by jboullion | Jun 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2010
MORE INFORMATION
Michael Vickerman
RENEW Wisconsin
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Wind Energy Advocacy Award Presented to RENEW Wisconsin Director
RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director Michael Vickerman was presented with an award by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America program. Vickerman received the Midwest Regional Wind Advocacy Award at the program’s annual state summit following the WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition in Dallas, Texas. At this event, Wind Powering America recognized wind energy advocates in three regions across the country: East, West and Midwest.
The award cites Vickerman’s “vision and creative leadership in RENEW and his leadership of the Wisconsin Wind Working Group.” Under the auspices of Wind Powering America, RENEW Wisconsin has been facilitating the Wisconsin Wind Working Group since 2007.
“Recognition by one’s peers is a tremendous honor,” Vickerman said, “and it’s especially sweet coming from a national program that serves wind energy advocacy and education networks in 38 states.
“I am particularly pleased that the award specifically recognizes RENEW Wisconsin, which has been the state’s leading voice for strong renewable energy policies since 1991,” Vickerman said. “Wisconsin is a regional leader in many aspects involving renewable energy, and RENEW Wisconsin has been instrumental in making that happen.”
Wind Powering America is a national initiative to dramatically increase the use of wind energy in the United States. Through various partnerships and programs, it aspires to enhance power generation options as well as protect the local environment and increase our energy and national security.
“We in Wisconsin are indebted to Wind Powering America for providing us with the tools to put wind energy development in our state on a sustainable growth trajectory,” Vickerman said.
END
RENEW Wisconsin (www.renewwisconsin.org) is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that acts as a catalyst to advance a sustainable energy future through public policy and private sector initiatives.
by jboullion | Jun 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin power projects spark questions about emissions from biomass vs. fossil fuels
How green can the energy produced by a biomass power plant be if it releases carbon dioxide into the air just like a coal or natural gas-fueled plant?
That’s the question being raised about biomass projects, including one proposed by We Energies in Rothschild and another Xcel Energy Corp. is considering in Ashland.
“You can’t assume that biomass is carbon-neutral. It depends on how many trees you plant and how fast they grow, and all sorts of variables,” said Katie Nekola, energy program director at the conservation group Clean Wisconsin. “It’s right to look at it case by case to see exactly what the carbon balance is going to be for any plant. . . .”
Milwaukee-based We Energies is proposing a $255 million, 50-megawatt power plant at the Domtar Corp. paper mill in Rothschild. Some residents in Rothschild, south of Wausau, have objected to the project because of concerns about air pollution that would be released by a new power plant located not far from a $770 million coal-fired power plant in Weston and south of Rothschild.
The utility said it proposed the biomass project as a way to help it comply with Wisconsin’s renewable power mandate because it can generate electricity around the clock, unlike a wind farm. The project would supply steam to Domtar’s paper mill and create up to 150 jobs, the utility said.
Critics call for a review
Critics of the project are asking the state Public Service Commission and Department of Natural Resources to do a full environmental review of the project.
A detailed review is not required and was not performed for the proposed Xcel Energy biomass plant in Ashland.
The agencies have not decided whether the review, known as an environmental impact statement, will be done for the We Energies project.
“Stop this biomass project now, please,” Rebecca Simms of Rothschild said in a public comment filed with the state. “Biomass should no longer be considered an alternative to fossil fuels and should no longer be considered carbon-neutral, because it is not.”
In a filing last week in response to an inquiry by state regulators, We Energies disclosed that carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions from the Rothschild plant would be about 590,000 tons a year.
The utility says that will be offset by the replanting of trees in the forest that will absorb carbon dioxide. . . .
In Madison, the state of Wisconsin has proposed a $250 million biomass and natural gas plant to replace a coal-fired plant that serves the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In Ashland, Xcel Energy would replace a coal-fired power plant with a biomass gasifier. The status of that project is uncertain, however, after the utility’s cost estimate for the project ballooned by nearly 37% to $79.5 million.
by jboullion | Jun 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each year the MREA Energy Fair transforms rural Central Wisconsin into the global hot spot for renewable energy education. The Energy Fair brings over 20,000 people from nearly every state in the U.S. and several countries around the world to learn, connect with others and ready them for action at home. The Energy Fair is the nation’s longest running energy education event of its kind.
The Energy Fair features:
•Over 275 exhibitors – sustainable living and energy products
•Over 200 workshops – from introductory level to advanced hands-on education
•Clean Energy Car Show – demonstration vehicles and workshops
•Green Home Pavilion – focused on building and remodeling in a sustainable way
•Green Building Demso – see sustainable building techniques in action
•Sustainable Tables – workshops, chef demos, and a farmers’ market bringing sustainability to your dinner table
•Inspirational keynotes, lively entertainment, great food, and local beer.
The Energy Fair is held in Custer, WI just seven miles east of Stevens Point. Join us for the 21st Annual Energy Fair June 18-20, 2010. For more information about the Fair, contact the Midwest Renewable Energy Association at 715-592-6595.
by jboullion | Jun 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
Three stalled plans for Wisconsin train travel get reanalyzed in the election year
From an article by Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Railroads and politics have one thing in common: They’re all about the timing.
Trains run by schedules. Politicians wait for the right moment to make their moves.
And timing is everything for rail transportation in southern Wisconsin, where political circumstances have brought three different rail transit plans to the forefront simultaneously – only to thrust them into an election-year controversy where some plans may not survive.
After years of study and debate, the state has landed an $810 million federal grant to build a high-speed train line from Milwaukee to Madison. At the same time, Milwaukee-area authorities are seeking federal permission to start preliminary engineering on a $283.5 million commuter rail line from Milwaukee to Kenosha and a $95.8 million modern streetcar line in downtown Milwaukee, two other long-discussed ideas.
Officially, the three plans are not related, except that all three systems would converge at Milwaukee’s downtown Amtrak-Greyhound station, where the streetcar could carry Amtrak or KRM Commuter Link passengers “the last mile” to their destinations, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said. Supporters also tout all three as ways to stimulate economic development and improve mobility.
Politically, all three are linked in the minds of their opponents, as symbols of unnecessary taxation and skewed transportation spending priorities, say Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine). Walker, Vos and their allies oppose new sales taxes – which are not currently proposed for any of the rail lines – and want transportation dollars spent on roads and buses.
Although the high-speed rail planning started under former Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, a longtime passenger train booster, the train debate in recent years has turned partisan, pitting Democratic rail backers against GOP critics. Now the rail projects have emerged as an issue in the fall governor’s race – in which Barrett is the likely Democratic nominee and Walker is facing former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann for the GOP nod.
Walker has taken the hardest line against all three projects, vowing to kill the high-speed train project if he’s elected. He has long argued against the streetcar line and recently came out against the KRM, a project he had not vocally opposed before.
Neumann, meanwhile, has said he would analyze the costs and benefits of the high-speed train, but would end work on it if “we find this thing is going to be an economic boondoggle for the people of this state.” He says he would apply the same approach to state aid for the KRM and the streetcar line.
by jboullion | May 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
Disregarding the pleas from RENEW and others for a veto, Doyle signed Senate Bill 273, as reported by Lisa Kaiser in the Shepherd Expess, Milwaukee:
Were the state’s renewable energy goals weakened during the final days of the legislative session?
The answer depends on how you view a new bill, signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle last week, which expands the definition of “renewable energy source” without increasing the amount of renewable energy that must be used by the state’s utilities.
“We went backwards, not forwards,” said state Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison), a champion of clean energy. “If you don’t increase the percentage of renewable energy that must be used, and you include the new technologies, you decrease the amount of wind and solar to be used.”
A Last-Minute Amendment without Public Debate
The bill had been proposed last year with little fanfare. A public hearing was held last September to add some new technologies to the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS)—the state’s definition of what is a renewable energy source.
That designation is very important to a “clean energy” company, because it allows the company to sell its electricity to a utility and help that utility reach the 10% goal. Without that designation, the electricity isn’t as desirable to utilities that need to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels such as coal.
Last fall, the new technologies didn’t seem to raise too many alarms—for example, it included solar light pipes manufactured by Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc.
Besides, the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), which would have raised the state’s renewable energy goals from 10% to 25% by 2025, was attracting far more attention than this rather innocuous bill.
But just hours before the vote on April 15, a controversial amendment was added to the bill by Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker, Milwaukee Sen. Jeff Plale and Green Bay Sen. David Hansen to include even more technologies. Among them is “synthetic gas created by the plasma gasification of waste,” a cutting-edge technology that takes just about any kind of waste, heats it so intensely it turns into a gas, then uses that gas to create electricity that can be sold to utilities and put on the power grid.
Without public debate, the state Senate approved the amended bill 25-8 and the Assembly followed suit a week later on a voice vote with no record of who voted “aye” or “nay.”
Doyle signed it last week without revision, although he did note that it was “a difficult one to sign” since CEJA—with its higher standards—died in the state Legislature.
