by jboullion | Dec 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Bob Geiger, staff writer for Finance & Commerce:
Last week, there was a minor change to the web site of Xcel Energy – an unobtrusive box picturing a wind turbine along with the words, “Learn more about Xcel Energy’s climate action.”
But the minor graphic signals a major effort at the Minneapolis-based utility – to promote its renewable energy efforts, as well as its support for a proposed federal policy aimed at limiting greenhouse gases.
The site lays out Xcel Energy’s game plan for dealing with climate change, and includes an endorsement of a uniform federal policy for a cap-and-trade system that is intended to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started the process to cap carbon dioxide emissions as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, established more than 30 years ago to deal with local and regional pollution.
In posting its support of a cap and trade system that charges polluters for emissions of greenhouse gases, Xcel Energy is taking the corporate position that such a system encourages technological change to lower such emissions.
In the meantime, Xcel itself is “looking to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions in Minnesota by 22 percent from 2005 levels” by 2020, said Betsy Engelking, director of resource planning for the utility.
by jboullion | Dec 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the conference announcement issued by the Energy Center of Wisconsin:
The Wisconsin Geothermal Association (WGA) conference will benefit anyone in the geothermal industry including engineers, designers, equipment dealers, and well drillers. With increasing public interest in geothermal technology, it is more important than ever that everyone in the industry maintain the highest standards possible. . . .
The WGA is a non-profit organization advocating for the usage of geothermal heating and cooling systems in Wisconsin. The WGA is a source of information for anyone interested in utilizing a geothermal system for a home, business, or school.
Geothermal systems have been proven to deliver excellent occupant comfort in this region, while saving energy and reducing emissions. The systems take advantage of the earth’s constant year-round ground temperature to provide heating, cooling and hot water in a variety of applications.
Conference registration.
by jboullion | Dec 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From Focus on Energy:
Wisconsin residents who would like to learn how energy efficient their home is compared to similar homes in their area – and what they can do to increase that efficiency – now have a new online resource to help them do just that. By visiting LiveEfficientlyWithFocus.com, residents can walk through a simple assessment of their home’s current energy use, receive a ranking of its efficiency, get energy saving tips, and even create an account if they’d like to email results to their Home Performance consultant or log in at another time to change responses after improvements have been made.
by jboullion | Dec 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Lisa Kaiser in the Shepard Express (Milwaukee):
Supporters of a proposed clean energy bill promise that not only will the new green energy standards help the environment, but that they will also help the state’s bottom line.
If passed by the state Legislature, the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act would increase the amount of electricity to be generated by renewable energy, change building codes, implement new energy standards for appliances and cars sold in the state, revise the state’s requirements for new nuclear power plants, and require the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to consider greenhouse gas emissions when planning a new transportation project.
The bill, built on recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming, would require 25% of the state’s energy to be produced from renewable sources by 2025 and encourage businesses and residents to conserve energy and increase energy efficiency measures.
Taken together, the bill’s provisions would cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 22% by 2022 and 75% by 2050.
The bill will be introduced in the state Legislature after the winter break, and supporters would like to deliver it to the governor’s desk by April 22, 2010, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
by jboullion | Dec 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by RENEW Wisconsin:
An Examination of Wisconsin Policy Research Institute’s Bogus Methodology
Madison, WI (December 22, 2009) In response to a recent report from the Wisconsin Public Research Institute (WPRI) concluding that policies to increase renewable energy production would be prohibitively expensive, RENEW Wisconsin, a leading sustainable energy advocacy organization, today issued a critique documenting the faulty assumptions and methodological errors that undermine the credibility of that finding.
WPRI’s report, titled “The Economics of Climate Change Proposals in Wisconsin,” reviewed the proposal in the Governor’s Global Warming Task Force to increase the state’s renewable energy requirements on electric utilities to 25% by 2025, and estimated a total cost in excess $16 billion. RENEW’s analysis uncovered a disturbing pattern of “methodological sleight-of-hand, assumptions from outer space, and selective ignoring of facts” that render WPRI’s cost estimate to be completely unreliable.
“It appears that WPRI’s $16 billion number was pulled out of thin air, and that its analysis is nothing more than a tortured effort at reverse-engineering the numbers to fit the preordained conclusion,” said Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin executive director.
Specifically, RENEW identified four significant errors in WPRI’s analytical approach. The critique says:
+ It relies on a grossly inflated electricity sales forecast that is completely detached from current realities.
+ The final cost estimate includes all the generation built to comply with the current renewable energy standard, a clear-cut case of double-counting.
+ The authors fail to account for existing renewable generation capacity that is not currently being applied to a state renewable energy standard.
+ There is a high likelihood that the savings from the renewable energy standard are undervalued, because the authors fail to model plant retirements in their analysis.
