by jboullion | May 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Stevens Point Journal by Nicole Strittmater:
Students in P.J. Jacobs Junior High School construction class are doing their part for the environment.
On Tuesday, 18 ninth-graders spent the day building a 10-foot-by-20-foot garden house behind the vacant Jackson Elementary School. The garden house is meant to supplement a new organic vegetable garden established by the Sustainable Communities Committee, a group of citizens promoting efficient practices.
Stevens Point residents can set up a 12-foot-by-4-foot garden box for free, and once the students are finished, the building will be used for storage and garden prep work.
“We think it’s going to help the neighborhood. We’re in the heavily forested area, so we don’t have sunlight in our backyards for our gardens at home,” said committee member Wes Halverson, 68, adding the land near the school is exposed to sunlight. “We want to get a lot of things planted this spring.”
Construction teacher Dave Rasmussen said he hopes to have the structure done before May 27, but the $5,000 floor plan is short on funds.
Halverson, a retired University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point environmental management professor, donated $2,000, but the students are looking for the extra cash.
“The economy is killing us. We need somebody else in the community (to help us),” Rasmussen said.
Andrea Stafford, one of Rasmussen’s former students who is now an architect in the Chicago area, has teamed up with the class to design the facility, and Kulp’s of Stratford LLC in Wausau is donating a steel roof.
The students’ work will help with rooftop rain collection and storage for tools.
“There’s no electricity and therefore, there’s no water. So, we have to be sustainable,” Halverson said. “We have to put in rainwater collection and the hand pump to pump up water from high ground water. We’d like to put in a solar water pump eventually once we pay for the building.”
by jboullion | May 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nathaniel Shuda in The Marshfield News-Herald:
A Wisconsin Rapids-based manufacturer is leading the charge to create standardized training for the growing wind energy industry.
Energy Composites Corp., the parent company of Wisconsin Rapids-based Advanced Fiberglass Technologies, is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and a Norway-based company to develop a universal standard of training that would include an internationally accredited curriculum.
“The idea is in the industry we don’t have a way of assuring we have trained individuals … (who) have some way of proving their capabilities,” said Sam Fairchild, Energy Composites’ chief executive officer.
Det Norske Veritas, a global certification company, began developing wind energy standards when the industry first started in the early 1980s, but those standards were limited to equipment and building techniques — not training, according to the company’s Web site.
Energy Composites signed a letter of intent with Mid-State Technical College last week to establish a 12-credit certification program that will be the first of its kind and set the precedence for other wind energy companies.
“We’re pretty confident that we can get that done by spring semester next year with the first course load,” Fairchild said. “The guys at Mid-State have been great. The retraining of people is something that is precisely up their alley.”
by jboullion | May 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the site for Alliant’s Business Efficiency Check Up:
Have you ever wondered how energy-efficient your business is? Alliant Energy’s Business Efficiency Check Up can help!
This free interactive, online tool will help you find where your energy is going and how you can cut energy costs throughout your facility.
– Efficiency Fast Track: Identify energy-saving opportunities and get started on them – fast!
– Detailed Analysis: Make an in-depth energy assessment to get detailed recommendations and project assistance specifically for your business.
– My Benchmark: Compare your energy use to see how you stack up against the competition.
– Case Studies: View quick tips and examples of how similar businesses save energy.
After you’ve completed your check up, you can return at any time to review, track and evaluate the projects you’ve selected for your facility.
by jboullion | May 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
From Mid-State Technical College:
Get a solid foundation in the fundamental design, operation, maintenance and installation techniques to work with renewable technologies. Workshops and a visit to the energy fair will keep you engaged and on the cutting-edge of technology.
Take advantage of this FREE hands-on opportunity to learn about renewable energy!
Renewable Energy Workshops
• Growing Biofuels – Biorefinery. Find out how crops and waste products turn into ethanol and biodiesel. Learn how these fuels are used and what the limitations are. Discover how to make your very own batch of biodisel from oil!
• Personal Energy – Energy Efficiency. Explore your energy use patterns at school or home. Discover ways to reduce your personal energy use.
• Solar Car – Renewable Electricity. Students will examine solar cells by building a solar powered model car. Test out the performance of the model car under various conditions.
• Cookies – Renewable Thermal. Learn to construct a solar water heating system and enhance your experience by baking cookies from the sun!
MREA Energy Fair
The Energy Fair features hundreds of workshops and exhibits all emphasizing clean energy & sustainable living.
Register early! Space is limited.
Registration deadline is Friday, June 12.
For more information or to register contact:
Kris Buss, Administrative Assistant
Phone: 715.422.5375
Email: kris.buss@mstc.edu
All hand-on workshops, the energy fair, transportation, lunch & snacks are at no cost to high school students. Student’s will receive one MSTC college credit for participating all three days.
by jboullion | May 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
Michael Vickerman (left), RENEW Wisconsin’s executive director, listens to Curt Pawlisch, repesenting Wind for Wisconsin, during their testimony on May 12 in support of identical companion bills (Senate Bill 185 and Assembly Bill 256) to begin a process to create state-wide standards for wind siting in Wisconsin. Brian Rude of Dairyland Power looks on from the background.
From Vickerman’s testimony:
By 2010, more than one-half of the wind energy serving Wisconsin utilities will come from neighboring states.
+ Crane Creek, a 99 MW project located in Iowa that Green Bay-based WPS will own, was permitted in 2008 and will be operating by 12/31/09.
+ Twin Creeks, a 98 MW project located in Manitowoc County in WPS territory, received a permit in 2005. Due to a combination of litigation and ordinance changes, ground was never broken. Under the current ordinance, it is highly unlikely that the Twin Creeks project will be built, even though it has a permit.
If Twin Creeks is not built:
+ Local governments lose $392,000/year in future revenues.
+ Local landowners lose $294,000/year in future rents.
+ A local component manufacturer loses a 98 MW order to build towers
+ Construction jobs are outsourced to Iowa.
If we don’t initiate a process to establish uniform permitting standards, it will be difficult for utilities to comply with an increased Renewable Energy Standard at any level above current law.
