by jboullion | Feb 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
An Associated Press story posted on WKBT-TV (La Crosse):
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Jim Doyle says he’s open to approving a scaled-back clean energy bill as long as a key provision setting new renewable energy standards remains in tact.
Doyle says the crux of the sweeping measure being debated in the Legislature would require 25 percent of Wisconsin’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2025. He says that provision is what’s critical to creating new jobs in fields like solar and wind energy.
Doyle told reporters he is open to changes on other details that he didn’t specify and that he expects “significant changes” as it moves through both houses.
The bill would lift Wisconsin’s ban on new nuclear power plants and tighten auto emission standards, among many other things.
by jboullion | Feb 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a workshop announcement released by the Energy Center of Wisconsin:
April 21, 2010 | Green Bay, WI
April 22, 2010 | Rothschild, WI
This program provides a solid background in renewable energy technologies for commercial-scale applications. Get an overview of renewable energy, from an exploration of the benefits, to a view of technologies that work well in Wisconsin’s northern climate. Learn how renewable energy technologies fit into the LEED™ design process and the software tools used for assessing renewable energy potential. Find out about design considerations, potential system performance, and the economics of installing a system in today’s solar market.
by jboullion | Feb 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a commentary by Michael Vickerman, RENEW’s executive director:
In the next six weeks the Legislature will make a truly momentous decision on the state’s energy future. Either it can embrace an ambitious 15-year commitment to invigorate the state’s economy through sustained investments in clean energy or decide to coast along on current energy policies until they lapse and lose their force and effect.
Arguably the most innovative feature in the Clean Energy Jobs Act, as it’s now called, is a proposed requirement on larger electric providers to acquire locally produced renewable electricity with Advanced Renewable Tariffs (ARTs). These are technology-specific buyback rates that provide a fixed purchase price for the electricity produced over a period of 10 to 20 years, set at levels sufficient to recover installation costs along with a modest profit. Now available in more than a dozen nations in Europe as well as the Province of Ontario, ARTs have proven to be singularly effective in stimulating considerable growth in small-scale production of distributed renewable electricity. . . .
Consider the much-vaunted Dane County Cow Power Project, which should be operational before the end of the year. Using anaerobic digestion technology, this Waunakee-area installation will treat manure from three nearby dairy farms and produce biogas that will fuel a two-megawatt generator. This community digester project, the first of its kind in Wisconsin, will be built with private capital and a State of Wisconsin award to support a technology that reduces the flow of phosphorus into the Yahara Lakes. A second digester project is also planned for Dane County.
The key element that makes the financing of this project work is the special biogas buyback rate that Alliant Energy, the local utility, voluntarily put in place a year ago. With the higher rate, the project’s return on investment was sufficient to interest outside investors. . . .
If we are serious about neutralizing the algae blooms that turn the Yahara lakes green each year, we’ll need to adopt a clean energy policy, including ARTs, that facilitates the development of biodigesters in farm country.
by jboullion | Feb 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an announcement made by Gateway Technical College:
Harnessing Renewable Energy Opportunities
DATE: February 24, 2010
TIME: Morning Seminar – 1 :OOp.m. – 3:00p.m.
Evening Seminar – 7:00p.m. – 9:00p.m.
HOST & LOCATION: Gateway Technical College, Horizon Center, 4940 88th Avenue, Kenosha, WI 53144
YOU ARE INVITED: to attend an interactive presentation on methods, execution and sustainable economical outcomes for communities. Robert Laporte, Molecular Biologist and CEO of Neutopia ecoSolutions, Inc., will present the seminar. Mr. Laporte will show several examples of how communities have benefitted from sustainable implementation, such as decreasing municipal waste issues, creating new revenue streams and more.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sheila Axl, EleclriChargeMobility:
262-789-8409
eleclricharge@me.com
by jboullion | Feb 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Megan Loiselle in the Wausau Daily Herald:
ROTHSCHILD — A power plant that has its sights set on this village of 5,390 people has some residents singing its praises and others crying, “Not in my backyard.”
WE Energies plans to build a $250 million power plant that burns low-quality and unusable wood and paper waste, powering the Domtar paper mill and providing electricity to homes in portions of Wisconsin. The plant still needs state approval before construction can begin, but WE Energies is hopeful it will be up and running by fall 2013.
About 300 people streamed in and out of a conference room during a WE Energies-sponsored open house Saturday at the Holiday Inn & Suites seeking answers about how the plant would affect their quality of life — and how many new jobs it would bring to the area.
According to WE Energies, the biomass plant would not only create new jobs, it would bring in shared revenue from the state depending on how much energy is created. The project would create 400 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs. It also will help Wisconsin reach its goal of having 10 percent of all energy produced using renewable resources by 2015 — a goal established in Gov. Jim Doyle’s Clean Energy Wisconsin Plan.
The plant would cut dependence on fossil fuels, reduce acid rain and be nearly carbon-neutral, according to the environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin and the U.S. Forest Service.
John Klosinski, 55, of Rothschild said he supports the biomass plant because it will create jobs for people who have been hit hard by the economy.
“I think it’s great,” Klosinski said. “I’ve been working half time for over a year … I’m not concerned about the emissions or the noise.”
About 10 residents stood outside the conference room and passed out information with a list of their concerns about the smell, sound and emissions the biomass plant would bring with it.
