by jboullion | Feb 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Southwest Badger RC&D Council and Better Environmental Solutions:
Richland Center–With Governor Doyle’s recent announcement of a new biomass boiler at the UW Madison Charter Street Power Plant to use 250,000 tons of biomass annually, southern Wisconsin has become a prime target for biomass production. Two other proposed plants will use a combined 800,000 tons of biomass per year in Cassville, WI and just across the border in Carroll County, Illinois. Southwest Badger Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, Inc. is holding a biomass briefing on March 6, 2009 in Richland Center.
“Southwest Wisconsin is the Saudi Arabia of biomass such as wood, switchgrass, and corn stover. The challenge is harvesting it sustainably,” said Steve Bertjens, NRCS Coordinator for Southwest Badger RC&D Council. The briefing will provide interim reports on 3 current SW Badger projects– the Biomass Inventory and Analysis Project, Switchgrass Establishment and Harvesting Demonstrations, and the True Costs of Harvesting Woody Biomass in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin.
The SW Badger Biomass Briefing is free to the public and will be held at the Ramada White House, 1450 Veterans Drive, Richland Center, WI from 1-3:30 p.m. on Friday March 6th.
Brett Hulsey, president of Better Environmental Solutions, said, “This Biomass Briefing will answer questions like, ‘Where will a million tons of biomass per year come from?’ and ‘Is biomass production and use a sustainable renewable energy source?’.” Hulsey will also be presenting yield data collected from warm season fields currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
University of Wisconsin Extension Weed Specialist Mark Renz will present the first year results from the “Switchgrass Establishment and Harvesting Demonstrations.” This project is working to quantify achievable yields and develop best practices for growing switchgrass. Last spring the Council established 62 acres of warm season grass plantings on six farms using a variety of establishment treatments on each farm. Renz and his research students are collecting field data on the demonstrations like establishment success, yield per treatment, above and below ground production, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas flux.
by jboullion | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
State law exempts wind, solar, and anaerobic digester systems from the sales and use tax, effective July 2009.
In order to be considered an eligible product, devices must be capable of producing at least 200 watts of alternating current or 600 British thermal units per day. The exemption under does not apply to uninterruptible power sources that are designed primarily for computers.
The law also exempts “receipts from the sale of and the storage, use, or other consumption of electricity or energy” produced by a qualifying system.
by jboullion | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Don Behm in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Building a 17-mile pipeline to carry landfill gas from Muskego to the Jones Island sewage treatment plant on Lake Michigan will save the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, its customers and property-tax payers at least $148 million in the next two decades, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and sewerage district officials said Monday.
The bulk of the savings will come from buying landfill gas at just 48% of the price of natural gas, under terms of an agreement negotiated with Veolia ES, owner of the Emerald Park landfill in Muskego.
There could be additional savings to property-tax payers in the district if federal stimulus money is used to pay even part of the estimated $22 million in pipeline construction costs, sewerage district Executive Director Kevin Shafer said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was in Washington on Friday to learn more about stimulus programs, and he said Monday that this project should be a good fit: It could be started quickly and it is environmentally friendly.
“We’re going to be pitching this thing as hard as we can” to federal and state agencies, Barrett said in an interview. . . .
The landfill gas at Muskego is between 50% and 55% methane and will replace natural gas as the fuel for 12 sewage sludge dryers inside the Milorganite fertilizer production facility at Jones Island, under the proposal. Cost of converting the dryers to burn landfill gas is included in the $22 million construction estimate, Shafer said.
Pipeline work is scheduled to begin in July of this year, with a goal of completing the work by Jan. 1, 2011. Three possible pipeline routes being studied would use existing state Department of Transportation easements adjacent to highways and freeways.
Burning landfill gas in the dryers will save at least $113 million in the first 20 years, Shafer said. And there is an estimated 40-year supply at the landfill.
In 2009, the district has budgeted spending $13.2 million for natural gas.
“This project will bring big savings to MMSD customers,” Barrett said. The Miller-Coors brewery alone should pay $5.9 million less in user charges – an 11.5% drop – during that period.
“This will help retain and grow businesses,” Barrett said.
by jboullion | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release posted on WQOW TV (Eau Claire):
ASHLAND, Wis. (Press Release) – Following more than a year of study and planning, Xcel Energy announced it has filed an application for a Certificate of Authority with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to install biomass gasification technology at its Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland. When completed, the project will convert the plant’s remaining coal-fired unit to biomass gasification technology, allowing it to use 100 percent biomass in all three boilers and making it the largest biomass plant in the Midwest. Currently, two of the three operating units at Bay Front use biomass as their primary fuel to generate electricity.
The project, estimated at $58 million, will require additional biomass receiving and handling facilities at the plant, an external gasifier, minor modifications to the plant’s remaining coal-fired boiler and an enhanced air quality control system. The total generation output of the plant is not expected to change significantly as a result of the project. . . .
The Bay Front Power Plant was originally constructed and began operation in 1916. In 1960, it operated five boilers and six turbines. Since then, two of the boilers, and three of the turbines, have been retired. The three remaining boilers feed into a combined steam header system that can support three turbine-generator sets. During a major plant improvement project completed in 1991, the plant was equipped with an upgraded air quality control system, which includes two gravel bed filters designed to remove more than 98 percent of particulate matter.
Last year, Xcel Energy installed NOx (nitrogen oxide) emission control equipment on the two boilers that primarily burn wood, allowing both to continue to operate into the foreseeable future. When evaluating various alternatives for the remaining boiler, which primarily burns coal, it was determined that expanding Bay Front as a biomass resource was preferred over incurring significant environmental compliance costs relating to the Clean Air Interstate Rule and regulations on mercury emissions. . . .
When complete, the project will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 60 percent, sulfur dioxides by more than 80 percent and particulate matter by more than 80 percent. In addition, displacing coal with sustainably harvested biomass will also reduce net carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to the company and state of Wisconsin’s carbon management goals.
The primary source of biomass at Bay Front is expected to be the lower quality, unused materials that are currently left in area forests following traditional harvests, such as treetops, logging slash, damaged trees, underutilized species, and the cull and mortality classed trees. Initial investigations conducted by Xcel Energy show more than ample supplies of this lower quality biomass within the area.
To ensure future biomass supplies are available on a reliable basis, Xcel Energy is working with the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence, University of Wisconsin-Madison and local agricultural experts to explore the feasibility of developing biomass plantations and grower cooperatives.
“Xcel Energy has been a long-time leader in providing renewable energy from local sources to the citizens of Wisconsin,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director, RENEW Wisconsin. Mark Redsten, executive director, Clean Wisconsin, agreed.
by jboullion | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement on Econumicipality.com:
Toward Sustainable Communities:
An Introduction to The Natural Step (TNS)
Sunday, March 1
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Luck Public Library & Museum
21 Second Avenue West
Luck, WI
Refreshments provided. Please bring your reusable mug. All are welcome to this free presentation!
A presentation on The Natural Step (TNS) Framework, a methodology for planning that provides an elegant, rigorous, science-based understanding of sustainability together with a tested planning approach to translate that understanding into practice. Participants will learn about the principles of the TNS Framework and how it is being applied in communities across Wisconsin and around the world.
Participants will have the opportunity to sign up for a local study circle.
Speaker: Peter Henry, a veteran professional in the field of energy conservation and renewable energy technologies. After 20 years as a secondary teacher, Mr. Henry recently took a position with the Hudson-based engineering firm Energy Concepts, a regional leader in the design and installation of wind and solar energy applications.
A resident of Amery, Mr. Henry is the current chair of the Apple River Association, a citizen group working to protect Polk County’s largest river system. He is also vice-president of Friend of Amery-Dresser State Trail and has been active in both the Amery Natural Step program and the regional Western Wisconsin Initiative for Sustainable Communities.
by jboullion | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by K.J. Lang in the La Crosse Tribune:
Although it’s winter, local college campuses look greener than ever.
La Crosse campuses are promoting recycling and energy conservation initiatives this year.
“In my eyes, the best place to set an example for everyone else in the community is at a university,” said Matt Groshek, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior and environmental sustainability director for the UW-L Student Association.
UW-L students voted last year to tag an additional $5 per semester onto tuition for a Green Fund for renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects.
Chancellor Joe Gow also signed the Talloires Declaration, a 10-point plan committing the university to environmental issues. One point was to set up practices of resource conservation, recycling, waste reduction and environmentally sound operations.
Sustainability efforts since have snowballed, said Groshek.
“The environmental crisis on a national level hits home,” he said. “Students look around and say, ‘What can we do?’”
UW-L is competing in Recyclemania, a challenge among colleges and universities nationwide to see which campus can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste from Jan. 18 to March 28.
UW-L now ranks 183rd among 287 colleges and universities, recycling an average of about 2 pounds per person over two weeks, according to the Recyclemania Web site.
UW-L residence halls are taking on the “Chancellor’s Energy Challenge” to see which hall can conserve the most energy in one month through March 8. A tree will be planted on campus to honor the winning hall.
“The biggest challenge to making conservation changes are getting people to look at the decisions they make on a daily basis a little differently,” said Dan Sweetman, environmental and sustainability program manager at UW-L.
Another La Crosse campus has ramped up its efforts to conserve energy and recycle as well.
Recycling has increased each month since Viterbo University doubled the number of recycle bins and color coded them on campus in August, said Dennis Kolb, assistant director of Viterbo’s physical plant. The university also decided to turn down all building thermostats a few notches to 69 degrees this semester to save energy, he said.
