UW-Madison will switch from coal to biomass before the end of 2010.
From an announcement from Governor Doyle:
MADISON—Governor Jim Doyle announced today that a new biomass boiler will be installed at the Charter Street Heating Plant as part of his commitment to stop burning coal at state-owned heating plants on Madison’s Isthmus.
“We must move away from our dependence on coal,” Governor Doyle said. “This new project will help build the biomass market in Wisconsin, keep the money we spend on energy in the local economy and create green jobs in the area.”
The new biomass boiler will be capable of burning up to 100% biomass, everything from wood chips to switchgrass pellets, and will eventually be able to burn about 250,000 tons of biomass per year. This demand for biomass will help create and sustain a biomass market in Wisconsin and provide economic benefit for landowners, farmers and processors in the state.
With the switch to biomass, there will be 108,800 fewer tons of coal burned in the area each year and lower particulate emissions. Reducing particulate emissions by moving away from coal at the Charter Street Heating Plant is a key step in working to improve air quality in Dane County and moving the County back into attainment.
A media release from Better Environmental Solutions highlighted the importance of biomass production to southwestern Wisconsin:
“Planting switchgrass is a great crop for our highly erodible fields,” said Jim Schaefer, a Platteville area farmer. “We want create more markets for grass and other biomass crops for energy and fuels.”
Southwest Badger RC&D has been working with farmers and researchers on six switchgrass test plots and ways to collect woody biomass to restore native prairie and switchgrass and woodlands.
“The state’s demand for biomass will help farmers promote more conservation practices and give us cleaner water and reduced flooding,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Southwest Badger RC&D coordinator.
by jboullion | Feb 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Stoutonian:
In a report released by Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, the University of Wisconsin-Stout has once again been found to be the most energy-efficient campus in the UW System.
The report “Energy Use in State-Owned Facilities” based its findings on the energy consumption of all UW campuses. Energy consumption is monitored through the campuses’ utility bills and fuel consumption. UW-Stout has led the UW System in energy efficiency for over 10 years. Last year, the report found UW-Stout to be 30 percent more efficient than the UW System’s average.
According to UW-Stout’s media release and Physical Plant Director Ted Henzel, energy efficiency comes from the precise maintenance and cleaning of the school’s physical plant by UW-Stout’s maintenance workers.
