by jboullion | Nov 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Darlene Ramos in The Dunn County News:
The business of saving money also makes money. And so it is with the booming business of pellet and wood-burning stoves and furnaces.
In the face of rising fuel prices, energy-conscious consumers are intent on lowering their home-heating costs — and accommodating these customers is also helping local stove dealerships flourish. Stories from both sides are resoundingly positive.
“We are having a hard time keeping up with orders for pellet stoves,” said Dale Amundson of Great American Homes and Fireplace in north Menomonie. “When one considers that the operation of a wood pellet stove is 50 percent cheaper than propane, 70 percent cheaper than fuel oil and 30 percent cheaper than natural gas, it’s easy to see why.”
Pellet stoves require only simple venting, and operation is so safe that with proper installation, insurance companies regard them as nearly a non-issue, said Amundson.
Check the EPA air quality rating on any pellet or wood-buring stove to be certain to avoid putting unnessary pollution into the air.
by jboullion | Nov 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by McLean Bennett in The Spectator, the student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire:
Several details of a new, multi-thousand dollar “green” coffer need to be ironed out, said Student Senate Treasurer, senior Michael Umhoefer, who helped push for legislation last month to implement an account to fund environmental projects on campus.
The new account would cost students about $20 a year, with the money in the account aimed at funding a variety of green initiatives and environmental student-faculty research projects. But Umhoefer said questions about just where the account money will come from and who will oversee it still remain unanswered.
Those questions, he said, will be resolved if and when the account gets approval from the UW- System Board of Regents. Whether the legislation will even get that far remains to be seen; the $200,000-plus piece of legislation still has to get approval from the student body, which will cast its decision on the account in an online referendum Nov. 20.
by jboullion | Nov 3, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Brad Bryan in the Leader Telegram (Eau Claire):
Imagine driving from Eau Claire to Alaska’s border with Canada five times. Or going around the world at the equator almost one and a quarter times.
That’s the number of miles – more than 29,000 – that 85 Department of Natural Resources employees did not drive during their recently concluded 28-week Gas Free Challenge.
Finishing on Halloween, the challenge coaxed intrepid employees in the 19-county West Central Region to brave spring rains, summer storms and autumn chills. In doing so, they kept 12.39 tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from being released into the atmosphere.
Their goal, however, was less about environmentalism, cost-savings and fitness than it was about awareness.
“I think that once people actually try it and recognize they can get to work on their bikes, it will change how they think about how they get to work,” DNR worker Beth Norquist said.
by jboullion | Oct 31, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Mike Simonson of KUWS posted on BusinessNorth.com:
Superior’s weatherization program held an open house Thursday to get the word out on how people can make their homes more energy efficient. Joe Cadotte reports.
Superior weatherizes over a hundred homes every year. Through the program, they replace and fix everything from furnaces to light bulbs, saving homeowners 20 to 30 percent on utility bills. Superior Weatherization Program Spokesperson Jean Dotterwick says money is available to weatherize 120 homes in the area, but many people hesitate to apply.
“Elderly or older people just don’t feel they have the right to it. Anytime they have fuel assistance we get a notice of that, and we will often send out letters to these people who haven’t been weatherized yet.”
Superior resident Adam Johnson is having his home weatherized. Johnson says he’ll save over $7,000 through the program.
“It allows us to be able to live in a house that isn’t drafty. My kids don’t have to have boots on, you know what I mean? Not boots, but they don’t have to have extra coats on, stuff like that.”
State Senator Bob Jauch of Poplar says 175-thousand families in Wisconsin will receive heating assistance this year. In addition, thousands of homes will be weatherized.
by jboullion | Oct 30, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Chad Dally in The Daily Press (Ashland):
While the Industrial Revolution changed the foundations of the United States’ economy, the dependence on fossil fuels to spur it along created the need a century later for what some have dubbed a “bio-based revolution” emphasizing the use of alternative and renewable energy as the foundation of the future.
Within Wisconsin’s 16 million acres of public and private forest land there lies a key piece of that renewable energy future in woody biomass collecting throughout the forest floor. The tops of trees, branches and other dispersed, gnarly bunches of slash that loggers previously left in the woods is attracting more and more commercial attention for its possible usage as wood pellets for heat and power, and fuel for utility company boilers.
But is there enough? Consider some of the competitors for the resource:
• There are at least seven pellet plants in the state and Superior Wood Products is hopeful it will receive permits needed to construct its own pellet plant in Ino, located in Bayfield County. The company aims to produce 100,000 oven-dried tons of pellets each year, which could generate up to 4,775 kilowatt hours (kWh), according to the company’s Web site.
To produce the pellets – and the heat to dry wood that becomes a pellet – the company will need about 200,000 tons of green wood, said Don Peterson of Renewable Resource Solutions, a consulting firm assisting Superior Wood Products.
• Northern States Power’s Bay Front plant in Ashland will convert a coal-fired boiler to one using wood waste to create synthetic gas. If the plant comes online in 2012 as expected, the plant will nearly double its use of woody biomass, from 200,000 tons to between 330,000 and 360,000, said Dave Donovan, Xcel’s manager of regulatory policy.
• Flambeau River Biofuels in Park Falls obtained a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy toward a plant that will convert 1,900 tons of forest residue into 40 million gallons of fuel and 2 trillion Btu of heat and power.
• Even schools like Glidden in Ashland County have installed wood-fired boilers to help offset their energy needs with renewable fuel.
