by jboullion | Mar 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A federal carbon tax should be enacted but the money should be sent back to taxpayers, a leading climate scientist suggested Wednesday.
James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York,who has been studying the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere for decades, said Wednesday that the U.S. government should enact a carbon fee-and-dividend that would persuade consumers to change how they use energy and reward those who reduce their carbon footprints.
“The person who does better than average in reducing carbon emissions will actually make money,” he said.
In a keynote address to the Renewable Energy Summit in Milwaukee, Hansen said a national global warming policy is needed to thwart and reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“We have reached a point where there is a crisis,” he said. . . .
Under Hansen’s proposal, a tax, equivalent to $1 per gallon of gas would raise $670 billion a year, which would result in $3,000 being sent back to every adult in the country, and $1,500 per child, capped at a maximum of $9,000 for a family of four or more.
Hansen urged President Barack Obama to “have a fireside chat” to discuss the need for a carbon fee and of the need for Americans to change their energy habits.
A tax would also be a step toward energy independence from imported oil, said Hansen, who said a representative of the government of Saudi Arabia bristled at the idea during a dinner conversation.
“They realize that if you did this, the next time gasoline is $4 a gallon, $2 or $3 would stay in the U.S. and just be distributed back to the citizens as a dividend rather than all $4 going to the Middle East,” Hansen said.
by jboullion | Mar 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story reported by Sara Kronenberg on WKBT-TV:
It’s an ongoing search for new, green solutions that will not only save money, but also the the environment.
Community, county and school leaders met Tuesday at the La Crosse Center for “Our Energy Future,” a conference about new energy answers.
Wisconsin is on its way to developing more widespread green energy solutions that could save organizations money.
Organizers say making the transition from coal burning dependency might require people to scale back on their own energy needs.
“The answers are always local, always personal,” says Dave Dumke with the Wisconsin Counties Association. “They’re always in your own home, in your own business, and if you’re governing a school district. If we have massive change like that, we’ll solve the problem.”
by jboullion | Mar 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a post on Tom Content’s blog on JSonline:
The stimulus bill and what it could mean for Wisconsin’s energy future will be discussed at several forums during the Renewable Energy Summit on March 27 in Milwaukee.
Gov. Jim Doyle, U.S. Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wausau), a lead author of the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) are all scheduled to address the conference, organizers said. Gary Wolter, who heads MGE Energy Inc. and runs the state Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, has also been invited to speak.
The summit is planned for March 25-27 at the Midwest Airlines Center.
“I thought we were missing the boat if we didn’t focus on the stimulus bill and what’s going to happen,” said Art Harrington of Godfrey & Kahn, a conference coordinator. “We should focus one day on the opportunities created by the stimulus bill on renewable energy, and that morphed into the plenary session on Friday, March 27.”
by jboullion | Feb 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Organizers of the annual Renewable Energy Summit next month in Milwaukee have landed a high-profile keynote speaker – outspoken climate scientist James Hansen.
Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, an arm of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was among the first climate scientists to speak out about global warming, warning about the problem in testimony to Congress in 1988.
In recent years, he has become more outspoken about the need to address global warming. In 2006, he criticized his superiors in the Bush administration for efforts to limit his comments to the media about climate change.
Hansen agreed to address the Wisconsin energy event on March 25 after receiving an invitation from George Stone, an instructor of physical science at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Stone introduced Hansen at a Geological Society of America conference last fall.
The involvement of Hansen in the event comes as the Obama and Doyle administrations are considering legislation to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Organizers of the energy summit say Hansen’s involvement will help raise the profile of an event that has doubled in attendance every year for five years. At least 2,500 people are expected to attend this this year.
Said Stone: “It just elevates the stature of the conference because we have a leading world figure in the field of climate change and he has changed his attention now in the last couple of years from trying to simply convince people of the science of global warming and the inevitability of the climate change that is coming to focusing on mitigation: What we must do and how soon.”
by jboullion | Feb 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
More companies are looking to reduce their energy and water utility bills by taking steps to make their processes more efficient.
It’s all about adapting the quality-improvement techniques that many companies are already using, said Joseph Jacobsen, associate dean at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
What’s making people turn to green? Businesses know that carbon regulations are coming and want to get ready, and they are realizing that saving energy and water helps save – or stem the rise – in utility bills.
“Green is not just environmental sustainability. Green is business sustainability too,” said Jon Dommissee, director of new product development and marketing at Bradley Corp.
Jacobsen and Dommissee spoke during a Green Manufacturing Summit held Thursday at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside. Bradley, a local maker of plumbing fixtures, and the state Focus on Energy sponsored the event, along with the Journal Sentinel.
Despite the slowing economy, companies continue to seek grants from Focus on Energy to help them pay for energy-saving projects, said Nate Altfeather of Focus.
Focus provides grants that help shorten the payback time on projects that boost energy efficiency. With companies holding the line on spending, the types of incentives sought from Focus may shift.
“We’re going to see a lot more interest in low and no-cost maintenance incentives,” Altfeather said. “People aren’t going to be able to cut checks for $100,000 for new equipment.”
Focus is developing new incentives designed to help companies with energy-saving upgrades that have a payback of one year or less. The Focus program, funded through charges on utility bills, will pay nearly 100% of an energy audit for those firms, Altfeather said.
