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.
