Gas Tax Pain

by | May 16, 2008 | Uncategorized

From a new Fossil Fuel Watch by Michael Vickerman:

Could there be more convincing proof of America’s debilitating addiction to oil than the recent calls to institute a gasoline tax holiday issued by two of the three presidential aspirants still in the race?

Imagine what would happen if a candidate for public office endorsed a repeal of cigarette taxes. Articulating such a position would instantly disqualify that candidate from serious consideration by rank and file voters. Indeed, it would stop a candidacy faster than you can say “macaca.”

Yet, while Sens. John McCain or Hillary Clinton, both advocates of suspending the 18.4 cents/gallon gasoline tax, have been excoriated in editorials for espousing such patent flim-flam, they don’t seem to have lost any ground with the voting public.

While the McCain-Clinton gas tax suspension proposal may have a set a new low in the public discussion of energy, it can’t be dismissed as mere election-year pandering. Instead, this proposal reveals a dark truth about ourselves: we Amnericans are psychologically unprepared to accept the energy reality we now inhabit, which is that oil is neither cheap nor plentiful (relative to demand). The same holds true for natural gas.

The factors converging to create global energy insecurity—diminishing output from supergiant fields, rapid demand growth in the world’s most populous nations, civil unrest in oil-exporting nations, etc.—cannot be held at bay with political stunts.

Whether its citizens like it or not, the United States will, going forward, consume a smaller portion of the Earth’s remaining petroleum than at any time before during the Automobile Age.

Details released on nation's premier energy education event in Custer, Wisconsin

by | May 15, 2008 | Uncategorized

Join the MREA and RENEW for the 19th annual Energy Fair June 20-22, 2008. The Fair will be held at MREA’s headquarters, the ReNew the Earth Institute, located at 7558 Deer Road in Custer, WI. See the Travel and Accommodations page for directions and other information.

General Energy Fair Information
Since 1990, the Energy Fair has shown fairgoers how to change the world while having fun. Each summer the Fair transforms rural central Wisconsin into the global hot spot for renewable energy education. The Energy Fair is the world’s largest renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable living educational event of its kind. Please join us this year!

The Energy Fair features hundreds of workshops and exhibits all emphasizing clean energy & sustainable living and is fun for the whole family. In 2007, the Energy Fair hosted over 19,500 attendees. We hope to see you in 2008!

Manitowoc mayor named to panel to study lake wind energy

by | May 14, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article in the Manitowoc Hearld Tribune Reporter:

MANITOWOC – Mayor Kevin Crawford has agreed to serve as co-chairman of the Wind in the Great Lakes Work Group formed by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

The group will review the viability of wind power development on the Great Lakes. The commission is working with the Department of Natural Resources and the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

The work group includes representatives who have an interest or stake in the development of wind power.

“The future of our city, our state and nation is to be found in renewable resources and alternative fuels,” Crawford said in a news release. “The Great Lakes are not only the largest fresh water resource in the world, but they may also be the solution to much of our nation’s energy problems as they are a fantastic wind resource, as well.”

WPPI awards Oconomoc and two other cities two-year energy-saving program

by | May 13, 2008 | Uncategorized

From a story by Matthew Inda on LivingLakeCountry.com:

City of Oconomowoc – For the next two years, Oconomowoc will partake in a communitywide effort that will raise even stronger conservation ethics by way of a pilot program awarded by Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI).

The program known as Leading by Example will give Oconomowoc Utilities the opportunity to better educate and demonstrate the effectiveness of energy efficiency, conservation and renewable resources development.

The program suits Oconomowoc well, based on its established environmental awareness and involvement, according to Wisconsin Public Power Inc. spokeswoman Anne Rodriguez.

“We were looking for a community where there is strong leadership in this area,” she said. “Oconomowoc really provided that natural fit.”

The only other two municipalities in the state to receive the grant were WPPI member communities River Falls and Columbus.

The program will reach out to, and help, citizens via ongoing conservation education efforts with local students, businesses and residential customers. It will also assist with energy efficiency improvements to municipal buildings and conservation projects in cooperation with industrial utility customers.

Kohl's solar program becomes world's largest among retailers

by | May 12, 2008 | Uncategorized

From a press release issued by Kohl’s Department Stores:

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., May 12, 2008 — Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) announced today that it plans to convert more than 50 of its existing New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland locations to solar power, representing nearly 80 percent of its locations in these three states. Currently, Kohl’s operates 34 stores in New Jersey, 17 in Connecticut and 16 in Maryland.

With the East Coast solar installation, Kohl’s is the largest retail host of solar power, and its distributed solar program is now the largest in the world among retailers. In a distributed solar program, silent, renewable energy is produced and used at the same location requiring no transmission infrastructure. Kohl’s has converted more than 25 of its 88 California locations to solar power with plans to activate approximately 50 additional sites in the state. Solar installations are also under way at three Wisconsin locations, and Kohl’s hopes to add other states to its growing solar offering before year-end.

Initial construction for the East Coast solar conversions began in January. On average, solar panels provide 30 percent of a store’s annual energy, or enough to power 54 homes annually. The total East Coast program is expected to offset 370 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the 20-year program and is equivalent to removing more than 36,200 cars from the road for one year.

Read more here.

Johnson Controls helps Michigan school afford solar power

by | May 9, 2008 | Uncategorized

From an article by Jim Kasuba in The News Herald (Southgate, MI):

WYANDOTTE — The sun was shining brightly on the day the city and school district kicked off their first-ever solar energy project.

It was just as fitting that officials chose Earth Day to highlight the installation of a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the roof of Wilson Middle School.

Melanie McCoy, general manager of Wyandotte Municipal Services, said her department received a $50,000 Michigan Energy Office matching grant earlier this year for the design, installation, operation and maintenance of the renewable energy system.

She said Wyandotte Municipal Services was pleasantly surprised by an offer from Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee-based company working with the district to integrate the project into the school’s curriculum.

“Wyandotte Municipal planned on spending 50 percent of the cost of the grant, but Johnson Controls picked up a substantial amount of it,” McCoy said.

Photovoltaics, or PV as it is sometimes referred to in the industry, is a technology in which light is converted into electrical power. In such a system, photons from sunlight knock electrons into a higher state of energy, creating electricity.

Such a system rarely generates enough power to fill the needs of a building the size of Wilson Middle School, but it can be used to supplement coal burning and natural gas.

The Wyandotte Municipal Service Commission awarded installation of the system to Kulick Enterprises Inc. of Wyandotte.

This hybrid energy conservation system will be a learning tool both for the energy providers at Wyandotte Municipal Services and students at the school.

The first 12 months will offer a learning curve that should provide data for future years, indicating how much the system can offset energy costs.

“For the first year, we are leasing the roof for $1 so we can get an idea how much energy it produces,” McCoy said. “We can then share the savings down the road so we can all benefit from it.”

She envisions the city-owned Wyandotte Municipal Services and the school district entering a financial agreement after the first year of the solar PV system’s operation.

McCoy speculates that the reason solar energy isn’t used more extensively is because of the start-up costs and the time it takes to recoup those costs.

Because of that, McCoy said solar power is expensive on a per-kilowatt scale.

“Coal is 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt, wind (power) is 10 cents a kilowatt and solar is 23 cents a kilowatt,” McCoy said. “This system cost $100,000 and we think it’s going to be $2,000 per year (in energy savings). If we were paying this ourselves, it would take 50 years until we regained our investment.”

McCoy said silicon in the solar panels is a major component that makes them so expensive. She said panels made without silicon would make them considerably less expensive.

However, in this case the state grant and financial support from Johnson Controls have made the system extremely affordable.