Wisconisn Solar Tour

A reminder from the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA):

Wisconsin - - Home and business owners around the state are sharing their secret: renewable energy is technology for today! The public is invited to see renewable energy up close during the 2008 Wisconsin Solar Tour, October 3 and 4.

The tour features over 150 sites around the state that are open to the public for free tours. Sites will showcase advances in energy efficient construction, new products, sustainable landscaping and renewable energy technologies.

“The tour demonstrates that renewable energy is practical, reliable and affordable in today’s economy,” said Amy Heart, Programs Director for the Midwest Renewable energy Association (MREA). The MREA organizes the yearly tour. “You have the chance to talk with those who live and work with renewable energy and green building features,” said Heart.

Business tour sites will be open Friday, October 3 from 10 am – 4 pm. Home tour sites are open Saturday, October 4 from 10 am – 4 pm. For a complete list of sites visit www.the-mrea.org or call 715-592-6595 to have a guide mailed to you.

The best way to see these homes and businesses is through a guided bus tour. Guided bus tours will take place in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Stevens Point and Ashland. Sign up online at www.the-mrea.org or call 715-592-6595.

The Wisconsin Solar Tour is sponsored by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association and Focus on Energy (focusonenergy.com). The Midwest Renewable Energy Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a sustainable future through renewable energy. For a complete listing of tour sites or to sign up for a guided bus tour please contact MREA: info@the-mrea.org, 715-592-6595, or visit www.the-mrea.org.

 

Five energy proposals for Wisconsin

From a commentary by Don Wichert, director of renewable energy programs for Focus on Energy, in the Wisconsin State Journal:

High energy prices and potential supply disruptions can prompt creative thinking and new approaches in thousands of situations. Here are five energy proposals that could be started immediately.

The most imminent is to provide innovative and analytical support to rebuild flooded homes and communities with sustainable energy designs.

Wisconsin folks have done this before in Soldiers Grove in 1978. This community effort can be replicated and improved upon using 30 years of sustainable development practices.

The second proposal is to retool the General Motors plant in Janesville to make the new GM Plug-In Hybrid Electric “Volt” or some similar next generation vehicle.

The changing of the car guard from big to efficient is a perfect transitional energy fit and an entire trained workforce and significant manufacturing infrastructure awaits in Janesville.

The Volt is due to be produced in 2010 for the 2011 model year, about the same time Janesville’s SUV line will close.

Proposal three is to get the Wisconsin printing industry, led by companies like Quad Graphics, Serigraph and others, to start printing solar electric “paint” on building materials, like roofing, siding and windows.

A company called NanoSolar in the Silicon Valley has shown that this process can be done at drastically reduced cost. And that’s when the printing techniques were developed from scratch.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our mature printing industry to follow suit.

 

Alliant to retire aging coal plant, build more wind, double biomass commitment, and increase energy efficiency, to reduce carbon ‘footprint’

From a media release issued by Wisconsin Power and Light, parent company of Alliant:

MADISON, Wis., June 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL), a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT - News), proposed today to reduce its generation fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions by retiring a coal-fired generating unit, dramatically increasing its wind power portfolio, doubling its commitment to utilizing biomass, and aggressively building upon its energy efficiency measures, when its proposed expansion at the Nelson Dewey Generating Station becomes operable in 2013. . . .

As part of its greenhouse gas emissions reduction proposal, WPL would retire Edgewater Generating Station’s coal-fired unit 3. The facility is the oldest coal plant in WPL’s generation fleet. The company would also increase its commitment to develop new wind power resources. Previously the company had announced plans for approximately 300 megawatts of new wind by the end of 2010. Upon approval of the Nelson Dewey expansion, the company would add 200 megawatts to that total by the time the new facility begins commercial operation. While the sites for the future wind farms have not yet been determined, it is possible that one of the sites could be located in southwestern Wisconsin.

WPL would also double the amount of renewable resource fuels to be used at the new third unit of Nelson Dewey, to twenty percent. As a result of utilizing fuels such as switch grass, waste wood, or corn stalks, not only are CO2 emissions reduced by offsetting the use of coal at the facility, but Wisconsin farmers and foresters will have access to new economic markets, an ecologically friendly crop and better land and forest management practices. Analysis by researchers from the University of Wisconsin has shown that the 20 percent biomass at Nelson Dewey unit 3 could create economic development revenues for the State of Wisconsin to exceed an estimated $50 million annually.

This proposal, along with a fifty percent increase in WPL energy efficiency savings, is projected to more than offset the carbon emissions from the new Nelson Dewey unit. The potential increased capital costs associated with these changes in WPL’s generation fleet are expected to be $500-$550 million, and are contingent upon the company receiving all applicable regulatory approvals related to the expansion of the Nelson Dewey Generating Station.

 

Sheboygan school district lauded for saving energy

From an article by Doug Carroll in the The Sheboygan Press:

Fail to turn off the lights or close the door in the Sheboygan Area School District, and Gene Gasper just might fail you.

Gasper, the district’s energy manager for the past 2½ years, has the responsibility of educating the educators on energy use. He knows the district’s schools inside and out. Those needing to watch things more carefully usually hear from him in the form of a “building report card.”

He’s getting results. Already, nine of the district’s 20 schools have been certified as Energy Star award winners, ranking in the top 25 percent nationally for energy conservation among schools of similar description. Factors include a school’s size, location, enrollment, number of computers, air-conditioning capacity and lighting specifications.

The district’s winners are Cooper, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln-Erdman, Pigeon River, Sheridan and Wilson elementary schools and Farnsworth and Horace Mann middle schools. The announcement of the awards was made Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the Sheboygan School Board.

Only 117 schools in Wisconsin and 1,003 in the country have received the Energy Star designation as part of a joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

It’s a feather in the cap for the district, which committed in the fall of 2005 to an energy education program and claims it has saved 24 percent in energy costs over two years, even with an additional 330,000 square feet in facilities. Most of the savings are realized when buildings are empty of staff and students and can be shut down at least partially.

For example, about $275 a year is saved when a computer is turned off during non-school hours.

“It’s a combination of education and management,” said Gasper, 61, who has been with the district for 24 years. “You educate them to be more efficient and cost-conscious with lighting and heat.”

 

Insullation cuts fossil fuel dependence, saves money

Julie Kennedy, a technician with A-A Exteriors, pours cellulose
insulation into a blower. (Top photo)

From the blower the insullation travels through a hose that carries it into the house and up into the attic. (Second photo)

A second technician sprays the insulation over the less-effective fiberglass insulation that was already in the attic. (Third photo)

 

Alliant eyes offset for emissions in Iowa

From an article by Jeff Richgels in The Capital Times:

Alliant Energy’s Iowa utility unit has announced a plan it says would help offset the carbon emissions from a proposed new coal plant in Iowa.Interstate Power and Light said it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 800,000 tons a year by retiring two coal burning electricity generating units in Lansing and switching a Dubuque power plant from coal to natural gas when it opens the proposed $1.5 billion coal plant in Marshalltown.

Plans to build wind turbines in north central Iowa and implement energy efficiency initiatives to reduce customers’ electric usage are expected to reduce emissions by another 2.57 million tons per year, the company said.

All of those actions would more than offset the 3.1 million tons of carbon dioxide that could be released from IPL’s portion of the proposed Marshalltown plant.

 

RENEW newsletter posted online

RENEW Wisconsin’s quarterly newsletter contains the following articles:

+ Solar Water Heating’s Day of Superlatives
+ Calumet Voters Strongly Favor Wind
+ Renewable Profiles: Steve & Nancy Sandstrom
+ Wind a No Go in Trempealeau
+ Windpower Projects Near Completion
+ Calendar

You can read the newsletter online in RENEW’s News and Views.

 

Renew those resolutions; switch to green energy

From a story by Sandra Kallio in the Wisconsin State Journal:

New Year ’s resolutions sometimes fade faster than a champagne hangover.

We vowed to learn Spanish…but never got past “Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo.”

We meant to spend less…but those post-holiday sales were such good deals.

We started to save fruit and veggie scraps for composting…but they stunk up the kitchen.

We, the irresolute, are not alone. FranklinCovey ’s third annual New Year ’s Resolutions Survey found that 35 percent of respondents break their resolutions by the end of January and only 23 percent never break them.

The stats are against us, but Madison-area experts are with us, rooting us on here with baby steps to change our lives whether we ‘ve resolved to focus on the environment, education or our physical or financial health. Here we ‘re offering suggestions for those who vowed to go green, act like a grown-up financially, learn something new, and stick to those diet and fitness goals. . . .

Switch to green energy. Starting in January, MGE tripled the amount of renewable power (electricity generated through wind power) available to customers for just an extra penny per kilowatt hour, which will cost the average electric customer $6 extra per month; to sign up, go to MGE and click on “Our Environment.”

Tip: You might be able to make up for that cost by switching out light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, which are on sale through March at participating stores as supplies last.

 

Doyle recognizes excellence of Mead Wildlife Center

From an article by Carlos Gieseken in the Marshfield News-Herald:

To architect Tom Brown, [a long-time RENEW member], Mead Wildlife Center near Milladore is more than the latest and greatest in a long line of buildings designed during a 30-year career spent exploring “green” building technologies.

“It’s my baby,” Brown said.

“It relies on the way it’s built for its performance,” he said, with its east-to-west layout, maximizing the exposure to the sun while framing views of the 30,000 acre wildlife area.

“When the sun shines, the building smiles,” he said.

The Philadelphia native who moved to Stevens Point in 1977 was smiling when Gov. Jim Doyle presented the 2006 Excellence in Sustainable Design and Construction Award, given for sustainable design of a state project.

“It’s probably the greenest building the state owns right now,” Brown said. “Hopefully there will be more like it.”

The building uses wind, solar and geothermal energy, along with a small supply of electricity. The lobby’s biomass wood stove is lit once a day but radiates heat for up to 24 hours.

 

Dane County budget boosts wind power, energy efficiency investments

From a press release issued by Supervisors Bret Hulsey and Matt Veldran:

Madison, WI—This year’s Dane County budget passed by the County Board Monday has a record number of renewable and energy efficiency measures. The County Board budget sent to the County Executive expanded the commitment to energy efficiency and conservation, while holding the line on property tax growth to 3.35%, one of the lowest increases in recent memory.

“This budget for the first time purchases wind energy and more efficient light bulbs,” said Supervisor Matt Veldran, chair of the county Energy Independence Subcommittee. “The best way to reduce the need for new power plants and power lines is to use less energy and buy more renewable energy.”

Veldran sponsored an amendment to purchase 20% of the airport’s electricity using renewable windpower for the first time at no cost to taxpayers. This was one of many measures for clean energy.

“The 2008 Dane County budget invests in clean energy programs implementing our commitment to reduce air pollution that causes global warming,” said Supervisor Brett Hulsey, Chair the Personnel and Finance Committee. “It shows that you can be green and save greenbacks at the same time.”