Solar thermal expo and conference, Dec. 3-4

From the Midwest Renewable Energy Association:

SOLAR THERMAL ’09 is a national conference and expo for the solar thermal professional. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association invites you to the only professional level conference devoted to solar heating and cooling.

Installers, manufacturers, site assessors, dealers, distributors, state agency representatives, and policy makers will not want to miss this one-of-a-kind conference.

TOPICS INCLUDE:
•Solar hot water, solar hot air, and solar space heating sessions
•Manufacturer and dealer updates
•Best practices on residential and commercial applications
•New control and balance of system options
•Structural considerations
•State policy and incentive updates

Register here.

Solar thermal expo and conference,December 3-4

From the Midwest Renewable Energy Association:

SOLAR THERMAL ’09 is a national conference and expo for the solar thermal professional. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association invites you to the only professional level conference devoted to solar heating and cooling.

Installers, manufacturers, site assessors, dealers, distributors, state agency representatives, and policy makers will not want to miss this one-of-a-kind conference.

TOPICS INCLUDE:
•Solar hot water, solar hot air, and solar space heating sessions
•Manufacturer and dealer updates
•Best practices on residential and commercial applications
•New control and balance of system options
•Structural considerations
•State policy and incentive updates

Register here.

Real-time figures for renewable energy production

From the page of Active Installation Date on the Web site of We Energies:

We Energies Renewable Energy Development Program partners with Fat Spaniel Technologies to show real-time production data from solar photovoltaic, solar hot water and wind renewable energy generation systems in the We Energies service territory.

The Web page has links to the data on renewable energy production at the following installations:

Solar Electric Photovoltaic
Ascension Lutheran Church
Cooper School
Energy Producing Home
GE Healthcare
GE Research Park
HOPE Christian School
Johnson Foundation
Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School
Milwaukee Area Tech College – Oak Creek
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewer District
MSOE: Fat Spaniel Tech MSOE Monitor
North Shore Presbyterian Church
Our Savior Lutheran Church
Outpost Natural Foods
Racine City Hall Annex
Racine Eco Justice Center
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Shoreland Lutheran High School
Shorewood School District
Still Point Zen Center
The Order of Julian Norwich
Town of Menasha
Unitarian Universalist Church West
United Community Center
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
University of Wisconsin – Parkside
Urban Ecology Center
Village of Wind Point
Walden III Middle and Senior High School
Waukesha Area Technical College
Wisconsin State Fair Park

Solar Water Heating
Fort Atkinson High School Solar Thermal
Fort Atkinson Middle School Solar Thermal
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity SHW 1
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity SHW 2
We Energies HQ: Fat Spaniel Tech Wired Solar

Solar Electric Photovoltaic and Wind
Discovery World
Lakeshore Technical College
Milwaukee Area Tech College – Mequon

Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments

From Solar American Cities in the U.S. Department of Energy:

The U.S. Department of Energy developed this comprehensive resource to assist local governments and stakeholders in building sustainable local solar markets. The guide introduces a range of policy and program options that have been successfully field tested in cities around the country. The guide describes each policy or program, followed by more information on:

•Benefits: Identifies benefits from implementing the policy or program.
•Implementation Tips and Options: Outlines various tips and options for designing and implementing the policy or program.
•Examples: Highlights experiences from communities that have successfully implemented the policy or program.
•Additional References and Resources: Lists additional reports, references, and tools that offer more information on the topic, where applicable.

Milwaukee, Madison awarded $1 million for solar expansion

From a blog post by Tom Content on JSonline:

Milwaukee will receive $650,000 and Madison will receive $370,000 from the federal stimulus package to advance their programs to develop solar energy. Milwaukee established the Milwaukee Shines program several years ago after it won funding for

The city will use the grant to establish a Solar Hot Water Business Council, with an eye toward linking its own solar initiative with the work of the Milwaukee 7 Water Council.

The Milwaukee Shines’ goal is to increase the number of solar installers and install more than 100 solar-electric and 50 solar thermal systems by 2012.

“What’s going to happen is we are going to be able to use less energy, at a time that that’s very, very important,” said Barrett during a news conference at the Milwaukee Public Library. The central library building is incorporating solar into a green roof that is now under construction.

The aim of the council is educate and enable local water technology manufacturers to shift into the growing solar industry, leading to the creation of a solar manufacturing cluster in the region.

Milwaukee Shines is particularly interested in helping manufacturers re-tool their facilities to start producing solar energy components, said Erick Shambarger of the city’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. “We believe this could become a niche market for Milwaukee.”

The proposed business council helped set Milwaukee’s application apart from others received by the Department of Energy. DOE received applications for funding from 25 different cities but granted funding to 16 cities, said Steve Palmeri, project officer with the U.D. Department of Energy in Golden, Colo.