by jboullion | Mar 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. joined business and labor leaders Tuesday in urging state lawmakers to approve legislation expanding the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority and authorizing a 0.5% Milwaukee County sales tax for transit.
“The current financing strategy is obsolete and can no longer sustain our system,” Hines said of property tax support for the Milwaukee County Transit System. “Our transit system is desperately in need of help.”
At a news conference in the City Hall Rotunda, two days before a hearing by the Assembly Transportation Committee, Greater Milwaukee Committee President Julia Taylor, construction trade union leader Lyle Balistreri, Milwaukee Area Technical College faculty union leader Michael Rosen and Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board Chairman John Kissinger said public transit is crucial to connect workers to jobs.
They and Hines recited the statistics: 52% of county bus riders don’t have a valid driver’s license; 75% have no other form of transportation; 43% ride the bus to work; and 42% of residents below the poverty line don’t have access to a car. Cheri McGrath, a blind Wauwatosa resident, added that unemployment is 75% among the disabled, who largely rely on transit.
by jboullion | Mar 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an announcement/news release issued by the River Falls Municipal Utility:
River Falls, Wis., March 9 – River Falls Municipal Utilities (RFMU) is pleased to announce that the innovative renewable energy finance program called “Save Some Green” is now being offered to residential customers interested in installing qualified renewable energy systems and making efficiency improvements to their property. To accomplish this goal, a loan pool has been established to offer low cost financing, with annual installment payments collected through property tax bills.
River Falls is the first community to offer an innovate program such as this. This finance program was based off a similar program, Berkeley FIRST. The City of Berkeley’s program provides financing to property owners interested in installing solar photovoltaic electric systems. Unlike Berkeley’s primary focus on solar, “Save Some Green” is designed for improvement projects such as: solar photovoltaic panel systems, solar hot water, solar thermal heating, geothermal systems, wind turbines, and major energy efficiency projects in connection with a renewable energy project. . . .
Funding is available to RFMU customers with property within the city limits of River Falls. The program may fund up to 100% of the cost of a qualified improvement with a minimum loan allowance of $2,500 and up to a maximum of $50,000 per property. Loan terms range from 5 to 20 years and are offered at a 4% interest rate.
“RFMU’s POWERful Choices! plans to establish River Falls as a model in the state and region by implementing community-wide sustainability initiatives, such as ‘Save Some Green’”, said Carl Gaulke, General Manager of RFMU. “We are excited to see the River Falls community work together to create a strong conservation ethic for a better energy future.”
For more information visit “Save Some Green” or contact RFMU at (715) 426-3467 or mnoreen@wppienergy.org.
by jboullion | Mar 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Anna Austin in Biomass Magazine:
Wisconsin biomass advocates are requesting active support from the public to secure the passage of Gov. Jim Doyle’s Clean Energy Jobs Act (SB450 and AB649), which was introduced in early January.
The bill, which largely endorses biomass energy, will increase the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and cleaner fuels in Wisconsin. “The legislation provides multiple benefits for biomass energy systems and for the first time, introduces measures to encourage the most efficient use of biomass in heating and cogeneration,” said Peter Taglia, staff scientist for the environmental advocacy organization Clean Wisconsin. The provision is part of an enhanced renewable portfolio standard (RPS), he added, which would credit biomass thermal applications from cogeneration and biogas injected into the natural gas pipeline, providing additional opportunities for farms to install anaerobic digesters at locations where the cost to install electric generators or transmission isn’t feasible. The section also proposes allowing utilities to count the heat produced from biomass cogeneration toward the RPS, and improves the calculations used to determine the energy produced from biomass cofiring and biomass cogeneration facilities, according to Taglia.
Wisconsin’s current RPS targets the increase of renewable energy in the state to 10 percent by 2010 and the proposed bill would expand the RPS to 25 percent by 2020. In addition, all state agencies would use biomass to provide 25 percent of their energy use by 2025.
Among provisions that would benefit the production of local biomass resources is a Biomass Crop Reserve Program, which would award contracts to farmers to plant native perennial plants to sell for bioenergy production. Taglia said this program would help solve the “chicken-and-egg problem” of jump-starting the homegrown fuels market, and make Wisconsin more competitive to receive funding through the USDA’s Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
by jboullion | Mar 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Peter J. Devlin in the Door County Advocate:
The owner of a town of Egg Harbor business hopes to generate the majority of its electricity needs from the wind.
Saundra Phlubna owns and operates the Feathered Star Bed and Breakfast on Wisconsin 42, north of Carlsville, where a 110-foot-tall tower and wind turbine were erected last week.
“I’m hoping to get as close as possible to meeting all my electrical needs with the wind generator,” she said.
The turbine is not yet connected to her business. It needs to have adjustments made while the turbine is turning in moderate wind, Phlubna said. There hasn’t been enough wind this week for the contractor to complete the project. Last week was too windy for the final adjusting, she said.
The turbine has been in the works for two years. A permit for the device was issued in December 2008 by Egg Harbor Town Chairman Paul Peterson. Other permits, including a Door County Wind Energy sighting permit, were approved before construction of the tower began last month.
A portion of the cost of the new structure and the generator came from grants, Phlubna said. The first two grants she sought were turned down. In reapplying, Wisconsin’s Focus On Energy program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development grant program provided some of the funds needed.
Seventh Generation Energy Services, Madison, installed the 35 kilowatt V-15 turbine.
by jboullion | Mar 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Peter J. Devlin in the Door County Advocate:
The owner of a town of Egg Harbor business hopes to generate the majority of its electricity needs from the wind.
Saundra Phlubna owns and operates the Feathered Star Bed and Breakfast on Wisconsin 42, north of Carlsville, where a 110-foot-tall tower and wind turbine were erected last week.
“I’m hoping to get as close as possible to meeting all my electrical needs with the wind generator,” she said.
The turbine is not yet connected to her business. It needs to have adjustments made while the turbine is turning in moderate wind, Phlubna said. There hasn’t been enough wind this week for the contractor to complete the project. Last week was too windy for the final adjusting, she said.
The turbine has been in the works for two years. A permit for the device was issued in December 2008 by Egg Harbor Town Chairman Paul Peterson. Other permits, including a Door County Wind Energy sighting permit, were approved before construction of the tower began last month.
A portion of the cost of the new structure and the generator came from grants, Phlubna said. The first two grants she sought were turned down. In reapplying, Wisconsin’s Focus On Energy program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development grant program provided some of the funds needed.
Seventh Generation Energy Services, Madison, installed the 35 kilowatt V-15 turbine.
by jboullion | Mar 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
From WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE – Solar power is becoming more affordable than ever, and you don’t need acres of solar panels to make it work in Wisconsin. FOX6 Reporter Gus Gnorski says some Milwaukee alderman would like to see more of those panels on the city’s rooftops.
by jboullion | Mar 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Richard Mial in the La Crosse Tribune:
On a map of northern Canada, Fort McMurray marks where the highway ends. But it’s the starting point for much of the fuel that runs vehicles in the Coulee Region.
The sands of north Alberta — not the Middle East — provide most of the petroleum that becomes gasoline sold in the La Crosse area.
A pipeline channels that Canadian crude to the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, Minn.
La Crosse-based Kwik Trip is among its primary customers. A fleet of 110 tanker trucks ferries gasoline and diesel fuel 24 hours a day from the refinery to the company’s 363 convenience stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
The Tribune traced petroleum’s path from the forests of Canada to the pumps.
It’s a route that keeps the region from relying on crude oil from overseas. But it also has raised questions about the environmental costs, both to Canada and Wisconsin.
Oil sands
Alberta’s oil sands region yields about half of the petroleum converted into local gasoline. Production averages about 1.5 million barrels a day, and that’s expected to go up to 1.8 million by 2012, according to estimates by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
The mixture of sand and thick, tar-like bitumen is mined from the earth with huge shovels, many of them Wisconsin-made.
Large amounts of water are used to separate the oil from the sand — about two to three gallons of water for every barrel of oil, said Don Thompson, president of the Oil Sands Developers Group. Natural gas-fired power plants provide the electricity needed for the energy-intensive process.
Large-scale oil sands mining in the Fort McMurray area dates back to the late 1960s through the Great Canadian Oil Sands, now known as Suncor Energy Inc., said Thompson, a former oil company executive who now lives in Calgary.
Another company, Syncrude, began mining the oil sands in the late 1970s, Thompson said in a telephone interview.
But oil sand production remained limited until the price of a barrel of oil rose enough to justify the expense of oil sand mining, and the quality of technology improved, Thompson said.
Now, about 208 square miles of northern Alberta have been cleared for mines, tailing ponds and “upgraders,” plants that provide some refining before the oil is sent by pipeline to the United States and elsewhere.
A story in National Geographic Magazine includes dramatic photos of tar sands mining.
by jboullion | Mar 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW-TV (Eau Claire):
Eau Claire (WQOW) – A recent local fire serves as a good reminder to check your gas meter. This time of year ice can build up and the results could be dangerous.
Warmer temperatures mean melting ice, but Wisconsin’s weather can take a turn for the worse, freezing that water back into ice.
“It’s a typical problem with freezing and thawing within the springtime. When you have the dripping off of the roof line from the ice and from the snow, it can fall on top of the gas meters says Julie Simon, Xcel Energy Director of Gas and Electricity.
Energy companies want people to check their gas meters, because the ventilator can freeze over causing big problems.
“The gas needs someplace to go. And so if it can’t vent out the vent, it could have the possibility that it could back up into the house,” says Simon.
Fire fighters were called to a house in Eau Claire earlier this week because of an iced over gas meter. Gas pressure had built up in the water heater, starting a fire. No one was injured, but the damage was $5,000.
by jboullion | Mar 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From the newsletter of the People’s Food Co-op:
People’s Food Co-op and its partners, the Bluff Country Co-op in Winona, MN, and the Viroqua Food Co-op, are pleased to announce the 4th annual request for proposals for the Coulee Region Cooperative Community Fund Grant. This grant fund was established in 2003 by the People’s Food Co-op with a mission to provide supplemental or project-specific funding to local nonprofit organizations that have missions consistent with the goals of our co-ops.
Priority is given to grant requests for educational projects, development projects and events that have a focus on, but are not necessarily limited to, food and food systems, nutrition, health and well-being, sustainable agriculture, cooperative education and social change.
Applications should be received by Thursday, April 15, 2010, at 5 p.m.
Applications can be submitted electronically to liz@bluff.coop
or mailed to: CRCCF Grant Committee, c/o Bluff Country Co-op
121 W 2nd Street
Winona, MN, 55987
The grant committee will complete its review by the end of May and awardees will be contacted. Application forms, directions and more information about the CRCCF can be found at the web site (www.bluff.coop). Questions can be directed to Liz Haywood, General Manager, at 507.452.1815, or liz@bluff.coop.
Past recipients of the CRCCF awards have included Coulee Children’s Center, the Cornucopia Institute, Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School, La Crescent-Hokah Community Gardens, the Women’s Resource Center of Winona, Riverway Learning Community and Houston Community Gardens.
by jboullion | Mar 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Kim Shankland in The Pointer (UW-Stevens Point):
Now that we’ve taken a look at the renewable energy sphere, let’s take a look at one of the leaders in the industry. The Midwest Renewable Energy Association is a non-profit organization located just nine miles east of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Custer, Wis.
The MREA’s mission is to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable living through education and demonstration. They are considered a national leader in the renewable energy field. In fact, the organization recently received a $3.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to organize a regional solar training network.
This organization is a great resource for UWSP students who would like to get into the field or learn more about energy efficiency and renewable energy practices.
The MREA strives to train and educate through the classes, internships and volunteer opportunities they provide. They hold workshops to educate people on the best way to use renewable energy in their houses or businesses and counsel people on how to be more energy-efficient.
MREA property includes a newly built classroom building to conduct more workshops at once. They also have training roofs for students, in order to practice installing solar panels in their installation workshops.
“A great way to get a basic introduction to renewable energy is to take our workshops. All of our basic 101 workshops are one day. It’s a nine to five class that can teach you about solar electric/solar hot water wind energy – one class for each technology. It’s a great way to see if you’re interested in it before you pursue it,” said Gina Sinisi, communications coordinator for the MREA.
The energy fair is an influential event for the MREA, community members and people involved in the renewable energy field all over the nation. Held each June, this event takes place at the ReNew the Earth institute on the MREA property in Custer.
The fair is host to thousands of people from all over the U.S. who connect with and learn from each other as they eat, drink, listen to music and camp.
