by jboullion | Jul 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
A low-speed vehicle made by Columbia ParCar in Reedsburg, Wisconsin.
From an article by Anita Zimmerman in The Chetek Alert:
If you’re looking for a cheap cruise around town this summer, it’ll cost you about 33cents to charge up a modified golf cart.
Regulation of neighborhood electric vehicles, as the street-legal carts are called, isn’t currently in Chetek’s code book, but forces-in the form of local man-about-town John Banks-are intent on securing their legality.
If Chetek wants to be a retirement-friendly community, officials need to enact retiree-oriented ordinances, Banks insists.
“My reason is, be proactive,” he urges. “Let’s get a jump on this.”
Mike and Lynnette Leavens, owners of Bloomer NEV retailer Master Cart, can go for 100 miles on $1 of electricity. That’s an inexpensive, and impressive, operating cost-but there’s a catch. If you’re not seeing models like E-MERGE out on the streets, it’s probably because the lack of a gas bill doesn’t make up for the other expenses.
Despite federal attempts to promote use of eco-friendly cars and electric- and battery-operated vehicles, Wisconsin’s strict regulations offer little encouragement. In a number of states, uninsured golf carts can be legally driven through town, but not here.
To make NEVs street-legal, manufacturers have to add a host of extras: a parking brake, specially coated windshield, reflectors in the back, headlights, turn signals and stop lamps in the front, seat belts, exterior mirrors and a rearview mirror.
Those costs get passed on to consumers. Carts sell for nearly as much as a cheap car, from $6,000 to $7,000 apiece, and that’s only going to increase. According to Lynnette Leavens, the 2009 E-merge runs $1,000 higher-and that’s just to dealers.
Although NEVs are classified as low-speed vehicles-25 mph at top speed-drivers are required to have full insurance coverage. Leavens called around; average cost of a plan: $32 to upwards of $50 per month.
by jboullion | Jul 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
From the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters (WLCV):
Just a reminder that tonight is Eau Claire’s Green Drinks at the Haymarket Grill, downtown E.C. 101 Graham Ave.
We’ll see everyone there at 6:30. The drink special tonight is 1/2 off your bottle of wine…bring a friend, enjoy a new wine, and find out what’s going on in Eau Claire’s “green” community!
See you there,
Tom Stolp
by jboullion | Jul 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
A question from AskFocusonEnergy:
Quesiton: Would I save more energy by replacing my old dishwasher or doing my dishes by hand?
Answer: Compared to washing dishes by hand, an ENERGY STAR qualified dishwasher:
+ Can lower utility bills
+ Uses half as much energy
+ Saves nearly 5,000 gallons of water per year
ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers:
+ Use 25% less energy than conventional models
+ Use less hot water, saving you $90 over their lifetime
+ Internal water heaters, which reduce water heating costs by 20%
+ Boost water temperatures to 140 degrees — well above scalding temperatures. Washing dishes with hotter water allows for improved disinfection compared to washing by hand at much lower temperatures.
+ Run quieter than older models — over 50% quieter than models produced 10 years ago!
by jboullion | Jul 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a commentary by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin, July 12, 2009:
In a unanimous vote, the Public Service Commission (PSC) recently cleared the way for Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin utility to construct a 200 megawatt (MW) windpower plant project in southern Minnesota. Once operational, the Bent Tree project, costing upwards of $450 million, will be a productive source of renewable energy that will provide lasting benefits to Minnesota’s economy and environment. Since it will be Alliant’s Wisconsin customers who foot the bill, however, it is reasonable to inquire whether the current utility practice of outsourcing renewable energy production to other states is a good thing for Wisconsin’s economy.
Because we can’t see it, taste it, hear it or smell it, we tend to lose sight of the fact that electricity is a manufactured product. To make it, capital is amassed and expended on machinery that convert raw resources like coal, flowing water, and wind into this highly useful form of energy. The electricity is then transported via networks of wires to power factories, illuminate residences and streets, propel commuter trains, and energize the complex communications systems that allows to store vast quantities of instantly retrievable information. It is hard to name a manufactured product that adds more value to an industrialized society than electricity.
Yet electricity’s impact on the economy is not defined solely by the activities it supports. There is as well the intense amount of economic activity that goes into building the power plants themselves. In the case of Bent Tree, the capital used to manufacture, transport and erect 122 wind turbines will unleash a year-long burst of construction work in Freeborn County employing hundreds of skilled laborers and technicians. The work will also ripple through nearby component manufacturers involved with the project, as well as ports and other transfer points where components are unloaded and loaded onto special vehicles and hauled to the project zone. . . .
If Wisconsin truly desires to provide a home to a viable renewable energy economy, it will have to redefine the public interest standards that govern the expenditure of ratepayer dollars. This means giving such economic benefits as job creation, component manufacturing, workforce participation, increased tax receipts to local and state government, and reduced dependence on future transmission upgrades as much due consideration as cost per megawatt-hour. Granted, this is a form of industrial policy. However, if state policymakers don’t take steps to build a solid market structure for generating more renewable electricity here at home, Wisconsin’s ability to compete for good jobs and business opportunities could become hopelessly compromised.
by jboullion | Jul 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Statement by Michael Vickerman, Executive Director, RENEW Wisconsin, on Public Service Commission approval of the Bent Tree Windpower Plant:
The Public Service Commission today cleared the way for Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin utility to construct a 200 MW windpower plant project in southern Minnesota. Once operational, the Bent Tree project will be a productive source of renewable energy that will provide lasting benefits to Minnesota’s economy and environment. Since it will be Alliant’s Wisconsin customers who foot the bill, however, it is reasonable to inquire whether the current utility practice of outsourcing renewable energy production to other states is a good thing for Wisconsin’s economy.
It is true that windpower projects in Iowa and Minnesota are lower-cost sources of electricity than those in Wisconsin. However, when a Wisconsin utility locates a renewable energy project in another state, Wisconsin loses the economic boost from building and operating that project—construction and maintenance jobs, component manufacturing, tax receipts to local governments, landowner payments, etc.
In a weakening economy, we should question the wisdom of outsourcing renewable energy production to other states. A Bent Tree-sized facility in Wisconsin would generate $800,000 a year in local government revenues and about $700,000 a year in lease payments to landowners. It would also create hundreds of jobs for operating engineers, ironworkers, electricians, specialty haulers, and wind energy technicians. Is cheaper electricity from distant sources a reasonable trade-off for lost employment opportunities and revenues to state and local governments? RENEW does not believe so.
Legislative approval of state-wide uniform siting standards for wind energy projects would certainly help reduce the regulatory risks involved in utility development of projects in Wisconsin.
