by jboullion | Feb 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the Kenosha News:
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and President Barack Obama were talking the same language Wednesday: renewable energy and jobs.
The president was in Washington speaking to a group of governors about his energy policy, which includes spending more money on biofuels such as ethanol.
“It’s good for our national security and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. It’s good for our economy, because it will create jobs.”
Gov. Doyle was in Kenosha, speaking at Gateway Technical College’s Horizon Center.
He said Wisconsin spends $16 billion a year for coal, petroleum and natural gas, money that goes out of the state because Wisconsin doesn’t produce those fuels. If the state used 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources, that would mean $4 billion remains here to boost our economy.
Wisconsin’s wind energy production has been growing for several years. Ethanol also has a lot of promise. So far, most ethanol in Wisconsin is produced from corn, because that was the technology that developed first, but other sources for ethanol continue to develop, including wood products, waste from paper mills and grasses. Wisconsin can produce grass and wood probably a lot easier than many states, and those crops take less energy to produce because the don’t need the cultivation of fertilization corn requires.
by jboullion | Feb 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by John Krerowica in the Kenosha News:
Gov. Jim Doyle reiterated support for renewable energy and green, sustainable jobs as he spoke Wednesday at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha.
Doyle told the crowd of about 100 people at the Horizon Center for Technology, 4940 88th Ave., the college and other schools must train students for tomorrow’s technology and equipment.
“We’re moving in a new direction, and vehicles in the future will have increased, complex technology,” he said. “I’m not sure we even know what the cars of 10 to 15 years from now are going to look like, and we’ll need people trained and adaptable to work on those vehicles.”
Doyle has challenged the Legislature to expand the state’s reliance on renewable energy from today’s goal of 10 percent by 2015 to 25 percent by 2025.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From Madison Gas and Electric’s Greenview site:
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This farm field trip has nothing to do with cows or horses. Each year, Kewaunee County students visit a very different kind of farm… the Rosiere Wind Farm.
In this story, see how students react to the giant structures and hear why teachers think the visit is full of important lessons.
by jboullion | Feb 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Trash would be converted into electricity at Project Apollo, a renewable energy project proposed for Milwaukee’s north side, developers said Tuesday.
Alliance Federated Energy announced plans to develop a $225 million renewable energy plant that would create 250 construction jobs and 45 full-time jobs. The first phase of the project is expected to be running by 2013.
The plant would use technology developed by Westinghouse Plasma Corp. of Madison, Pa., to convert the waste at high heat into a synthetic gas, or syngas. That, in turn, could be used as a fuel to generate power.
The first phase of the renewable energy facility is expected to process about 1,200 tons of municipal and industrial waste per day. That would generate 25 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power roughly 20,000 typical homes, according to Alliance Federated Energy. A second phase is envisioned that would generate another 25 megawatts of power, company spokesman Josh Morby said.
Alliance is a Milwaukee-based company that focuses on developing and financing renewable energy projects. The company was founded in 2005, and Apollo is its first announced project.
The location of the project hasn’t been announced, but the developer is planning to locate in Milwaukee.
by jboullion | Feb 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
Michael Vickerman, Josh Stolzenburg (center), owner of North Wind Renewable Energy, LLC, Stevens Point, and a spokesman for Wave Wind, LLC, Sun Prairie, testify in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act bill before the Special Assembly Committee on Climate Change. Vickerman leans forward to show the committee members a map of renewable energy installations.
From a summary of Michael Vickerman’s (RENEW Wisconsin)
testimony before the Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy
February 2, 2010:
RENEW Wisconsin strongly supports the provisions in SB450/AB649 to expand the state’s Renewable Energy Standard to 25% by 2025, which includes a 10% in-state renewable energy set-aside. RENEW has evaluated the availability of specific resources to reach that standard and has concluded that meeting such a target is technically feasible. If adopted, the in-state set-aside will become the most powerful engine for job development and capital investment over the next 15 years.
We expect such a requirement to be achieved through a combination of utility-scale power plants and smaller-scale generating units dispersed throughout Wisconsin. With respect to distributed renewable generation, we note the following:
1. The vast majority of the distributed renewable generating units installed in Wisconsin serve schools, dairy farms and other small businesses, churches and local governments.
2. Utilities are not in the business of installing these systems themselves.
3. In many cases the renewable energy installation went forward because there was a special buyback rate available to accelerate the recovery of the original investment made by the customer. Last week, I gave the example of the Dane County community anaerobic digester project that, once operational, will treat manure taken from several nearby dairy farms in the Waunakee area and produce two megawatts of electricity with it. The electricity will be purchased by Alliant Energy through a voluntary biogas tariff worth 9.3 cents/kWh. Unfortunately, Alliant’s biogas program is fully subscribed and is no longer available to other dairy farmers, food processing companies and wastewater treatment facilities served by Alliant.
4. Companies that install solar, wind and biogas energy systems are quintessentially small businesses, many of them family-owned. Renewable energy contractors and affiliated service providers constitute one of the few market sectors where young adults who have acquired the necessary skills to do the job well can find meaningful work at decent pay.
5. By its very nature, distributed renewable energy delivers nearly 100% of its economic punch to the local economy.
