by jboullion | Apr 1, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a post on the blog of the American Wind Energy Association:
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle provided the Keynote Address today to an over-flowing, standing-room audience at AWEA’s supply chain seminar in Appleton.
Noting that Wisconsin has seen unemployment rise from 4% to 8.8% since last fall, the highest levels since the Great Depression, he noted, “It is a time of enormous pressures and a time of enormous opportunities” for Wisconsin. He also sees it is a time of major transformation. We will emerge with a stronger economy when we recover and , he says, we don’t want to go back to the old way of doing business, built on fragile derivatives and other shaky financial instruments, but rather based on strong jobs and strong industries, focused on clean energy as a large sector.
“Wisconsin does not have gas, coal, or oil — every dollar is being sent out of state for our energy needs. Every dollar we send out of state does not help build our economy. That’s why we are so committed to renewable energy,” the Governor said. “We need to set very high state renewable electricity standards” while it is being pursued in Washington at a federal level. He said he intends to pursue a goal of 25% by 2025 for both electricity and transportation fuels from renewable sources in this state.
“Investment in wind energy is being driven by states that have an RES in place. As a matter of state policy and national policy, it is important that we move toward a (national) renewable energy standard…We need to make a long-term commitment to renewable energy in this country.”
He also stressed the need to foster a climate in the state that favors innovation and research, modeled after the state’s efforts in life sciences and health care. “We need to do the same for energy research as well.”
by jboullion | Mar 31, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Matthew Olson in the Kenosha News:
Kenosha could obtain more than $900,000 in federal funds to improve energy efficiency, which the city hopes can complement other funding the city is seeking.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that the state of Wisconsin and Wisconsin municipalities are eligible for $37.1 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation block grants. The city of Kenosha is eligible for $902,500 as part of that funding.
These grants are intended for energy-efficiency strategies, conserving energy through transportation programs and material conservation programs, among other potential projects. Municipalities will need to submit an application to the Department of Energy for proposed projects to use these funds.
Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said the city proposed several projects to the state while seeking federal stimulus money that would fit under these energy guidelines. Those projects include a $4 million request to convert all of the city’s street lights to light-emitting diode (LED) technology in an effort to reduce energy use and costs. The city installed LED lights along 39th Avenue, between 60th and 67th streets, last fall.
by jboullion | Mar 31, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Suppliers to the auto industry may want to shift their focus to wind components, given incentives for renewable energy included in the federal stimulus package.
Wisconsin has always been a supply-chain state, to the farm industry with implements, then to the auto industry with motors. But the effort to woo the wind-power industry to the state is centered north of Milwaukee, the former machine shop to the world.
The focus on wind is coming from The New North, the economic development initiative of northeastern Wisconsin, home to Tower Tech in Manitowoc, Badger Transport in Clintonville and dozens of other suppliers to the wind industry.
The wind industry had been growing at a record pace year after year until it was hit by the economic slowdown like other businesses, said Jeff Anthony of the American Wind Energy Association.
The wind industry’s growth has been something to watch, said Al Johnson, president of Badger Transport, which ships the wind industry’s oversized components.
“We do everything,” he said. “We do the towers and the blades and the cells.”
Johnson’s company has been involved in the wind industry since 1997, and seen it grow from less than one-third of his company’s sales to more than 90% today.
“I was involved in it when it was feast or famine for quite a number of years.”
Companies clustered
Across northeastern Wisconsin, 95 companies are supplying the wind industry, creating an economic cluster that the region seeks to capitalize on.
“When we focus on the wind industry, our message is not: ‘Come to northeast Wisconsin and build your wind farm,’ but rather: ‘Come to northeast Wisconsin if you are involved with the supply-chain side of the wind industry,’ ” said Josh Morby, spokesman for The New North.
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 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From two presentations by Michael Vickerman at the 2009 Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit, Milwaukee:
Getting Serious About Solar Hot Water
Value Proposition to System Owner
+ Less expensive (on a life-cycle basis)
+ Predictable return
+ Negligible risk
Value Proposition to Society
+ Emission-free
+ Non-depleting
+ Indigenous
+ Highly secure
SHW Potential in Wisconsin
+ Can offset between 2.6% to 4.1% of NG use
+ Avoiding 150 million therms/year
+ Saving $150 million annually (2006 prices)
+ Offsetting 820,000 metric ton of CO2
Economic Development Impacts of Renewable Energy
Economies of scale are achieved by shrinking the labor contribution relative to output, which explains why utility-scale energy is less expensive than do-it-yourself energy.
Distributing renewable energy through customer-sited systems increases job-hours per energy unit produced as well as promoting entrepreneurship and small business development. . . .
From Small Systems – Big Results in Germany:
+ Utilities are required to accept power from customer-sited RE systems through fixed, long-term buyback rates
+ 15% of Germany’s electricity now generated from renewables
+ In 2007 $14 billion invested in RE
+ Germany has half the world’s PV capacity
+ Payoff: 300,000 people employed in the RE sector.
And in Wisconsin:
+ 338 Focus on Energy-funded RE systems installed
+ 40% increase over 2007
+ $3.5MM incentives obligated
+ Full-service installers — 35 PV; 24 biogas; 64 SHW; 21 wind; 15 biomass.
From another presentation at the Wisconsin Wind Energy Supply Chain Workshop:
Windpower in Wisconsin: Outlook for 2009 and Beyond
Why Promote Windpower?
Clean = Environmental
Non-depleting = Energy Security
Fixed Price = Risk Management
Creates Wealth = Economic Development
Scalable to Utilities = Practicality
The current Renewable Energy Standard (RES) will yield an additional ~4.2 billion kWh/yr of qualifying renewable electricity by 2015, assuming no load growth.
Assuming that windpower generates 90% of that quantity, about 1,600 MW of wind capacity must come on line between 2004 and 2015 to satisfy the RES.
