by jboullion | Dec 30, 2008 | Uncategorized
From the Web site of Sustainable La Crosse:
Sustainable businesses offer products and services that fulfill society’s needs while contributing to the well-being of all earth’s inhabitants. Sustainable businesses operate across all business sectors: energy efficiency and renewable energy generation, water and wastewater treatment, resource-efficient industrial processes, advanced materials, transportation and agriculture. They create products and services that compete on price and performance while significantly reducing humankind’s impact on the environment. . . .
Local Businesses with sustainable efforts:
Gundersen Lutheran
City Brewery
Trane
Honda Motorwërks
River Architects
INOV8
Xetex
Michael’s Engineering
Xcel Energy
Dairyland Power Cooperative
by jboullion | Dec 29, 2008 | Uncategorized
From the announcement of the Manure Digester Summit:
Whether you have less than a 100-head herd or a large herd, digesters can work for you. Come to the seminar to hear how Dane County and Richland County are using community digesters as well as how to implement a manure digester on a 50-head farm.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
9:30AM -3:00PM
Room B-30 West Square Building
505 Broadway
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Cost: $20.00 and includes lunch
by jboullion | Dec 23, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a media release issued by Focus on Energy:
MADISON, Wis. (Dec. 8, 2008) – Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative, announced today the inception of a new renewable energy program called Fuels for Schools & Communities. The new program is meant to help Wisconsin schools and communities save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs by switching from natural gas to heating their buildings with wood or other biomass.
“Schools and local governments today are feeling squeezed by energy prices. This new program will allow interested school districts and local governments, especially in the north and southwest portions of the state, the ability to adopt biomass technology as a cost effective and environmentally responsible solution to increasing energy costs,” said Don Wichert, director for Focus on Energy’s Renewable Energy Program.
The new program offers interested schools and communities pre-feasibility studies and feasibility studies at no cost and up to $250,000 toward the implementation of a biomass system. The program complements Clean Energy Wisconsin, Governor Doyle’s strategy to strengthen Wisconsin’s energy future. This comprehensive plan moves Wisconsin forward by promoting renewable energy, creating new jobs, increasing energy security and efficiency and improving the environment.
A recent study funded by Focus on Energy and conducted by the Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC), “Heating with Biomass: A Feasibility Study of Wisconsin Schools Heated with Wood,” found that as many as 25 percent of Wisconsin schools could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs by switching from natural gas to heating their buildings with wood, or other biomass. Biomass, a renewable resource, typically consists of clean wood chips, wood pellets, switchgrass or other agricultural based pellets. This is a significant finding considering Wisconsin schools spend close to $200 million a year on energy costs.
The study concludes that the annual energy costs from wood biomass systems could be 29 percent to 57 percent less expensive than natural gas and save schools between $53,000 and $75,000 annually, depending on current fuel prices. The study included case studies from Barron, Hayward, Shell Lake and Rice Lake, Wis., high schools.
by jboullion | Dec 22, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in The Tomah Journal:
Let’s assume you live in Tomah and want to visit Atlanta. You either drive to the La Crosse airport, catch a flight to Minneapolis before taking another flight to Atlanta, or you can drive three hours to the Minneapolis airport and take the direct flight.
But there’s another possibility — replace the La Crosse-Minneapolis flight or long car trip with light rail from Tomah to Minneapolis.
Officials from the Twin Cities are touting light rail between Minneapolis and Chicago, and they have a powerful ally in President-elect Barack Obama, who appears ready to make high-speed rail part of his economic stimulus program. It’s an investment that’s long overdue, and it has potential to unsnarl an air passenger system that’s as reliable as electricity in Iraq. Air travelers are all too familiar with a web of connecting flights that often don’t run on time and leave passengers spending more time in airport lounges than moving through the air.
by jboullion | Dec 19, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a media release issued by Rep. Tammy Baldwin and others in Congress:
Momentum is building to pass legislation repealing antiquated exemptions in federal statutes so that antitrust law fully covers railroads.
In a letter sent last week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, Judiciary Ranking Member Lamar Smith, and Judiciary Antitrust Taskforce Ranking Member Ric Keller, the Section of Antitrust Law of the American Bar Association endorsed H.R. 1650, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2007, authored by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
In a 13 page analysis, the Section laid out its support for the bill, concluding that “The Section encourages Congress to move forward quickly to dismantle the antitrust exemption for the railroad industry, through the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act, and to consider additional legislation to eliminate antitrust exemptions applicable to other industries.”
Their letter follows closely on the heels of a letter that Reps. Baldwin and Conyers sent last month to Speaker Pelosi urging her to include H.R. 1650 as part of the economic stimulus package to be considered in January. Baldwin and Conyers reminded the Speaker that the legislation was reported in April by a voice vote of the Judiciary Committee without opposition and that companion legislation, S.772, authored by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee, also by a voice vote without opposition.
In their letter to Pelosi, Baldwin and Conyers said, “As Congress continues to address the problems created in part by a lack of regulation and oversight in the largest financial institutions in America, we think the time is right to ensure antitrust compliance by our nation’s railroads. Their current unrestrained pricing power over America’s consumers is hurting our economy and our country, and must be addressed.”
The release cites Dairyland Power as an example of problems with prices and service:
For years, captive shippers have been reporting spiking rail rates and unreliable service. In Wisconsin, for example, Dairyland Power, a rural cooperative provides electricity for approximately 575,000 people in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Dairyland’s three coal-fired power plants consume 3.2 million tons of coal per year, 75% of which comes by rail from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Over the years, Dairyland has reported deteriorating service quality; at times forcing them to cut back generation due to insufficient coal inventories. Adding further injury, at the end of 2005 the railroad that holds Dairyland captive raised its rates dramatically. Dairyland now pays about $75 million a year to ship $30 million worth of coal. Railroad rate increases have translated into a 15 to 20% increase in electricity rates for consumers.
