by jboullion | Sep 13, 2010 | Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Gina Sinisi, Communications Coordinator
Midwest Renewable Energy Association
715-592-6595 ext: 113
gina@the-mrea.org
MREA ELECTS NEW BOARD PRESIDENT
CUSTER, WI – Thomas Brown was recently elected as the Board President of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA). Tom is an architect and LEED-Accredited Professional specializing in environmentally-responsive green design. He teaches environmental design courses at UW-Stevens Point and frequently presents at regional and national conferences. Tom has been a MREA member from its beginning, and is also a founding member of both the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA), a national organization devoted to high-performance buildings, and the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance (WGBA). He is also a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC).
As an Architect, Tom’s projects have received numerous awards and been recognized nationally. His Mead Wildlife Area Education & Visitor Center was the first publicly-owned project in Wisconsin to achieve LEED Platinum Certification. Another project, the Sullivan Residence, was selected by the National Association of Home Builders Research Center as the most Innovative/Advanced Custom Home in a cold climate region in the country.
Tom lives in Stevens Point with his spouse, Jo Seiser. Jo is Executive director of the North Central Conservancy Trust (NCCT), a 7-county regional land trust for central Wisconsin. They have two children, Anders & Ivy.
Brown said that “as a founder and friend of the Energy Fair for over 20 years, I am pleased that I can help further the goals of the MREA as we continue to grow and expand our training opportunities and offer our considerable renewable energy expertise to our partners and others throughout the Great Lakes region of the Midwest.”
The MREA welcomes Tom at his new role as President.
by jboullion | Sep 10, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a report titled “The Facts about Wind Energy’s Emissions Savings” prepared by the American Wind Energy Association:
. . . four of the seven major independent grid operators in the
U.S. have studied the emissions impact of adding wind energy to their power grids, and all four have found that adding wind energy drastically reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants. While the emissions savings depend somewhat on the existing share of coal-fired versus gas-fired generation in the region, as one would expect, it is impossible to dispute the findings of these four independent grid operators that adding wind energy to their grids has significantly reduced emissions. . . .
DOE data show that wind and other renewables’ share of Texas’s electric mix increased from 1.3% in 2005 to 4.4% in 2008, an increase in share of 3.1 percentage points. During that period, electric sector carbon dioxide emissions declined by 3.3%, even though electricity use actually increased by 2% during that time. Because of wind energy, the state of Texas was able to turn what would have been a carbon emissions increase into a decrease of 8,690,000 metric tons per year, equal to the emissions savings of taking around 1.5 million cars off the road.
by jboullion | Sep 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Kathleen Foody in the Wausau Daily Herald:
ROTHSCHILD — State regulators, opponents and proponents of a proposed biomass plant in Rothschild agreed Wednesday to hold a Nov. 30 public hearing on the project.
Attorneys for We Energies, the Milwaukee utility behind the plan, and other interested groups gathered in Madison to set the timeline.
The $255 million project announced in September 2009 would burn woody biomass, creating electricity for We Energies to sell and steam to power the Domtar Mill’s paper-making process.
We Energies needs the facility to be operational by the end of 2013 to qualify for federal tax credits and meet renewable energy requirements for utilities. The company has pushed for approval by state regulators at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources by the end of the year to meet that goal.
The location and specific time of the hearing has not been set, PSC spokeswoman Teresa Weidemann-Smith said.
by jboullion | Sep 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
RENEW Wisconisn’s summer newsletter includes these articles:
Council Backs Compromise on Siting Standards
After four months of intensive review and debate, the 15-member Wind Siting Council presented to the Public Service Commission (PSC) its final recommendations on the statewide permitting rule under development. The Council’s report comes at a critical juncture; the PSC will issue a fi nal rule on this proceeding before the end of August.
Community Wind on Move in Cashton
What may become Wisconsin’s first example of a Community Wind project cleared a significant hurdle in June when the Village of Cashton in Monroe County issued a permit to allow the construction of two Vestas V90 turbines, totaling 3.6 megawatts (MW), inside its business park.
Seventh Generation Pioneers Wind
Unusual from its start as a not-for- profit in the business of renewable energy, Seventh Generation Energy Systems (commonly called Seventh Gen) continues to pioneer organizationally and technically with the addition of Jim Yockey, executive director, and Ry Thompson, project manager. Alicia Leinberger, one of the founders of Seventh Gen, oversees marketing and business development for the eight-year-old organization.
Making Sense of the Gulf Disaster
About 100 people gathered in downtown Madison in early July to take part in “Hands Across the hands,” an internationally organized protest against continued oil drilling in and along the world’s coastal waters. Against the backdrop of the weed-choked waters of Lake Monona, they joined hands for 15 minutes to express their fervent desire to see a cleaner, less destructive energy future emerge from the liquid melanoma spreading across the Gulf of Mexico.
No doubt the protestors would like to do more, much more, than simply engage in a ritualized protest in front of a few camera crews. But we live in a society that is organized around the expectation of a limitless supply of nonrenewable hydrocarbons feeding concentrated energy into our economic bloodstream. Most of us have not bothered to comprehend the yawning gulf that lies between our best intentions and our abject dependence on the wealth-producing properties of petroleum.
Turbines Power Cascade Wastewater
With the start-up of two 100-kilowatt (kW) wind turbines, the Village of Cascade became the first Wisconsin community to power its municipal wastewater treatment plant with 100 percent locally produced wind energy.
The impetus behind Cascade’s embrace of wind power was the avoided utility expenditures associated with operating a wastewater treatment plant. In the first year of operation, Cascade
stands to save $30,000.
Calendar
Sept. 29 — Solar Decade Conference, Milwaukee, WI. A comprehensive solar energy educational opportunity for your home, business, and career. Sponsored by Focus on Energy, We Energies, and others. For details see www.solardecade.com.
Sept. 30 – Oct. 1 — 2010Solar Thermal ‘10, Milwaukee, WI. A national solar heating and cooling conference and expo for solar thermal professionals. For details see www.the-mrea.org.
October 2, 2010 — Solar Tour of Homes and Businesses. All across Wisconsin. Owners open their doors to let people see how renewable energy is practical, reliable, and affordable in today’s economy. The homes and businesses often include other energy effi ciency and renewable technologies. For details see www.the-mrea.org.
October 13, 2010 — Wisconsin Wind Energy Supply Chain Workshop, Milwaukee, WI. Learn how to join the wind energy supply chain from fi rst tier and aftermarket manufacturers. For details see www.thenewnorth.com.
Mar. 9 – 12, 2011 — Green Energy Summit: The Green Frontier, Milwaukee, WI. An acclaimed professional/academic conference featuring keynote speakers, workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Technical College System Foundation and others. For details see www.greenenergysummit.us.
by jboullion | Sep 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an editoiral in the Wausau Daily Herald:
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission this week released its findings from a more than five-month review of the environmental impact of the proposed biomass plant in Rothschild.
The results? Well, the PSC found fault with some of the claims made by Domtar and We Energies, the companies whose joint project the plant would be. It’s not clear whether the plant can claim to be “carbon neutral,” according to regulators. And it’s possible, the report suggested, that the companies are lowballing their estimates of the plant’s impact on forests.
Those findings must be taken seriously. But so must the PSC finding that the proposed biomass project will not have a “significant impact on the human environment.” Emissions will come in below the standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
To many, that always has been the most important question: Will the air we breathe be clean? There certainly are significant concerns that do not directly have to do with the plant’s emissions. But the biggest, most emotional questions always have revolved around the quality of the air our communities’ children breathe.
On emissions, the PSC findings are not the last word on the subject. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will have final authority on air emissions, and we should wait for its say before forming a final judgment.
As we’ve seen in the sometimes-heated debate about this project, the creation of a new plant like this is a charged subject. People are right to ask questions and to seek independent analyses of any project of this size.
What we’ve seen, though, is that there really is a fairly intensive process in place for review of this matter. We’ve seen numerous public hearings in several forums — almost all of which have been well-attended by those who represent the full spectrum of opinions on this project. The democratically elected government of Rothschild has had the opportunity to make its decision about zoning for the project.
With the release of this PSC report, we’ve seen an independent analysis of the facts put forward by Domtar and We Energies. The result of that analysis was not completely uncritical or uncomplicated — but it certainly didn’t find that the companies had lied, or fudged their numbers, or otherwise behaved in a way that raises more serious questions.
The next piece, perhaps the most important piece, will be the DNR analysis.
