by jboullion | Apr 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release on Yahoo! Finance:
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Energy Composites Corporation (OTCBB:ENCC – News) announced the launch of its comprehensive WindFiber™ composites-in-wind-energy program. WindFiber™ is the strategic umbrella under which we carry out our wind-related innovation, engineering, customer proposition, production and services planning, and logistics activities to drive value for the sector.
Sam Fairchild, ECC’s CEO, stated that “Our comprehensive strategy platform — which we have named WindFiber™ — brings us full square into delivering value across all three channels:
+ manufacturing the advanced composite structures for wind energy systems,
+ servicing the composite components of wind energy systems as a composites Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) contractor to integrators and wind farm operators, and
+ supplying composites-related raw materials and material and technology innovations to the wind energy sector.
“We believe that composites play an increasingly important role in driving financial success to wind farm development, and our integrated WindFiber™ approach will accelerate greater and more innovative use of composites in wind energy systems throughout North America. With WindFiber™, we are upping the game.”
by jboullion | Apr 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Liz Welter in the Marshfield News-Hearld:
Issues raised by the city’s Sustainable Marshfield Committee transcend political agendas, resulting in wide-spread community support, said Marty Anderson, chair of the committee and a former alderman.
“Sustainability is living and working in ways that don’t jeopardize our current and future social, environmental and economic resources,” he said.
“You can come at this from a lot of different angles. Whether it’s economic, the environment or health issues, there’s a wide-spread understanding we need to act,” said Anderson, adding that the committee recommends initiatives and tactics to the Common Council that will move the city towards achieving sustainability.
“When the city switched to LED lights in all the traffic lights, I think the savings is about $16,000 annually,” Anderson said.
Marshfield can be a model for what is pragmatically possible, he said. Two initiatives the committee recommended to the city have been approved. One was supporting the use of phosphate-free fertilizers and the other was to support state legislation to protect groundwater.
Through the committee, Marshfield’s city buildings and fleet vehicles will participate in a state-funded study. Wisconsin has a goal to reduce fossil fuel use by 25 percent by 2025. The committee will determine by December what the city would need to do to meet this goal.
“This could give us a road map for the future,” Anderson said.
To encourage the public’s use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, the committee purchased more than 1,500 to give away at various community events.
“We gave out about 1,000 during the Cultural Fair,” said committee member Sue Meyer, who talked at the fair about the energy needed to create electricity for an average four-person family house in one month.
“Most Wisconsin power plants use coal to generate electricity. It takes 162 pounds of coal to light the average home for one month using incandescent light bulbs,” Meyer said.
by jboullion | Apr 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the Energy Center of Wisconsin:
Identify operational and maintenance improvements in existing buildings and ensure their continued performance over time.
Retro-commissioning is a systematic process for identifying and implementing improvements to an existing building’s equipment and systems. The process focuses on building operation and maintenance activities. It targets energy using systems with the goal of reducing energy waste, achieving energy cost savings and selecting the most cost-effective solutions to achieve these goals and fix existing problems. Results of retro-commissioning may include improved temperature control, better indoor air quality, building pressurization, laboratory safety, infection control and/or electrical system reliability. Potential savings from low-cost to no-cost energy efficiency improvements typically range from 10%-20%.
This half-day training provides an introduction to retro-commissioning. Participants will learn how to conduct a process-based evaluation of building systems performance and energy consumption. Participants will also learn how to determine whether a building is a good candidate for retro-commissioning.
For more information, please visit www.ecw.org/university.
by jboullion | Apr 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement from the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Custer, WI:
Enjoy Earth Day with friends and help support the MREA! Move Some Earth Day brings together volunteers to help improve our demonstration site, so we can better promote and educate others about renewable energy and sustainable living.
We have a variety of projects and need a variety of skills. Bring tools such as rakes, shovels, chainsaws, etc. All volunteers should bring gloves.
We need help in the following areas:
• Cleaning the ReNew the Earth facility
• Landscaping and mowing
• Preparing the pond for spring
• Cleaning shower trailer at campground
• Turning compost & Many other projects!
Move Some Earth Day happens rain or shine.
by jboullion | Apr 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a letter to the editor by Chamomile Nusz, Amherst, and Bill Christofferson of The Capital Times:
Dear Editor: As co-chairs of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, a statewide network of 165 organizations working for social justice and a sustainable world, we ask Gov. Jim Doyle and members of the Legislature to continue Wisconsin’s long-standing and reasonable limitations on the construction of nuclear plants.
Although Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming recommended changes to the nuclear power plant law, we believe that the current law provides vital protections to Wisconsin’s consumers, environment, and future generations — protections the proposed change would remove.
Current law requires that before the Public Service Commission can authorize the construction of a nuclear plant, “a federally licensed facility … with adequate capacity to dispose of high-level nuclear waste from all nuclear power plants operating in this state will be available, as necessary, for disposal of the waste.”
For more than 50 years, the nuclear industry and the federal government have failed to solve this critical problem.
Christofferson and Nusz co-chair the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
