by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in The Country Today:
We hear it all the time in rural Wisconsin communities: “We don’t want that wind farm, large dairy operation or anaerobic digester in our neighborhood.”
The not-in-my-backyard mentality hasn’t gone away and it isn’t likely to anytime soon.
The NIMBY attitude really isn’t so hard to understand. If someone lived in a peaceful rural neighborhood and that person had a choice, he or she probably would opt not to have that tranquility disrupted by a large business being built next door, whether it be an ethanol plant, a hog confinement operation or a widget factory.
It would be quite unusual to hear, “Please don’t build that in my backyard, build it in my front yard!”
Within the past week, stories have crossed our desks about a large dairy project near Rosendale, a Manitowoc County wind farm and a community animal-manure digester project in Dane County.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in The Business Journal:
Wausaukee Composites Inc. and Pacal Industries LLC have notified state officials that the two manufacturing companies intend to lay off a total of 150 employees from their operations in southwest Wisconsin.
The companies informed the state Department of Workforce Development through separate Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letters received by the department this week.
Wausaukee-based Wausaukee Composites said beginning Tuesday it laid off 61 employees at its plant in Cuba City in Grant County because of the “sudden and unanticipated termination” of deliveries and purchase orders from the plant’s only customer, according to its WARN letter. The layoffs are expected to be temporary.
The plant produces wind turbine components. The customer, Wausaukee Composites’ largest client, was not identified.
Wausaukee Composites said it could not provide a date for when employees might be recalled, given the volatility of the U.S. economy and availability of credit for wind farm developers purchasing turbines from the customer.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Chad Dally in The Daily Press (Ashland):
Municipalities around the Chequamegon Bay region have been awarded state funding for energy independence assessments as part of a pilot program for Gov. Jim Doyle’s 25×25 plan.
Doyle has set a non-binding goal for communities around the state to generate 25 percent of their energy and 25 percent of their transportation fuel from renewable sources by 2025.
So far, more than 70 municipalities have signed on to the 25×25 resolution, including several around the bay area. But current energy and fuel usage, and how to reach that 25 percent goal, remains cloudy. The Alliance for Sustainability will help eight municipalities and Bay Area Rural Transit with both. The municipalities include: the cities of Ashland, Bayfield and Washburn; the towns of Bayfield and LaPointe; Ashland and Bayfield counties; and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
The Alliance will itself have help from “resource teams” from the state’s Office of Energy Independence and agents from UW-Extension in both Ashland and Bayfield counties, said Kelly Randleman, office assistant for the Alliance.
The first task for the $60,000 award will be to establish a baseline assessment for each municipality to determine how much work needs to be done toward the 25×25 goal. That means meeting with representatives from each municipality to get an inventory on their “fleets and facilities,” Randleman said. Energy consumption in municipal buildings, street lights and other areas under public control would be studied, along with fuel consumption for municipalities’ vehicle fleets and what type of fuel is used in each vehicle.
While one end of the assessment studies consumption, another will examine renewable resource potential in the region, Randleman said.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. plans to make batteries for a Ford Motor Co. plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that is to be introduced in 2012.
Ford has selected the hybrid battery joint venture between Johnson Controls, the world’s largest battery supplier, and French battery developer Saft to supply lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids.
“This is a great day for the automotive industry in America,” Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, said in a statement prepared for release at the Washington Auto Show, where the Ford partnership is to be announced today.
“Today, nearly all batteries for hybrid electric vehicles are manufactured offshore. As the United States works to build a manufacturing infrastructure and supply base for hybrid and electric vehicles, this contract signals significant progress for our industry here. . . .”
Cell design, engineering and testing will take place at the joint venture’s research hub, the 58,000-square-foot Battery Technology Center in Glendale, the company said.
by jboullion | Feb 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement from Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI):
Grants are now available for both new construction and remodeling of existing homes that are targeting net zero energy use when completed.
Complete details can be found at www.GreenMaxHome.com. Click here to view the GreenMax Home RFP.
WPPI’s Web site explains the concept of a net zero energy home:
A net zero energy home is connected to the energy grid that supplies your local utility with power, but it is designed and constructed to produce at least as much energy as it consumes. The house supplies energy back to the grid in — at a minimum —an amount equal to the amount of power the homeowner purchases from the grid, resulting in a “net zero” impact on the nation’s energy supply. Any excess energy generated by the house is fed back into the grid.
This new concept combines state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems such as solar water heating and solar electricity. In many cases, the entire energy consumption — heating, cooling and appliances — of a net zero energy home can be provided by renewable energy sources.
Proposed homes must be built in a WPPI Energy member utility service area. WPPI’s member utilities are:
Alger Delta, MI
Algoma
Baraga, MI
Black River Falls
Boscobel
Brodhead
Cedarburg
Columbus
Cuba City
Eagle River
Evansville
Florence
Gladstone, MI
Hartford
Hustisford
Independence, IA
Jefferson
Juneau
Kaukauna
L’Anse, MI
Lake Mills
Lodi
Maquoketa, IA
Menasha
Mount Horeb
Muscoda
Negaunee, MI
New Glarus
New Holstein
New London
New Richmond
Norway, MI
Oconomowoc
Oconto Falls
Plymouth
Prairie du Sac
Reedsburg
Richland Center
River Falls
Slinger
Stoughton
Sturgeon Bay
Sun Prairie
Two Rivers
Waterloo
Waunakee
Waupun
Westby
Whitehall
by jboullion | Feb 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement from Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI):
Grants are now available for both new construction and remodeling of existing homes that are targeting net zero energy use when completed.
Complete details can be found at www.GreenMaxHome.com. Click here to view the GreenMax Home RFP.
WPPI’s Web site explains the concept of a net zero energy home:
A net zero energy home is connected to the energy grid that supplies your local utility with power, but it is designed and constructed to produce at least as much energy as it consumes. The house supplies energy back to the grid in — at a minimum —an amount equal to the amount of power the homeowner purchases from the grid, resulting in a “net zero” impact on the nation’s energy supply. Any excess energy generated by the house is fed back into the grid.
This new concept combines state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems such as solar water heating and solar electricity. In many cases, the entire energy consumption — heating, cooling and appliances — of a net zero energy home can be provided by renewable energy sources.
Proposed homes must be built in a WPPI Energy member utility service area. WPPI’s member utilities are:
Alger Delta, MI
Algoma
Baraga, MI
Black River Falls
Boscobel
Brodhead
Cedarburg
Columbus
Cuba City
Eagle River
Evansville
Florence
Gladstone, MI
Hartford
Hustisford
Independence, IA
Jefferson
Juneau
Kaukauna
L’Anse, MI
Lake Mills
Lodi
Maquoketa, IA
Menasha
Mount Horeb
Muscoda
Negaunee, MI
New Glarus
New Holstein
New London
New Richmond
Norway, MI
Oconomowoc
Oconto Falls
Plymouth
Prairie du Sac
Reedsburg
Richland Center
River Falls
Slinger
Stoughton
Sturgeon Bay
Sun Prairie
Two Rivers
Waterloo
Waunakee
Waupun
Westby
Whitehall
