From the Midwest Renewable Energy Association:
Interested in showcasing your new renewable energy installation at your home or business? Sign-up for the Wisconsin Solar Tour, October 3 & 4, 2008. Open your doors, and help others learn about renewable energy, green building and sustainable practices. Fill out the online application.
An editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Former Vice President Al Gore’s recent call for the nation to produce all electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources within 10 years appears unattainable, energy wonks have been quick to note.
And we appear to be part of that naysaying pack.
In the editorial above, we commend Gov. Jim Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming for setting goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 22% by 2022 and a 75% reduction by 2050. That’s not zero in 10 years.
We commend those Wisconsin goals because they are “realistic,” as in doable, but that doesn’t mean that we oppose speeding things up.
We put those quotation marks around the word because we also realize that citing “realism” often has been just another way of slowing progress.
So, here’s the real utility in Gore’s call for speedier progress: It recognizes that deeper commitment can produce speedier results.
Too costly to move quicker? Those costs have to be weighed against those already levied by our reliance on fossil fuels. And the time allowed to break this addiction to oil has to be weighed against how every minute, every hour, every day of carbon emissions brings the world closer to that tipping point that spells global catastrophe.
From the preliminary agenda for the Solar Decade Conference posted on the conference Web site:
9:15 Opening Keynote Addresses: Solar Electric and Solar Thermal Experts
10:30 Breakout Sessions
Residential Solar Case Studies, Moderator TBD
The Future of the Solar Electric Market, Speaker TBD
Introduction to Solar Thermal Systems, Speaker TBD
Starting a Solar Business Panel, Moderator Michael Allen, Energy Law Wisconsin12:15 Lunch with presentations by
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee’s Solar Decathlon Team
Solar Market Expert1:30 Breakout Sessions
Solar Green Building Case Studies, Moderator Sue Loomans, WGBA
Introduction to Solar Electric Systems, Speaker Clay Sterling, MREA
Solar Thermal – Technical Details, Bob Ramlow, Speaker Artha Sustainable Living Center
Growing Wisconsin’s Solar Businesses Panel, Moderator Niels Wolter, Focus on Energy3:15 Breakout Sessions
Solar Communities, Moderator Tehri Parker, MREA
The Economics of Solar Power, Speaker Niels Wolter Focus on Energy
Market Status of Solar Thermal, Speaker TBD
Marketing: Changing the Solar Dialog, Moderator/Speaker Kelly Lang, Focus on Energy4:45 End of Conference
From an article by David Doege in The Business Journal of Milwaukee:
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker plans to seek $50 million in federal funds for two bus rapid transit lines that could help break the long-running stalemate over upgrades to the Milwaukee area’s transit system.
The funds would be in addition to the $91.5 million in federal funds allocated to the Milwaukee area in the early 1990s that has gone unspent because Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett cannot agree on a revised mass transit plan. Business and community leaders have been pushing hard in recent months for an upgraded transit system to help the area’s economic development efforts and business climate.
Walker said this week that he will meet in the next few days with officials from the Federal Transit Administration to begin the application process for funding he believes would support one north-south line beginning at Bay Shore Town Center in Glendale and an east-west line beginning on the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa.
A bus rapid transit line would use new buses that would operate in a dedicated lane at higher speeds with fewer stops than traditional urban bus systems.
“This would probably be something that we could put in the 2010 budget,” he said.
The funding Walker intends to seek is available under an federal program called Very Small Starts. According to an agency fact sheet, the program targets “simple, low-risk (transit) projects” and features a “highly simplified project evaluation rating process.”
To win approval, projects must be on corridors with more than 3,000 riders daily, offer service at least 14 hours per day, utilize vehicles with signal priority and feature on-peak service every 10 minutes and off-peak service every 15 minutes, among other criteria.
Local governments must provide at least 20 percent of the total cost for approved projects. Walker said that some of that would have to be built into the budget, but that part of it could come through “in kind” design services provided by county personnel who would participate in designing and establishing the system.
“We would have time to work with the County Board to set this up,” Walker said. “There would have to be an appropriation in the budget, but it would not involve a tax increase.”