Uncategorized Archives - Page 453 of 476

Northcentral Home Energy Conservation Workshop slated

by jboullion | Sep 26, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article in the Wisconsin Ag Connection:

Homeowners, renters, and people who are contemplating building a new home can learn about ways to save energy in the home by attending the second annual Northcentral Home Energy Conservation Workshop on October 11 at the Rib Lake High School. The program will cover alternative home heating systems, solar energy applications, energy saving ideas for new and existing homes, home energy audits, renewable electricity and alternative home construction methods. The workshop will cover the costs and payback potential of the various types of systems and practices as well as tax credits and cash incentives for various energy saving applications. Speakers will discuss practical, feasible ways to save money and energy and provide information that can be used to choose energy-saving practices.

The program includes 15 breakout sessions and includes a lunch featuring locally grown foods from the Price and Taylor County areas. In the afternoon, participants can choose from two options: a tour of two nearby homes demonstrating a variety of energy-saving practices, or a workshop on designing and building window quilts. The Price and Taylor County UW-Extension Offices and Land Conservation Departments, the Upper Chippewa River Basin Program, and Pri-Ru-Ta Resource Conservation and Development Council are sponsoring the program in partnership with Price Electric Cooperative, Taylor Electric Cooperative, Clark Electric Cooperative, Xcel Energy, Medford Electric Utility, Wisconsin Focus on Energy, and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, with major funding through a grant from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board. . . .

For more information or a brochure, contact the Price County UW-Extension Office at 715-339-2555, or Taylor County UW-Extension at 715-748-3327.

Cuba City gains jobs from Wausaukee Composites' wind energy foray

by jboullion | Sep 26, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article by Craig D. Weber in the Dubuque, Iowa, Telegraph Herald:

CUBA CITY, Wis. — Operating in what was once the Cuba City Machine building, now known as the Wausaukee Composites building, the burgeoning wind energy industry sounds a clarion call in the city of 2,000.

“Wausaukee Composites is excited to play a contributing role in the rapidly developing wind energy industry in North America,” said David Lisle, president and CEO of Wausaukee Composites Inc. “We have been actively developing new manufacturing opportunities in this emerging market segment for more than two years.”

That opportunity includes Cuba City. Wind turbine nacelle cover assemblies are being manufactured in the 42,000-square-foot facility located on the city’s south end. Production began on Feb. 18 with about 12 employees.

“The Cuba City plant will be a dedicated facility to the wind energy industry,” Lisle said, explaining the facility has the capacity to produce up to 800 wind turbine nacelles a year.

Wind in Wisconsin: Ready for the Big Leagues

by jboullion | Sep 26, 2008 | Uncategorized

A presentation by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Executive Director, on behalf of the Wisconsin Wind Working Group to the American Society of Civil Engineers-Wisconsin Section in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on September 26, 2008.

Kettle Foods gets it

by jboullion | Sep 25, 2008 | Uncategorized

From the Green Racine blog:

Salem, Ore.-based Kettle Foods says that it has yielded environmental and economic benefits by adopting measures that include offsetting all of the electricity used to operate both its Salem and Beloit factories with wind power. Additionally, the Beloit plant is home to 18 rooftop wind turbines.

“When we decided to go for green – or in this case, gold – with LEED certification of our new factory, we knew it was the right thing to do,” says Tim Fallon, president of Kettle Foods’ North American division.

The company also recycles of 2,300 gallons of waste oil with conversion to biodiesel used to power a company fleet of diesel-engine cars called BioBeetles, and reduces more than three million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually resulting from the elimination of shipping lines between Oregon and the Midwest.

Solar hot water from a Platteville garden

by jboullion | Sep 25, 2008 | Uncategorized

From left to right: Todd Timmerman, solar installer;
Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin; and Nancy Collins.

From an article in the newsletter of RENEW Wisconsin:

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.”

”It’s not space age or futuristic technology,” she adds. “I was surprised at the simplicity of the system and the efficiency of the heat exchange. It is a sound investment for energy savings. Gas prices have gone up but our bills have stayed the same.”

But there are aspects of the Collins’ solar hot water system that are decidedly not normal. For example, due to heavy shading from nearby trees, the solar collectors could not be placed on the rooftop of the Collins’ home. Instead, the installer, Todd Timmerman of Timmerman’s Talents, Platteville, went searching for the least-shaded section of their yard, which turned out to be their garden.

But such is the Collins’ commitment to harvesting solar energy that they decided to move the garden, and situate the collectors in its place, amidst the cilantro, basil and strawberries. On that space now stands a four-foot-tall wooden structure, housing two collector panels facing the sun at a 45º angle. Since its completion in September 2007, the ground-mounted system has become a neighborhood fixture, a few feet from where neighborhood children congregate and play in the Collins’ yard.

The array installed by Timmerman captures radiant solar energy through a series of vacuum-sealed tubes (also called evacuated tubes). Inside each tube is a copper heat pipe. Sunlight striking each of the 40 tubes heats a liquid inside each heat pipe, which quickly turns into a vapor. The gas travels upwards and releases heat into a larger pipe running along the top of the array. At that point the heat is transferred to a glycol solution that is then pumped into the house to where it heats the water inside.