by jboullion | Sep 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Ken Reibel in the Sheperd Express:
Can the red-hot market for solar panels generate green jobs for Milwaukee? Some city officials are hoping so. “We’ll be looking into whether we can build them locally,” says Ann Beier, director of environmental sustainability for the city of Milwaukee.
Beier and others want to use part of a $200,000 federal Solar City grant to fund a feasibility study. “It’s worth exploring,” she says.
The numbers are enticing. The U.S. solar market grew 57% in 2007, and worldwide demand has grown 20%-25% per year over the past 20 years. But barriers to entry are steep, and investment risky. Four manufacturing behemoths currently produce 50% of the solar energy products, or photovoltaics, sold on the planet, and the pace of innovation could leave some investors out in the cold.
“Not the U.S.A., but Germany, Japan and China are the major manufacturers,” says Niels Wolter, solar electric program manager for the Madison-based Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program. “But solar electric technology has significant room for innovation, so there are opportunities for new businesses to enter the market.”
by jboullion | Sep 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
An editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal:
America’s effort to develop cleaner, more sustainable energy sources is threatened by the looming expiration of federal tax credits that boost renewable energy production and use.
Congress should respond this month by extending and enhancing the credits, which encourage investment in solar, wind, biomass and other renewable power sources.
A significant risk exists that at the end of this year Congress will let credits worth $500 million a year lapse, as it did three previous times. In those cases, investment in renewables fell dramatically before Congress revived the credits. Investment in wind power production, for example, fell 93 percent following the expiration of tax credits in 2000.
This year the vast majority in Congress supports extending the credits, available to homeowners, businesses and investors for buying equipment to use or produce renewable energy. But legislation extending and improving the credits is stalled by a dispute over what to do about the impact on the federal budget deficit.
The credits are part of a larger package of tax breaks scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Extending the breaks would cost the treasury $50 billion over 10 years.
Plans call for Congress to offset the lost revenue by raising fees or taxes or by cutting other programs.
Many senators and representatives are balking at the offsets.
Congress deserves praise for making sure the credits do not exacerbate the already-enormous budget deficits. But its members should also recognize the value the renewable energy tax credits have to an economy weighed down by the high cost of fossil fuels and to an environment threatened by pollution from burning fossil fuels.
With Congress scheduled to adjourn for the year at the end of this month, it’s time for its members to compromise on a package of tax credits that can be offset with reasonable fee or tax increases and program cuts.
Wisconsin has much at stake. The state has great potential to become a national leader in renewable energy.
Tax credits spur the industry by making it more cost-effective to invest in equipment to use renewable energy in homes or businesses. The credits also make it more cost-effective to invest in starting or expanding renewable energy production plants.
Allowing the credits to expire would be a setback with costly consequences.
Wisconsin’s congressional delegation should help engineer a resolution that extends the credits without enlarging the budget deficit.
The American Wind Energy Association makes it easy to contact your U.S. representatives and senators, through a page dedicated to urging members of Congress to act.
by jboullion | Sep 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Thomas Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The largest solar power project in downtown Milwaukee is up and running at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
144 solar panels sit on the roof of the school’s student union building and are visible to office workers in nearby downtown buildings. That’s by design, said Chris Damm, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MSOE.
“It’s a statement to show that MSOE is leading the way in terms of sustainability and engineering, to attract students who are interested in emerging energy technologies and sustainable engineering,” he said.
But the project is more than just a showcase for the university. It’s part of a training ground for students to engage in research in the growing fields of renewable energy and more efficient energy use.
Already, students did research to help determine the best spot on the downtown campus to place the solar panels – to ensure they wouldn’t be blocked by shadows from nearby buildings and generate too little power.
The solar project is the largest in downtown Milwaukee and one of the biggest at the state, though larger projects may be in the works.
The state’s largest solar systems are at GE Healthcare in Waukesha and Kohl’s Corp. in Menomonee Falls.
The downtown Milwaukee project, with a price tag of $235,000, was paid for through a combination of internal funding, a $100,000 grant from We Energies and a $35,000 grant from the state energy efficiency and renewable program, Focus on Energy.
A side note to the story says:
The future of solar power will be discussed during a conference next month at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee. The Solar Decade conference is planned for Oct. 23-24. For more, go to www.solardecade.com or call (800) 762-7077.
by jboullion | Aug 27, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story last fall on Fox 6 News:
WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE — You’d expect solar powered water heaters to be a big deal in Arizona or Texas, but now is becoming a big deal in Wisconsin. FOX 6’s Gus Gnorski shows you why it might be a good decision for your house.
The 2008 Solar Decade Conference, where the story was taped, will be October 23-24, also at the Midwest Airline Center.
by jboullion | Aug 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Michael Seidel on OnMilwaukee.com:
“Now, when he has enough, he’ll stop,” Sister Janet Weyker says. She’s holding a baby robin; the bird chirp excitedly as Weyker feeds him worms out of a tin of compost and wild black raspberries from a cup. Since the robin’s mother disappeared, Weyker has taken over, tending to the fledling’s hunger at mealtimes.
This type of stewardship is precisely what motivated Weyker and several other sisters of the Racine Dominican order to found the Eco-Justice Center, a 15-acre learning center, farm and homestead located at 5635 Erie St. in Racine.
As a whole, the Racine Dominicans, a Catholic community of vowed women and lay associates, are committed to the ideas of education and justice. But back in 2000, the nuns saw a gap in their order’s efforts to extend those concepts to the environment.
“(We thought) the environment is in crisis and we should really do something,” Sister Janet says, “I didn’t want to just talk about it anymore, I really want to make that dream a reality. . . .”
“Fifty-five solar panels produce all the energy that we use in the summertime,” Weyker explains. Additionally, the house uses geothermal heating for its heating and air conditioning. “Geothermal is a system where there are pipes buried in the ground 9.5 feet deep, and there’s a constant temperature of 55 degrees. . . .”
