The 24th Annual Energy Fair is next week!
We have some highlights we wanted to share with you – and let you know
that we have a few remaining exhibitor booths left, so if you wanted
to exhibit, there’s still time to sign up! Just contact Ellie Jackson as
soon as you can at 715-592-6595 ext. 115 or elliej@midwestrenew.org
The second annual Seeing RED presentation on Sunday where a 2kW PV system will be given away to one of four nonprofit finalists – http://www.seeingred.org/
A Solar Powering Your Community track on Friday
featuring sessions on financing, solar market trends, an overview of
the changes happening in Minnesota, presenters from Wisconsin’s Energy
Independent Communities, and more!
Solar Professionals Workshops with Schletter, Caleffi, North Wind Renewable Energy, Quick Mount PV, tenKsolar and more!
Extended workshops such as EV and Solar Charging and Successful Solar Business
The Green Leaf Inn will be the first net-zero energy hotel in North America… and it’s being built in Delavan, Wisconsin. See more about this project in the video below:
Follow the project’s facebook page for more updates.
RENEW Wisconsin and the Sierra Club invite everyone in southeast Wisconsin with an interest in renewable energy to an informational meeting and social gathering on November 13. Don Wichert will give an update on RENEW Wisconsin’s current work and tentative plans for 2013 to turn our passion for renewable energy into action, into new public and private programs to support renewable energy. He’ll be going over RENEW’s initiatives on:
Third-party ownership (Clean Energy Choice)
WPSC and We Energies net metering policies and RENEW’s rate case intervention
Focus on Energy funding and planning for next year
A new non-utility green energy program (http://www.repowernow.org/)
Streamlining interconnection requirements
RENEW’s 2011 utility scorecard
RENEW’s plan to get We Energies to honor their $6 million per year renewable energy commitment
Recent wind projects and wind siting rule defense
Plans to increase the Renewable Electricity Standard in the future.
He’ll try to give updates on all of these in one hour (speaking very fast), then we’d like to hear other ideas on positive actions to achieve success in 2013.
So please join RENEW and the Sierra Club on November 13, at 5:30 p.m. at Helios Solar Works, 1207 W. Canal St., Milwaukee, to get caught up and to discuss your own views with others. There will be local brews, cider, and snacks.
RENEW Informational Meeting & Social Gathering November 13, 2012, 5:30 p.m. Helios Solar Works 1207 W. Canal St. Milwaukee, WI
Now is the time to make sure you know where your candidates stand on the day’s most important issues. Two important issues that will have a major impact on our state’s future are clean energy and energy efficiency.
Voters typically consider energy a national issue, but state-level politics often have as much or more impact on our energy future. In Wisconsin, state laws determine the how much of our electricity comes from renewable sources like wind and solar power. Additionally, programs like Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency program, help homeowners and businesses save millions of dollars on energy bills.
Despite these laws and programs, we still send over $12 billion out of state each year to purchase dirty fossil fuels. Increasing our commitment to clean energy and energy efficiency could help Wisconsin become more energy independent, clean our air and water, and create thousands of jobs.
Unfortunately, legislators voted to significantly cut funding to Focus on Energy in the last legislative session, despite the program’s proven success; it saves homeowners and businesses $2.50 for every $1 invested in the program. Now is the time to move clean energy and energy efficiency policies forward, not backward.
A recent poll by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Metz and Associates found that Wisconsinites overwhelmingly support clean energy and energy efficiency. In fact, the poll found that 85 percent of Wisconsin voters support increasing the use of wind energy to meet our state’s future energy needs, and 89 percent support increasing the use of solar energy. Additionally, 84 percent said they would support policies requiring 30 percent of Wisconsin’s electricity to come from renewable sources. This is well above the current standard of 10 percent by 2015, which utilities have largely met.
By passing clean energy policies and increasing funding for money-saving programs like Focus on Energy in the next legislative session, legislators can help create Wisconsin jobs. Companies like Milwaukee’s Helios SolarWorks, a solar panel manufacturer, Manitowoc’s Orion Energy Systems, a leader in lighting efficiency, Prairie du Sac’s Tower Technologies, a renewable energy installer, and hundreds more can create more jobs if leaders work together to advance clean energy and energy efficiency policies.
In addition, such policies could attract new companies to Wisconsin and make our state a leader in the rapidly expanding clean energy economy. In April, Ibisworld.com listed solar panel manufacturing (No. 2) and green and sustainable building construction (No. 9) among the nation’s top 10 fastest-growing industries. The poll found that more than two-thirds of voters believe clean energy and energy efficiency will create jobs and investing in these industries now can help ensure Wisconsin remains economically strong for decades.
At a time when our state and nation remain deeply divided on many issues, clean energy and energy efficiency unite people of all political stripes. With less than two weeks to the election, now is the time to ask your candidates where they stand on these important issues.
Keith Reopelle is the senior policy director at Clean Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.cleanwisconsin.org. Find the original article here.
Now is the time to make sure you know where your candidates stand on the day’s most important issues. Two important issues that will have a major impact on our state’s future are clean energy and energy efficiency.
Voters typically consider energy a national issue, but state-level politics often have as much or more impact on our energy future. In Wisconsin, state laws determine the how much of our electricity comes from renewable sources like wind and solar power. Additionally, programs like Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency program, help homeowners and businesses save millions of dollars on energy bills.
Despite these laws and programs, we still send over $12 billion out of state each year to purchase dirty fossil fuels. Increasing our commitment to clean energy and energy efficiency could help Wisconsin become more energy independent, clean our air and water, and create thousands of jobs.
Unfortunately, legislators voted to significantly cut funding to Focus on Energy in the last legislative session, despite the program’s proven success; it saves homeowners and businesses $2.50 for every $1 invested in the program. Now is the time to move clean energy and energy efficiency policies forward, not backward.
A recent poll by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Metz and Associates found that Wisconsinites overwhelmingly support clean energy and energy efficiency. In fact, the poll found that 85 percent of Wisconsin voters support increasing the use of wind energy to meet our state’s future energy needs, and 89 percent support increasing the use of solar energy. Additionally, 84 percent said they would support policies requiring 30 percent of Wisconsin’s electricity to come from renewable sources. This is well above the current standard of 10 percent by 2015, which utilities have largely met.
By passing clean energy policies and increasing funding for money-saving programs like Focus on Energy in the next legislative session, legislators can help create Wisconsin jobs. Companies like Milwaukee’s Helios SolarWorks, a solar panel manufacturer, Manitowoc’s Orion Energy Systems, a leader in lighting efficiency, Prairie du Sac’s Tower Technologies, a renewable energy installer, and hundreds more can create more jobs if leaders work together to advance clean energy and energy efficiency policies.
In addition, such policies could attract new companies to Wisconsin and make our state a leader in the rapidly expanding clean energy economy. In April, Ibisworld.com listed solar panel manufacturing (No. 2) and green and sustainable building construction (No. 9) among the nation’s top 10 fastest-growing industries. The poll found that more than two-thirds of voters believe clean energy and energy efficiency will create jobs and investing in these industries now can help ensure Wisconsin remains economically strong for decades.
At a time when our state and nation remain deeply divided on many issues, clean energy and energy efficiency unite people of all political stripes. With less than two weeks to the election, now is the time to ask your candidates where they stand on these important issues.
Keith Reopelle is the senior policy director at Clean Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.cleanwisconsin.org. Find the original article here.
