by jboullion | Jun 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by George Leopold and video posted on EE Times:
CUSTER, Wis. — With the U.S. economy still in the tank and the ranks of the unemployed still growing, many visitors to this year’s Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s Energy Fair came here looking for work or a career change.
Engineers and other professionals flocked to sessions on subjects like “green-collar careers” at the 20th annual event in this bucolic central Wisconsin community. Renewable energy experts stressed the job-creating potential of emerging solar, wind and other alternative energy sources.
Meanwhile, vendors, mindful of the still-high up front costs for renewable energy systems, emphasized what they claimed is the shrinking time needed to recoup the cost of investment in new energy systems.
Workshops were heavy on the nuts and bolts of renewable energy, ranging from how to become a certified installer to the latest building codes and tax exemptions for energy-efficent homes and retrofits. Much of the discussion here was driven by Obama administration plans to pour billions of dollars into renewable energy programs aimed specifically at creating green jobs.
Job seekers were told they should have an intergrated set of professional skills covering electrical, electronics and even plumbing. One expect, Jason La Fleur of the green energy education group Eco Achievers, estimated that 110,000 solar energy installers will be needed over the next year.
Solar installation tops a growing list of green jobs that La Fleur said includes “eco-preneurs,” urban planners and sustainable systems managers. Engineers already possess many of the skills needed to fill these new jobs, he added.
by jboullion | Jun 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune:
The world’s largest and longest-running energy fair is being held in central Wisconsin.
Midwest Renewable Energy Association is holding its 20th annual Energy Fair next Friday through Sunday at the ReNew the Earth Institute in Custer.
It feature hundreds of workshops and exhibits emphasizing clean energy and sustainable living.
General admission for the fair is $15 each day or $35 for all three days.
A major sponsor is Madison-based Focus on Energy. It works with eligible Wisconsin residents and businesses to install cost-effective energy efficiency projects.
by jboullion | Jun 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Kathleen Gallagher in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A year ago, Erik Lindberg rented a boom lift with a bucket and hoisted 15 cubic yards of dirt to the roof of his north side remodeling business. In the process, he planted himself firmly in the middle of a growing urban agriculture movement.
Lindberg, owner of Community Building & Restoration, turned to rooftop gardening in the belief that his actions might encourage people to grow their own food or buy locally grown produce.
And by selling the vegetables he grows to subscribers and a nearby Outpost Natural Foods store, he may have become Milwaukee’s first commercial rooftop farmer.
“It’s an experiment,” said Lindberg, 42. “Can you develop a business plan out of something like this? The answer is, I don’t know yet.”
Rooftop farming is in its infancy, but the potential is enormous, said Steven Peck, founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a 10-year-old Toronto-based association that claims more than 5,000 members.
“We have probably a handful of projects. A lot of the rooftop gardening we do may have a commercial or selling component, but it’s often set up because of the social benefits it provides,” Peck said. Those benefits include improved health, less stress, a sense of community among tenants of a building, better caretakers and lower crime rates, he said.
Green evolution
Restaurants such as Frontera Grill and Uncommon Groundin Chicago were among the pioneers of rooftop gardening.
Milwaukee is an evolving “green roof” community, Peck said.
Among the local buildings featuring rooftop gardens are a City of Milwaukee building at 809 Broadway; the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District building at 260 W. Seeboth St.; the Highland Gardens Public Housing Facility; the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Great Lakes WATER Institute; the Karen Peck Katz Conservation Education Center at the Milwaukee County Zoo; the Urban Ecology Center next to Riverside University High School; and the Grohmann Museum at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
by jboullion | May 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the Web site of Central Waters:
2009 has already brought about many changes and improvements for Central Waters Brewing Company. The biggest step has been the addition of roughly 1,000 square feet of solar collectors; 24 panels, in all. Solar collectors use energy emitted by the sun, and convert it into a more usable and/or storable form of power. The energy production of our new solar collectors is estimated to reach around 2500 therms per year. A payback from the system will be seen in about seven years, with an estimated savings of $1.4 to $1.5 million over the life of the system.
In addition to the new solar panels, Central Waters Brewing Company uses a radiant floor heating system, and more energy efficient lighting systems, motors in the equipment, and brewhouse. All of the materials used in the newly remodeled tap room are from recycled resources. Also, with the implementation of the new grain silo outside of the brewery, we are able to reduce the amount of packaging materials that come into the facility, therefore the amount of packaging that needs to be disposed of. In addition to the sustainability practices currently in use at the brewery, Central Waters works with local farmers to recycle the grain used in the brewing process. The spent grain is taken by these farmers and used as feed for livestock, and also used as compost.
The addition of the solar collectors, coupled with other sustainability practices, allows Central Waters Brewing Company to drastically reduce the consumption of natural gas, therefore greatly reduce our carbon footprint.
Central Waters Brewing Company…truly “making the world a better place, one beer at a time.”
by jboullion | May 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Stevens Point Journal by Nicole Strittmater:
Students in P.J. Jacobs Junior High School construction class are doing their part for the environment.
On Tuesday, 18 ninth-graders spent the day building a 10-foot-by-20-foot garden house behind the vacant Jackson Elementary School. The garden house is meant to supplement a new organic vegetable garden established by the Sustainable Communities Committee, a group of citizens promoting efficient practices.
Stevens Point residents can set up a 12-foot-by-4-foot garden box for free, and once the students are finished, the building will be used for storage and garden prep work.
“We think it’s going to help the neighborhood. We’re in the heavily forested area, so we don’t have sunlight in our backyards for our gardens at home,” said committee member Wes Halverson, 68, adding the land near the school is exposed to sunlight. “We want to get a lot of things planted this spring.”
Construction teacher Dave Rasmussen said he hopes to have the structure done before May 27, but the $5,000 floor plan is short on funds.
Halverson, a retired University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point environmental management professor, donated $2,000, but the students are looking for the extra cash.
“The economy is killing us. We need somebody else in the community (to help us),” Rasmussen said.
Andrea Stafford, one of Rasmussen’s former students who is now an architect in the Chicago area, has teamed up with the class to design the facility, and Kulp’s of Stratford LLC in Wausau is donating a steel roof.
The students’ work will help with rooftop rain collection and storage for tools.
“There’s no electricity and therefore, there’s no water. So, we have to be sustainable,” Halverson said. “We have to put in rainwater collection and the hand pump to pump up water from high ground water. We’d like to put in a solar water pump eventually once we pay for the building.”
