From the announcement of the Manure Digester Summit:
Whether you have less than a 100-head herd or a large herd, digesters can work for you. Come to the seminar to hear how Dane County and Richland County are using community digesters as well as how to implement a manure digester on a 50-head farm.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
9:30AM -3:00PM
Room B-30 West Square Building
505 Broadway
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Cost: $20.00 and includes lunch
From the announcement of the Manure Digester Summit:
Whether you have less than a 100-head herd or a large herd, digesters can work for you. Come to the seminar to hear how Dane County and Richland County are using community digesters as well as how to implement a manure digester on a 50-head farm.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
9:30AM -3:00PM
Room B-30 West Square Building
505 Broadway
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Cost: $20.00 and includes lunch
From a story by Ken Reibel in the Milwaukee Express:
Jack Daniels, co-owner of Milwaukee-based Hot Water Products, one of the largest distributors of thermal solar panels in the Midwest, isn’t one to go with the flow. “We’re not waiting for business to come to us,” says Daniels, whose partner, Howard Endres, began selling high-efficiency water heaters and boilers in 1998.
Daniels nudged his partner into the solar panel business three years ago, soon after Daniels became a partner in the company. Solar thermal panels circulate and heat water, an efficient supplement to natural gas or electric systems. Hot water can also be passed through a furnace or boiler to heat a house or business.
Today, the company designs and engineers systems for homes and businesses, and hires contractors for installations. Hot Water Products (HWP) has trained more than 100 contractors to install the panels, and fields three sales technicians who call Wisconsin businesses to talk about going solar.
Business is heating up. HWP sold about $400,000 worth of solar panels last year, and $1 million worth this year. “We only sold three installs in 2006, our first year. In 2007, panel installs were 10% of our total business, and so far in 2008 they are 20%,” Daniels says.
From an article by Dan Egan in the Superior Telegram:
SUPERIOR — There is indeed a growing awareness of just how precious the Great Lakes are — and will be — in a century in which many are predicting fresh water will become more coveted than oil.
The significance of this can’t be underestimated for a system of linked lakes that hold 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water and 90 percent of the nation’s.
Recognizing the lakes’ ecological and economic value, President George W. Bush this fall signed the Great Lakes Compact, which prohibits most water diversions outside the Great Lakes basin. Bush signed the measure after the compact received overwhelming bipartisan support from the eight Great Lakes state legislatures, as well as the U.S. House and Senate.
Its passage is the latest example of the region becoming increasingly protective of the lakes.
President-elect Barack Obama promised in his campaign to push for $5 billion to help restore the lakes — money he said would be generated by increased taxes on oil and gas companies.
And it was probably no coincidence he pitted the health of the Great Lakes against Big Oil.
From an article by Alexis Madrigal posted on WiredScience:
The nation’s first commercial hydrokinetic turbine, which harnesses the power from moving water without the construction of a dam, has splashed into the waters of the Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota.
The 35-kilowatt turbine is positioned downstream from an existing hydroelectric-plant dam and — together with another turbine to be installed soon — will increase the capacity of the plant by more than 5 percent. The numbers aren’t big, but the rig’s installation could be the start of an important trend in green energy.
And that could mean more of these “wind turbines for the water” will be generating clean energy soon.
“We don’t require that massive dam construction, we’re just using the natural flow of the stream,” said Mark Stover, a vice president at Hydro Green Energy, the Houston-based company leading the project. “It’s underwater windpower if you will, but we have 840 or 850 times the energy density of wind.”
Hydrokinetic turbines like those produced by Hydro Green and Verdant capture the mechanical energy of the water’s flow and turn it into energy, without need for a dam. The problem for companies like Hydro Green is that their relatively low-impact turbines are forced into the same regulatory bucket as huge hydroelectric dams. The regulatory hurdles have made it difficult to actually get water flowing through projects.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has oversight of all projects that involve making power from water, and the agency has recently shown signs of easing up on this new industry. In the meantime, the first places where hydrokinetic power makes in impact could be at existing dam sites where the regulatory red tape has already been cut.
From a media release issued by Focus on Energy:
MADISON, Wis. (Dec. 8, 2008) – Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative, announced today the inception of a new renewable energy program called Fuels for Schools & Communities. The new program is meant to help Wisconsin schools and communities save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs by switching from natural gas to heating their buildings with wood or other biomass.
“Schools and local governments today are feeling squeezed by energy prices. This new program will allow interested school districts and local governments, especially in the north and southwest portions of the state, the ability to adopt biomass technology as a cost effective and environmentally responsible solution to increasing energy costs,” said Don Wichert, director for Focus on Energy’s Renewable Energy Program.
The new program offers interested schools and communities pre-feasibility studies and feasibility studies at no cost and up to $250,000 toward the implementation of a biomass system. The program complements Clean Energy Wisconsin, Governor Doyle’s strategy to strengthen Wisconsin’s energy future. This comprehensive plan moves Wisconsin forward by promoting renewable energy, creating new jobs, increasing energy security and efficiency and improving the environment.
A recent study funded by Focus on Energy and conducted by the Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC), “Heating with Biomass: A Feasibility Study of Wisconsin Schools Heated with Wood,” found that as many as 25 percent of Wisconsin schools could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs by switching from natural gas to heating their buildings with wood, or other biomass. Biomass, a renewable resource, typically consists of clean wood chips, wood pellets, switchgrass or other agricultural based pellets. This is a significant finding considering Wisconsin schools spend close to $200 million a year on energy costs.
The study concludes that the annual energy costs from wood biomass systems could be 29 percent to 57 percent less expensive than natural gas and save schools between $53,000 and $75,000 annually, depending on current fuel prices. The study included case studies from Barron, Hayward, Shell Lake and Rice Lake, Wis., high schools.