by Ed Blume | Sep 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? Two important news pieces for today:
The bad news comes from a press release
from Grothman this morning who wishes to introduce a bill freezing the
Renewable Portfolio Standard at 2012 levels. Certainly a step backwards.
The good news for renewable energy comes from an article in the Harold Times Reporter Charlie Matthews.
“MANITOWOC — Richard Heyroth, 82, doesn’t have a
“NIMBY” — Not In My Back Yard — attitude when it comes to erecting
499-foot wind towers on his dairy farm on Benzinger Road in the town of
Mishicot.
Quite the opposite.
“I
believe in alternative energy and wind turbines do not pollute,” said
Heyroth, who has signed a lease with Hubertus, Wis.-based EE Services
that may lead to the erection of four giant turbines on his land by the
end of 2013.”
This article still notes the controversies surrounding the project, but it’s looking hopeful.
by Ed Blume | Aug 31, 2012 | Uncategorized
Anti-wind forces plan to flood the meeting of the Town of Sherman (Sheboygan County) board to protest a four-turbine project proposed by Emerging Energies, a Wisconsin company.
The town board members need to hear from pro-wind advocates like you!
Can you possibly attend a pre-meeting at 5:30 on September 4 at Kettleview RE and then go to the public hearing?
Maureen Faller, co-owner of Kettleview RE, wrote a terrific guest column to lay out the benefits of wind energy, and she will lead the pre-meeting to give you ideas for what you might say if you want to speak during the public hearing.
You don’t have to say anything, if you don’t want to. Your presence will speak volumes!
The anti-wind forces ran ads in local papers to turn rally more people to their obstructionist effort.
We’re up against well-funded, well-organized zealots!
Speak up for wind!!
by Ed Blume | Aug 31, 2012 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; read the whole article here.
Study seeks data on mid-water winds
The notion is intoxicating: Capture the wind that has buffeted boaters on the Great Lakes for centuries and convert it into clean, renewable energy. But one important piece of data has been missing: We don’t know exactly how windy it is out there.
A floating research platform launched to collect data on wind speeds high above the water in the middle of Lake Michigan has begun feeding the information to researchers involved in a $3 million project.
“We’re capturing some of the very first data,” said Arnold “Arn” Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University in Muskegon, which is leading the research. “The wind data that we’re bringing on shore – when I brought the first data cards on shore, I felt like I was bringing gold bullion.”
The WindSentinel research platform, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Michigan, We Energies and the Sierra Club, uses laser-pulse radar technology to gather information about wind speeds at heights in excess of 500 feet above water.
A partnership of Axys Technologies in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a Virginia company called Catch the Wind incorporated the laser and radar technology into a wind-measuring platform that is powered with renewable energy sources – primarily wind and solar, but also biodiesel. The platform was the first one deployed in North America and the only one on the Great Lakes. Another was deployed recently in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey.
Previous Great Lakes studies have indicated there are strong winds midlake, but wind monitors in the lake today measure wind speeds at only 10 to 12 feet off the water, well below the height that would be used to generate electricity from wind. There has been no hard data documenting wind speeds at the height where a turbine’s blades would turn.
Preliminary results from the new project look promising: Data from June showed an average wind speed of 22 mph 410 feet above the water.
Based on our early assessments of the average data that we’re gathering, there clearly is a very robust wind resource out over Lake Michigan,” Boezaart said. Wind speeds over 15 to 20 mph are considered commercially viable for wind generation, he said.
Read more…
by jboullion | Aug 31, 2012 | Uncategorized
From an article in the Journal Sentinel, read the whole article here.
Study seeks data on mid-water winds
The notion is intoxicating: Capture the wind that has buffeted boaters on the Great Lakes for centuries and convert it into clean, renewable energy. But one important piece of data has been missing: We don’t know exactly how windy it is out there.
Soon, we will.
A floating research platform launched to collect data on wind speeds high above the water in the middle of Lake Michigan has begun feeding the information to researchers involved in a $3 million project.
“We’re capturing some of the very first data,” said Arnold “Arn” Boezaart, director of the Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center at Grand Valley State University in Muskegon, which is leading the research. “The wind data that we’re bringing on shore – when I brought the first data cards on shore, I felt like I was bringing gold bullion.”
The WindSentinel research platform, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Michigan, We Energies and the Sierra Club, uses laser-pulse radar technology to gather information about wind speeds at heights in excess of 500 feet above water.
A partnership of Axys Technologies in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a Virginia company called Catch the Wind incorporated the laser and radar technology into a wind-measuring platform that is powered with renewable energy sources – primarily wind and solar, but also biodiesel. The platform was the first one deployed in North America and the only one on the Great Lakes. Another was deployed recently in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey.
Previous Great Lakes studies have indicated there are strong winds midlake, but wind monitors in the lake today measure wind speeds at only 10 to 12 feet off the water, well below the height that would be used to generate electricity from wind. There has been no hard data documenting wind speeds at the height where a turbine’s blades would turn.
Preliminary results from the new project look promising: Data from June showed an average wind speed of 22 mph 410 feet above the water.
“Based on our early assessments of the average data that we’re gathering, there clearly is a very robust wind resource out over Lake Michigan,” Boezaart said. Wind speeds over 15 to 20 mph are considered commercially viable for wind generation, he said.
Read more…
by jboullion | Aug 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
A letter to the editor of the Sheboygan Press written by Maureen Faller, a member of the board of directors of RENEW and co-owner of Kettle View Renewable Energy:
It is not surprising that the proposed Windy Acres Wind Farm project in the Town of Sherman has become a highly emotional debate. However, as a citizen, tax payer and small business owner in the Town of Sherman, I am concerned about the vast amount of misleading information that is being circulated throughout our community.
We’ve been barraged with flyers of burning wind turbines, yet the likelihood of this occurring is less than .001% based on 165,000 wind turbines installed worldwide. By comparison, our local fire department was dispatched to two car fires this month alone.
We’ve heard about the wind turbines affecting our property values, however an independent study conducted by the firm Poletti and Associates recently concluded otherwise. In Kewaunee County, which hosts two of the oldest commercial wind projects in the United States, their report suggests no statistically significant effect on the sale of homes or construction of new homes. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that existing wind development in Wisconsin has depressed property values statewide. In fact, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance on property values and levies, in Fond du Lac County, equalized valuation actually increased by 1.2% during that time, while Dodge and Kewaunee counties managed smaller declines than the statewide average during that period.
We’ve been told of the ensuing health effects that will plague our families and animals. However, thorough studies by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Australian Government National Health & Medical Research Council, the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario, Canada and the United Kingdom have each concluded that wind turbines do not pose a health threat. More recently, Kitty Rhoades, the Deputy Secretary of the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Governor Walker appointee, could not have been more clear when she affirmed Wisconsin’s stance that the “levels of noise, flicker and infrasound measured from wind turbines at current setback distances do not reach those that have been associated with objective physical health effects.”
Senator Grothman recently insinuated that a wind farm was not welcome in the Town of Sherman. Considering that the July 24 town meeting was attended by more people from Brown County, Manitowoc County and other areas outside our township, I find the senator’s assessment quite presumptive. He may be interested in knowing that recent polling shows that 85% of his fellow Wisconsinites support an increased use of wind power to meet our energy needs, because wind power provides safe, homegrown energy and creates family-supporting jobs across the state.
It is important that we recognize the benefits of the proposed wind farm in the Town of Sherman and do not allow a vocal minority to control this important debate. This is precisely what the anti-wind groups hope to achieve. Deceptive propaganda is their only weapon, because the benefits of sustainable, clean energy and local job creation are irrefutable. Questioning their allegations, asking them for independent third-party data and educating ourselves is our greatest defense. There is truth in education. As quoted by the Dalai Lama “Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”
