by jboullion | May 10, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Cara Spoto in the Stevens Point Journal:
Hoping to reduce Portage County’s carbon footprint and save a little money in the process, county leaders will start work this month on a strategic energy plan.
The Smart Energy Team, led by Portage County Executive Patty Dreier and County Board Chairman O. Philip Idsvoog, has a goal of having a plan in place by Dec. 1. Toward that end, the group has received $12,000 in capital improvement dollars, along with a $4,500 grant, which may be used to hire a consultant.
Jennifer Stewart, community development educator with the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Whiting, said the first phase of the planning process will largely consist of taking a snapshot of how much energy the county consumes and in what ways.
“What we have talked about doing at the first meeting is reviewing the scope of the committee’s charge and start identifying first steps,” Stewart said.
From there, the team will draw on the knowledge of experts and its members, including Planning and Zoning Director Jeff Schuler, Facilities Director Todd Neuenfeldt and the chairs of the finance and space and properties committee, to establish a set of goals for consumption, alternative energy use and conservation.
Options for achieving such goals could include retrofitting buildings, altering building operations, purchasing energy-efficient equipment, using alternative energy sources and educating employees.
by jboullion | May 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
A commentary
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin
May 4, 2010
Renewable energy businesses and activists entered the month of April with high hopes of seeing the State Legislature pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), a comprehensive bill designed to propel Wisconsin toward energy independence, along the way creating thousands of new jobs and strengthening the sustainable energy marketplace. This comprehensive bill would have raised the renewable energy content of electricity sold in Wisconsin, while stepping up ratepayer support for smaller-scale renewable energy installations throughout the state.
Unfortunately, on April 22, the State Senate adjourned for the year without taking action on the Clean Energy Jobs Act bill, effectively killing the measure and leaving hundreds of businesses and individuals who campaigned for the bill empty-handed.
If life imitates poetry, then the line that opens T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land—“April is the cruelest month”—aptly encapsulates the evolution of a campaign that overcame many obstacles in the final weeks only to be undermined by the unwillingness of Senate leaders to schedule a vote on the bill. The sense of anticipation that began the month was swept away by a combination of personal feuds, extreme partisanship, and increasingly polarized public attitudes toward climate change. That the bill’s demise coincided with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was seen by supporters as an especially cruel twist of fate.
It certainly didn’t help matters that the some of the state’s most politically entrenched constituencies banded together to fight CEJA at every stage of the process. Among the hard-core opponents were Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the Paper Council and the Farm Bureau. Their vociferous opposition scuttled bipartisanship, eliminating the possibility that a Republican legislator would vote for the bill.
Working hand-in-glove with vitriolic right-wing radio talk show hosts, the opposition supplied their grassroots faithful with a smorgasbord of exaggerated claims, hyperbole, outright fantasy, and pseudoscience. Though the analysis purporting to document the opposition’s assertions set a new low in academic rigor, it succeeded in its aim, which was to plant the seeds of fear among certain legislators about the ultimate cost of this legislation before the bill was even introduced.
Working just as vigorously for the Clean Energy Jobs Act, a broad spectrum of interests answered the requests for help. Whether they were one-person solar installation businesses or Fortune 500 corporations like Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, CEJA supporters wrote letters, made phone calls, and corralled their legislators at the Capitol on several days during March and April.
In dozens of face-to-face meetings with their representatives, CEJA supporters made the case for this bill by bringing out their own experiences as business owners, farmers, educators, builders, and skilled tradesmen. They presented a local and highly personal angle to the clean energy policy debate that many legislators had not appreciated before. Their passion and energy were instrumental in giving this bill a fighting chance for passage at the end of the session. Unfortunately, the campaign could not overcome the pique of the Senate Democrats.
One legislator who kept pushing this ambitious bill up the legislative hill until the very last day was Assembly representative Spencer Black, who was one of the four principal authors of the measure. CEJA supporters are indebted to Rep. Black for his vigorous leadership and his determined efforts to round up support among his compatriots for passing this bill.
Two rays of sunlight did manage to pierce through the heavy clouds at the close of April, prompted by the dedication of the two largest wind turbines owned by Wisconsin schools. In each case, the school erected a 100-kilowatt Northwind turbine manufactured by Vermont-based Northern Power Systems. One serves Wausau East High School while the other feeds power to the Madison Area Technical College’s Fort Atkinson branch. The turbines will offset a significant fraction of the electricity consumed at each school.
Located well within the city limits of Wausau and Fort Atkinson, these 155-foot-tall wind generators eloquently testify to the breadth and depth of public support for renewable energy across Wisconsin. Next January, the Legislature will witness the return of clean energy supporters with similar legislation for strengthening Wisconsin’s renewable energy marketplace. In the meantime, we will be working hard to achieve a very different outcome.
END
Michael Vickerman is the executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison. For more information on Wisconsin renewable energy policy, visit RENEW’s web site at: www.renewwisconsin.org.
by jboullion | May 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nick Paulson in the Stevens Point Journal:
A Plover food processing plant has been chosen as one of 50 companies to participate in a state pilot program to help manufacturers improve their next-generation initiatives.
Foremost Farms USA, which makes whey products at its Plover plant, will take part in a $1.75 million program run through the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
State energy auditors will canvass the Foremost plant to look for ways the company can save energy.
“Does it make sense to invest in a more energy-efficient system?” The company hopes to find out, communications director Joan Behr said. “We’ll be able to tap the expertise of these folks.”
After working with the auditors and determining what changes need to be made, each company will apply to the Wisconsin Department of Commerce for the money to complete the sustainability initiatives.
by jboullion | May 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Stevens Point Journal:
A local renewable energy organization and two local state officials will be among those honored next week by the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The Midwest Renewable Energy Association and state representative Louis Molepske, Jr. have been named co-recipients of the 2009-10 Environmental Leader Award. In addition to his involvement as a member of the CNR’s Advisory Board, Molepske, Jr., also serves on the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, Committee on Natural Resources, and Committee on Fish and Wildlife.
The MREA promotes renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable living through education and demonstration and sponsors the MREA Energy Fair, the nation’s longest running energy education event of its kind.
The award honors individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to maintaining the integrity of our ecosystems. Candidates are nominated by the faculty and selected by the CNR Dean’s Council.
State Senator Julie Lassa is one of five individuals to receive the CNR’s 2009-10 Outstanding Contributor Award for her longtime support of college programs, most recently her efforts to secure state funding for core staffing in UWSP’s promising initiative, the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology.
