by jboullion | Aug 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Michael Seidel on OnMilwaukee.com:
“Now, when he has enough, he’ll stop,” Sister Janet Weyker says. She’s holding a baby robin; the bird chirp excitedly as Weyker feeds him worms out of a tin of compost and wild black raspberries from a cup. Since the robin’s mother disappeared, Weyker has taken over, tending to the fledling’s hunger at mealtimes.
This type of stewardship is precisely what motivated Weyker and several other sisters of the Racine Dominican order to found the Eco-Justice Center, a 15-acre learning center, farm and homestead located at 5635 Erie St. in Racine.
As a whole, the Racine Dominicans, a Catholic community of vowed women and lay associates, are committed to the ideas of education and justice. But back in 2000, the nuns saw a gap in their order’s efforts to extend those concepts to the environment.
“(We thought) the environment is in crisis and we should really do something,” Sister Janet says, “I didn’t want to just talk about it anymore, I really want to make that dream a reality. . . .”
“Fifty-five solar panels produce all the energy that we use in the summertime,” Weyker explains. Additionally, the house uses geothermal heating for its heating and air conditioning. “Geothermal is a system where there are pipes buried in the ground 9.5 feet deep, and there’s a constant temperature of 55 degrees. . . .”
by jboullion | Jul 14, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Glendale – Tapping the sun’s rays for electricity has remained a small niche in the alternative energy arena.
But with industry forecasts showing the market tripling or more over the next decade, Wisconsin’s largest company wants to help shift perceptions so that energy from the sun is cast in a new, and more mainstream, light.
Johnson Controls Inc. is rolling out new solar kits designed to make it easy for a school district or other customer to add some solar to their energy mix.
“This is our attempt just to take the mystery out of it” for customers, said Don Albinger, director of renewable energy programs for Johnson Controls. “It’s meant to give them their first taste” of solar and their first chance to see their utility electric meter spinning in reverse, he said.
The kits will target colleges, school districts and local governments that are looking to showcase their renewable energy efforts.
The company is also looking to highlight renewable power at its revamped headquarters campus in Glendale and possibly at its downtown Milwaukee office.
The headquarters expansion is part of a broader drive by Johnson Controls to tap demand for energy-saving technologies in buildings and vehicles. The company is forecasting it will add 60,000 jobs worldwide over the next five years – and expand its local work force by 16%, or 450 jobs.
