by jboullion | Feb 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Jessica Steinhoff in The Shepard Express:
The time to green your resume is now.
The federal Green Jobs Act got a $500 million boost from the economic stimulus package and is expected to train 70,000 workers in renewable-energy and energy-efficiency jobs. Plus, a floundering economy is nudging companies to hire employees to design and implement energy-savings plans and other cost-saving measures.
Wisconsin Environment Director Dan Kohler is pleased with the strategy for building a greener workforce—particularly on the state and local levels. “The federal recovery plan includes significant funding to help states design educational programs to get workers moving ahead in the green economy,” he says.
In Wisconsin, universities, technical colleges and government and community workforce-development agencies will all play a role in the training effort. Gov. Jim Doyle’s global-warming task force has been helping these institutions team up with the private sector to develop a comprehensive training strategy that will address job seekers with a variety of different skill sets. Meanwhile, local colleges are rushing to design courses and curricula in a wide variety of green disciplines, from sustainable operations management to water technology.
Though a full graduate-level program is still in the works, UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences is offering courses in freshwater ecosystem health and a variety of other topics.
At Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), there’s a comprehensive selection of green career paths, including new programs in environmental and water technology, sustainable operations, and energy engineering. There are also numerous opportunities for people to add green credentials to their existing skill set at Lakeshore Technical College, Gateway Technical College and MATC.
The Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit at the Midwest Airline Center includes a career/jobs day on March 27. Schools and other training organizations, as well as employers, will be set up in the exhibition hall.
by jboullion | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Don Behm in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Building a 17-mile pipeline to carry landfill gas from Muskego to the Jones Island sewage treatment plant on Lake Michigan will save the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, its customers and property-tax payers at least $148 million in the next two decades, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and sewerage district officials said Monday.
The bulk of the savings will come from buying landfill gas at just 48% of the price of natural gas, under terms of an agreement negotiated with Veolia ES, owner of the Emerald Park landfill in Muskego.
There could be additional savings to property-tax payers in the district if federal stimulus money is used to pay even part of the estimated $22 million in pipeline construction costs, sewerage district Executive Director Kevin Shafer said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was in Washington on Friday to learn more about stimulus programs, and he said Monday that this project should be a good fit: It could be started quickly and it is environmentally friendly.
“We’re going to be pitching this thing as hard as we can” to federal and state agencies, Barrett said in an interview. . . .
The landfill gas at Muskego is between 50% and 55% methane and will replace natural gas as the fuel for 12 sewage sludge dryers inside the Milorganite fertilizer production facility at Jones Island, under the proposal. Cost of converting the dryers to burn landfill gas is included in the $22 million construction estimate, Shafer said.
Pipeline work is scheduled to begin in July of this year, with a goal of completing the work by Jan. 1, 2011. Three possible pipeline routes being studied would use existing state Department of Transportation easements adjacent to highways and freeways.
Burning landfill gas in the dryers will save at least $113 million in the first 20 years, Shafer said. And there is an estimated 40-year supply at the landfill.
In 2009, the district has budgeted spending $13.2 million for natural gas.
“This project will bring big savings to MMSD customers,” Barrett said. The Miller-Coors brewery alone should pay $5.9 million less in user charges – an 11.5% drop – during that period.
“This will help retain and grow businesses,” Barrett said.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in The Business Journal:
Wausaukee Composites Inc. and Pacal Industries LLC have notified state officials that the two manufacturing companies intend to lay off a total of 150 employees from their operations in southwest Wisconsin.
The companies informed the state Department of Workforce Development through separate Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letters received by the department this week.
Wausaukee-based Wausaukee Composites said beginning Tuesday it laid off 61 employees at its plant in Cuba City in Grant County because of the “sudden and unanticipated termination” of deliveries and purchase orders from the plant’s only customer, according to its WARN letter. The layoffs are expected to be temporary.
The plant produces wind turbine components. The customer, Wausaukee Composites’ largest client, was not identified.
Wausaukee Composites said it could not provide a date for when employees might be recalled, given the volatility of the U.S. economy and availability of credit for wind farm developers purchasing turbines from the customer.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. plans to make batteries for a Ford Motor Co. plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that is to be introduced in 2012.
Ford has selected the hybrid battery joint venture between Johnson Controls, the world’s largest battery supplier, and French battery developer Saft to supply lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids.
“This is a great day for the automotive industry in America,” Alex Molinaroli, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, said in a statement prepared for release at the Washington Auto Show, where the Ford partnership is to be announced today.
“Today, nearly all batteries for hybrid electric vehicles are manufactured offshore. As the United States works to build a manufacturing infrastructure and supply base for hybrid and electric vehicles, this contract signals significant progress for our industry here. . . .”
Cell design, engineering and testing will take place at the joint venture’s research hub, the 58,000-square-foot Battery Technology Center in Glendale, the company said.
by jboullion | Jan 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a letter to Governor Jim Doyle from State Senator Pat Kreitlow:
The current draft of a Wisconsin plan for high-speed intercity rail connects many of our state’s population and economic centers. But unfortunately the Connections 2030 plan fails to include a route through the Interstate 94 corridor, an omission that in my opinion leaves the entire system incomplete and less efficient than it should be. I am encouraging people throughout western Wisconsin and the East Metro area of the Twin Cities to provide comments to the Department of Transportation supporting the inclusion of a route that includes Eau Claire, Menomonie and Hudson, and I hope to have your support for an Eau Claire route as well.
Some of the fastest growing counties in the state are in western Wisconsin, according to the Department of Administration’s recently released report on projected populations through 2035. Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pierce and Polk counties are all expected to see over 30% population growth by 2035, putting them in the top quarter of counties, while St. Croix County is projected to see a population increase of 135% during that time, making it the fastest growing county in the state. Widening Interstate 94 alone will not provide sufficient ways to link this rapidly growing economy to Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago. A rail line would displace many more auto trips compared to the Tomah-La Crosse corridor. Even your Task Force on Global Warming makes a specific recommendation to implement high speed rail “to Eau Claire and the Twin Cities” as a means toward reduction in transportation greenhouse gases.
