by jboullion | May 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story by Chuck Quirmbach on Wisconsin Public Radio:
Energy efficiency advocates are trying to keep the energy savings momentum going in Wisconsin, despite the legislature’s failure to pass a major clean energy bill.
The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) would have counted some energy efficiency moves toward a mandate to make more use of renewable energy. But leaders of the state Senate killed the measure. Five years ago, lawmakers did pass a bill that transferred oversight of the rate-payer funded Focus On Energy program to the Public Service Commission. The PSC’s Jolene Shield says her agency is continuing a planning process to revise goals and priorities for energy efficiency. Shield says phase two of the process means digging into the details.
Shield says PSC commissioners will be deciding how much energy savings should come from households and how much from businesses, and try to judge the impact energy prices will have. Then the PSC will look at whether to go to the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee for additional money to spur access to efficient technology.
by jboullion | May 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Nick Paulson in the Stevens Point Journal:
A Plover food processing plant has been chosen as one of 50 companies to participate in a state pilot program to help manufacturers improve their next-generation initiatives.
Foremost Farms USA, which makes whey products at its Plover plant, will take part in a $1.75 million program run through the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
State energy auditors will canvass the Foremost plant to look for ways the company can save energy.
“Does it make sense to invest in a more energy-efficient system?” The company hopes to find out, communications director Joan Behr said. “We’ll be able to tap the expertise of these folks.”
After working with the auditors and determining what changes need to be made, each company will apply to the Wisconsin Department of Commerce for the money to complete the sustainability initiatives.
by jboullion | Apr 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Wayne Nelson on BusinessNorth.com:
The Marshfield Clinic is incorporated sustainability principles in the construction of a $42 million new hospital campus under construction in Rice Lake.
BWBR Architects in St. Paul and its design partners have designed the project to conserve natural resources, reduce operating energy costs, and provide a quality indoor environment, said Edward Wolf, chief executive at Lakeview Medical Center in Rice Lake. . . .
The project’s energy-saving features include efficient lighting, air conditioning and plumbing systems. Lakeview’s board of directors committed to maximum energy use 15 percent below the state’s current building code limit. To meet that goal, the building ventilation design will recover heat from air exhausted out of the building that will heat incoming air, said mechanical engineer Linda Weingarten of Minneapolis-based Dunham & Associates, the project consulting engineering firm.
Heat given off by chillers that cool the building will be used to heat hot water, lowering electric usage during summer, she said.
“This isn’t new technology, but it’s the first time we’ve used it in a hospital project,” she said. The design is expensive, and wouldn’t be cost-effective if retrofitted in an existing building, she said.
High efficiency condensing boilers also will help lower fuel consumption year round.
Increased roof insulation values and high performance windows also will help reduce energy costs.
by jboullion | Apr 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
State programs receive $20 million to help owners retrofit homes, businesses
Milwaukee, Racine and Madison will launch or expand programs to help homeowners and businesses retrofit buildings to cut energy use. The programs are part of a $20 million initiative funded by the federal stimulus package.
The three cities were partners in a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to Madison-based Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp. and announced by Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
The money will be used to set up or expand programs that lower the cost of making energy-saving changes in homes and businesses.
The Wisconsin project was one of 25 nationwide that won more than $450 million in total funding. The Energy Department received applications for more than $3.5 billion.
The state had sought $65 million through the federal “retrofit ramp-up” program. The goal: bring down the cost of energy-saving home improvements such as air sealing, insulation and other initiatives offered by the state Focus on Energy program.
Milwaukee recently launched a solar-financing program, and Racine has started an energy-efficiency retrofit program that will expand with the new funding.
“This initiative will help overcome the barriers to making energy efficiency easy and accessible to all – inconvenience, lack of information and lack of financing,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement. “Block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, we will make our communities more energy efficient and help families save money. At the same time, we’ll create thousands of jobs and strengthen our economy.”
by jboullion | Apr 23, 2010 | Uncategorized
A news release issued by Clean Wisconsin:
MADISON — Hours ago, the democratically controlled state Legislature failed the people of Wisconsin when it adjourned before taking up the Clean Energy Jobs Act.
“It’s ironic that on Earth Day, our Democrat-led state Legislature effectively killed a vital piece of clean energy legislation,” says Keith Reopelle, senior policy director, Clean Wisconsin. “Senate Democratic leaders Jeff Plale and Russ Decker’s refusal to schedule the bill for a vote guaranteed the bill’s demise.”
The Clean Energy Jobs Act would have created more than 15,000Â jobs for Wisconsinites. Just yesterday, Wave Wind, a wind energy service provider in Sun Prairie, sent an open letter to the state Legislature noting that the delayed passage of the bill forced the company to lay off 12 employees. Had the bill passed, Wave Wind would have created 100 new high-quality jobs.
“The world is transitioning to a clean energy economy, and Wisconsin is getting left behind,” says Reopelle. “Wisconsin has now lost the manufacturing and design jobs that would have been created by the bill  to China, California and Illinois.”
The bill also would have lowered energy bills for homeowners and businesses with its renewable energy and energy efficiency provisions, allowing Wisconsin to make incremental but critically important steps toward reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and increasing our energy independence.
“It is a travesty that Wisconsin’s Legislature missed the opportunity to take action on such an important bill for the health of our state’s economy and environment,” says Reopelle. “While today’s inaction is definitely a setback, thanks to the hard work of our allies in the Legislature and coalition partners, we have laid the foundation for future clean energy legislation and remain hopeful that Wisconsin will soon return to its forward-thinking roots.”
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Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy organization, protects Wisconsin’s clean water and air and advocates for clean energy by being an effective voice in the state legislature and by holding elected officials and polluters accountable.
