by jboullion | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on Channel3000.com:
WAUSAU, Wis. — A northern Wisconsin company is one example of how President Barack Obama hopes his stimulus plan will help the economy.
PDM Solar in Wausau received a $200,000 grant from Wisconsin’s Energy Independence Fund, which gives money to companies working on renewable energy projects.
PDM said it hopes to hire hundreds of Wisconsin workers over the next five years to mass-produce its solar-powered air conditioner.
“We’re taking a technology that was, you know, 100 years, 120 years old, and packaging it differently and using it in an application that has never been used before,” said David Baker with PDM Solar.
In order to mass-produce the product, the company will need assembly-line workers, engineers and workspace.
The company will build its first solar air conditioner in Phoenix.
by jboullion | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
An editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The economic stimulus package approved last week gives Wisconsin and other states an opportunity to ease the financial crisis by doing more than just making ends meet. Money in the package aimed at energy projects provides an opportunity to move from an economy too reliant on fossil fuels and toward an economy based on sustainable green energy.
As the Journal Sentinel’s Thomas Content detailed in an article last week:
Wisconsin businesses and governments should receive at least $276 million, and possibly more, in energy-related funds from the economic stimulus bill, according to the state agency in charge of the recovery. Energy provisions in the stimulus package include funding for efforts to make buildings more efficient and to boost the use of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Also included are tax credits for manufacturers of energy technologies and for consumers who improve the energy efficiency of their homes or buy plug-in hybrid cars. For instance, homeowners will get credits of up to $1,500 for energy upgrades, such as purchases of qualified furnaces and insulation.
Wisconsin is likely to receive $146 million to weatherize some of the most inefficient buildings in the state. An additional $130 million or so is expected under two kinds of grants for energy-efficiency and other projects.
And Johnson Controls, the state’s largest company, is in a great position to take advantage of the stimulus money for its own work in energy efficiency.
There are opportunities here, too, for governments and their taxpayers. Making school buildings more energy efficient, for example, would reduce energy bills, allowing districts to spend money on textbooks or teachers or to reduce taxes, and put people to work retrofitting buildings. That kind of spending is a real win-win.
Times are hard. But using the stimulus money to help foster a greener economy could position Wisconsin for a healthier and more prosperous future.
by jboullion | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Go inside the core and climb to the very top of a Vestas V82 wind turbine in the Top of Iowa 3 Wind Farm.
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From Madison Gas and Electric’ renewable energy channel Green View.
by jboullion | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Go inside the core and climb to the very top of a Vestas V82 wind turbine in the Top of Iowa 3 Wind Farm.
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From Madison Gas and Electric’ renewable energy channel Green View.
by jboullion | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Go inside the core and climb to the very top of a Vestas V82 wind turbine in the Top of Iowa 3 Wind Farm.
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From Madison Gas and Electric’ renewable energy channel Green View.
by jboullion | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Johnson Controls has begun generating electricity from the largest solar power system in the state – nearly 1,500 panels erected on the northeast corner of the company’s headquarters campus in Glendale.
The solar power system is part of the $73 million renovation and rehabilitation of the headquarters campus and power solutions businesses for the state’s largest company – and will be a showpiece for Johnson Controls as it tries to persuade customers to incorporate renewable energy into their buildings.
Power began generating this month after We Energies commissioned the solar system, said Don Albinger, vice president of renewable energy solutions at Johnson Controls.
The expansion of solar power is timely, coming as the stimulus package was signed into law. Energy experts are marveling at the array of tax benefits aimed at bringing more renewable energy online quickly, such as provisions that provide federal loan guarantees and accelerated depreciation for renewable projects.
“In these dismal times, we’ve got to look for some bright spots, and to me a great bright spot is the stuff that’s involved with renewable energy in that stimulus bill,” said Art Harrington, an energy lawyer with Godfrey & Kahn in Milwaukee.
Godfrey hosted three meetings across the state this week that drew about 500 businesspeople looking to learn more about economic opportunities created by the stimulus law, Harrington said.
“My advice to clients is to get knowledgeable on this stimulus bill,” he said. “Get knowledgeable quickly and then follow the money.”
