by jboullion | Jun 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Karen Herzog in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A partnership between a city farm and a Milwaukee trade school will build an urban agricultural training space atop a “green” garage in the Riverwest neighborhood, complete with year-round, rooftop garden.
The project, called Growing Spaces, is a joint venture of the non-profit farm Growing Power Inc., 5500 West Silver Spring Road, and Bradley Tech High School, 700 S. 4th St. Details are to be announced at a 3 p.m. press conference today at the school.
Bradley Tech seniors in carpentry, electrical and plumbing classes will build the 3.5-bay garage beside a private home in Riverwest, starting in the fall. The homeowner, Kate Halfwassen, will coordinate the project and lease the garage back to Growing Power in what amounts to at least a five-year donation of the space, Halfwassen said Tuesday.
The garage will be built against a hillside with wood concrete forms – a green material combining recycled wood and cement. Solar panels on a rooftop shed will power the garage doors and heat water and soil for winter food production in the rooftop hoop-house.
by jboullion | Jun 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
From the Energy Fair workshop schedule of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA):
The MREA will host a special session on eco-municipalities for elected officials or other municipal government staff . This session will be held on the same day of Torbjorn Lahti’s keynote presentation, and will build on the concepts presented. Don’t miss this chance to get a fun, in-depth study of sustainable community initiatives that can be implemented in everyday governmental decisions and policies. Course Cost: $30.00 Course Prerequisite: The Natural Step for Communities, which can be purchased through the MREA Marketplace online or at the Energy Fair.
by jboullion | Jun 3, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Avrum Lank in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Sturgeon Bay – John Hippensteel believes a person has only one original idea in a lifetime.
His can be summed up in two words: flower power.
Not the kind expressed in bright splashes of color on psychedelic concert posters or daisies put down gun barrels during anti-war demonstrations, but actual power from flowers.
OK, not real flowers. Rather from sculptures that look like flowers – and rather unusual sculptures at that.
A professional engineer, Hippensteel designs, builds and installs large arrays of photovoltaic solar panels made to look like flowers. He hopes the product line he and wife, Ann, have dubbed Solar Flairs will be the key to a blossoming of their business, Lake Michigan Wind and Sun Ltd., which they run out of a 100-year-old farmhouse on 40 acres near the Lake Michigan shoreline in the southern Door County Town of Clay Banks.
by jboullion | Jun 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
How’s this for oil-shock value: Scott Olson of Brookfield went to his car dealership to get the oil changed on his sport utility vehicle and drove home in a new SUV that gets nearly twice the gas mileage.
“I was filling it up every five days,” he said of his old Ford Escape. “Now I’m only filling it up every eight or nine days.”
Olson, 43, now the proud owner of a blue Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV that gets nearly 40 mpg in city driving, is part of the latest crowd of buyers bothered by fuel costs who are now in the hunt for hybrid electric vehicles.
Until recently, most hybrid buyers could be characterized as having a “green streak,” concerned about the environment and pollution released from tailpipes, said John Dolan, hybrid sales specialist at Smart Motors in Madison.
“But once oil got to $100 a barrel and on toward $130, we’re starting to see more and more people who don’t even characterize themselves as environmentalists,” he said. “They’re just looking at buying a hybrid as a dollars and cents thing.”
by jboullion | May 30, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Mary Louise Schumacher in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
From a coffeehouse with a green design to a gathering place in a former industrial wasteland, from a dynamic railway station to a new airport concourse, from a face lift for what’s now an upscale Cajun eatery to the restored roof of an old Polish church, 27 projects will be honored today by Mayor Tom Barrett for contributing to Milwaukee’s urban landscape.
Barrett will present the Mayor’s Urban Design Awards, for design excellence, and the Cream of the Cream City Awards, for smart preservation, at a reception at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2131 E. Hartford Ave., at 5 p.m.
The design awards will go to projects completed by the end of 2007, including the Dr. Wesley L. Scott Senior Living Community, 2802 W. Wright St., for creating an environmentally sustainable building with a rooftop solar energy system (pictured above).
by jboullion | May 29, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a press release issued by Governor Doyle:
NEENAH – Governor Jim Doyle today announced the 2008 Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency Awards, recognizing Proctor and Gamble Corporation of Green Bay and Neenah Paper of Neenah for outstanding achievement in implementing an energy efficiency projects. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Rod Nilsestuen presented the awards on behalf of the Governor at the Wisconsin Paper Council Annual meeting in Neenah. . . .
Proctor & Gamble Corporation won the 2008 Project for Innovation award for construction of a new energy efficient tissue paper machine at their Green Bay location. The machine uses new technology to deliver its product using 19% less natural gas and electricity than most modern machines. This improvement in energy efficiency will contribute significantly to Proctor and Gamble’s sustainability and energy goals.
Neenah Paper won the 2008 Project for Energy Efficiency Implementation award for its wastewater treatment facility optimization project. The project involved using variable frequency drives to improve the efficiency of the aeration system and feed forward dissolved oxygen control. The project also reduces turbidity in the final waste matter and prevents the release of 1,260 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
Governor Doyle established the Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency Award to recognize the Wisconsin pulp and/or paper mill that best shows outstanding achievement in implementing an energy efficiency project.
