by jboullion | Jun 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nathaniel Shuda in the Marshfield News Herald:
WISCONSIN RAPIDS — Plans to eliminate a state fund that helped a local manufacturer lay the groundwork for a wind energy component plant aren’t expected to have an immediate impact on the company.
Members of the state Joint Finance Committee cut all $30 million Gov. Jim Doyle proposed for the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund as part of an effort to wipe out the state’s $6.6 billion biennial budget deficit. The budget still needs approval from both chambers of the Legislature and the governor before going into effect.
“In an optimum world, of course we’d like to see that (funding),” said Sam Fairchild, chief executive officer of Energy Composites Corp., which merged with Wisconsin Rapids-based Advanced Fiberglass Technologies in October. “But at the end of the day, I can understand the pressures the state is facing.”
Advanced Fiberglass Technologies garnered a $1 million loan in September through the fund to assist in its move into the wind energy industry. The manufacturer plans to begin construction in July on a 350,000-square-foot plant that will produce blades for industrial wind turbines and create at least 400 jobs in Wisconsin Rapids.
The proposed two-year suspension of the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund program would not affect the $7.3 million already awarded to 28 companies statewide, Doyle spokeswoman Carla Vigue said Thursday.
Although he cares about the 10-year, $150 million program, the governor would reluctantly approve the cut if it’s included in the Legislature’s final version of the budget, Vigue said.
by jboullion | Jun 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the UW-Extension, Lincoln County:
A Workshop for Local Government on Working with Small Scale Wind Powered Generators
There is no charge for this program but we’d appreciate it if you let us know if you’ll be attending. Please call the Lincoln County Extension Office at 715-539-1072 by June 5th to register.
When: TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009
Where: Room 257, Lincoln County Services Center, 801 N. Sales Street, Merrill, WI
Wind powered generators have been around for decades but as the market for ustainable power sources and the technology to meet that market has developed public and private investments into wind power has been speeding up. At the same time local and state governments have been faced with the challenge of how or if they should regulate them. This workshop provides local elected and appointed officials, and those in the public who are interested, with an opportunity to find out what the state of the industry is for smaller private and community based wind generators, talk about the variety of state and local regulations that are currently in place to guide their placement and operation, present some model ordinances that communities can consider, review the resources that are available for supporting and/or promoting the adoption of wind and other alternative energy sources, and actually visit a couple of privately installed wind powered generators. . . .
Featured Morning Speaker
Mick Sagrillo, Sagrillo Power and Light and Wisconsin Focus on Energy, has over 25 years experience with wind technology and founded in 1983 Lake Michigan Wind & Sun, Ltd, a company which manufactures wind generator components & towers, remanufactures and repairs equipment, and installs wind systems. He has been involved in over 700 projects in 46 states and 29 foreign countries. He is also an author and has written many of the most influential articles published on small-scale wind technology. He is the wind editor and a regular contributor of wind power articles to Home Power Magazine; monthly columnist for the American Wind Energy Association’s Windletter; columnist for Solar Today magazine and has written various articles on wind power for PV/Wind Energy News and Backwoods Home magazine. Many of his articles have been widely reprinted and translated into other languages. He has led many workshops on wind energy, is a founding member of the Midwest Renewable energy Association and has served as president of the board. He has an unparalleled record of service to organizations working to promote sustainable energy and has received numerous awards for his outstanding work. He is currently the owner of Sagrillo Power and Light, a consulting firm specializing in home-sized wind turbine technology and educational workshops and serves as a consultant for Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy Program.
Wind site tours
1:30 PM
Randee Block Farm
Lincoln County – Town of Scott
3:30 PM
Mike and Kathy Anderson Farm
Marathon County – Town of Marathon
by jboullion | Jun 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement issued by the USDA:
On May 26, 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it is accepting applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants and loan guarantees. REAP (Section 9007 of the 2008 Farm Bill) is the former Section 9006 under the 2002 Farm Bill and provides incentives for the development/construction of renewable energy projects, such as anaerobic digester projects.
REAP renewable energy grants can provide up to 25 percent of eligible project costs, up to $500,000. Loan guarantees or grant and loan guarantee combinations are capped at 75 percent of eligible project costs. More details are available in the Federal Register at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-12178.pdf or on the USDA Web site http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/9006grant.htm.
Application materials may be obtained by contacting one of USDA Rural Development State Offices, which are listed at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html or by downloading at http://www.grants.gov. Applications are due on July 31, 2009.
by jboullion | May 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the Web site of Central Waters:
2009 has already brought about many changes and improvements for Central Waters Brewing Company. The biggest step has been the addition of roughly 1,000 square feet of solar collectors; 24 panels, in all. Solar collectors use energy emitted by the sun, and convert it into a more usable and/or storable form of power. The energy production of our new solar collectors is estimated to reach around 2500 therms per year. A payback from the system will be seen in about seven years, with an estimated savings of $1.4 to $1.5 million over the life of the system.
In addition to the new solar panels, Central Waters Brewing Company uses a radiant floor heating system, and more energy efficient lighting systems, motors in the equipment, and brewhouse. All of the materials used in the newly remodeled tap room are from recycled resources. Also, with the implementation of the new grain silo outside of the brewery, we are able to reduce the amount of packaging materials that come into the facility, therefore the amount of packaging that needs to be disposed of. In addition to the sustainability practices currently in use at the brewery, Central Waters works with local farmers to recycle the grain used in the brewing process. The spent grain is taken by these farmers and used as feed for livestock, and also used as compost.
The addition of the solar collectors, coupled with other sustainability practices, allows Central Waters Brewing Company to drastically reduce the consumption of natural gas, therefore greatly reduce our carbon footprint.
Central Waters Brewing Company…truly “making the world a better place, one beer at a time.”
by jboullion | May 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
From details of the Energy Fair, sponsored by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, in Custer, Wisconsin:
Friday, June 19 at 1 pm
Antonia Juhasz
Antonia Juhasz is an author and political activist. She was the author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time in 2006, Alternatives to Economic Globalization for which she received the 2004 Project Censored award. In 2008, she published The Tyranny of Oil.
Saturday, June 20 at 1 pm
Alan Weisman
Alan Weisman spoke at the 10th Anniversary Energy Fair, and we’re happy to have him join us another ten years later to celebrate our progress and help us look forward to another 20 years.
Alan Weisman is an author and journalist whose reports from around the world have appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Wilson Quarterly, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, Discover, and more.
His most recent book, The World Without Us, (a staff favorite) is a bestseller, and was named the Best Nonfiction Book of 2007 by both Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.
Sunday, June 21 at 1 pm
Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams, an is the author of Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound. The Wall Street Journal called Cape Wind “a ripe subject, populated with the sort of people who would be among the first to count themselves as friends of the Earth but the last to accept an environmentally friendly energy source if it meant the slightest cloud on their ocean views.”
Williams has written for many major publications, including Scientific American, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, The Providence Journal and The Baltimore Sun. She has been journalist-in-residence at Duke University and at the Hasting Center. The author of several books, she lives on Cape Cod.
