by jboullion | Aug 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article in the newsletter of RENEW Wisconsin:
A start-up in 2006, Hudson-based Energy Concepts because the latest Wisconsin renewable energy company to earn Focus on Energy’s coveted Market Provider of the Year award.
The award was presented to founder Craig Tarr at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s 20th annual Energy Fair.
The Market Provider of the Year award recognizes renewable energy contractors who exemplify the goals and expectations of the Focus on Energy Program. The award highlights a contractor’s commitment and dedication to excellent customer service and high-quality renewable energy systems installation. Contractors who receive the honor demonstrate exceptional passion, intelligence, and dedication when providing renewable energy services.
“Craig’s 20 years of experience in the engineering industry has contributed greatly to his highly successful growth in the renewable energy industry,” said Emily Hickey, market provider program coordinator for Focus on Energy. “Wisconsin truly benefits from having well-qualified businesses like Energy Concepts grow our renewable energy markets.”
Tarr returned the praise from Focus on Energy, saying, “Without Focus on Energy, I quite frankly wouldn’t be where I am today. Since 2006 when we began, Energy Concepts has grown to a $2 million business. We want to reach $5 million a year in the next three years.”
Other articles in the newsletter:
In Memoriam: Bob Gilbertson
Board Member Brings Green Home
Renewables Profile: Jenny Heinzen
Manure Digesters Good Fit
Calendar
by jboullion | Aug 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an Associated Press article by Dan Strumpf and Ken Thomas in The Capital Times:
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is developing plans to wind down the popular Cash for Clunkers program and could announce by Friday when the incentives will no longer be available.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday the department would announce within 48 hours how it intends to discontinue the program that offers car buyers rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. Department officials met with car dealer trade groups on Wednesday to discuss how the program will eventually end and respond to complaints over a backlog of rebate payments to dealers.
Through early Wednesday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.81 billion and are on pace to exhaust the program’s $3 billion in funds in early September. The incentives have generated more than 435,000 vehicle sales but dealers want a clear plan on when the rebates will no longer be available so they don’t end up on the hook for any of the incentives.
“We want to make sure that dealers know when we’re getting close” to running out of the money that was allocated for the program, LaHood told reporters. LaHood said he recognized that “dealers are frustrated. They’re going to get their money.”
by jboullion | Aug 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Peter Passi in the Superior Telegram:
When most viewers think of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” visions of lavish over-the-top houses spring to mind.
But the dwelling now being built for the Howard and Jessica Huber family in Wisconsin’s Oakland Township breaks the mold.
“This is going to be the greenest show they’ve ever done,” said Thad Whitesel, president of Builders Commonwealth, the Duluth cooperative overseeing the first “Extreme Makeover” project ever tackled in the Northland. “This also is the smallest house they’ve ever built, by quite a bit,” he said.
At 2,300 square feet, the Hubers’ new home won’t be small by most people’s standards, but the majority of residences built during other episodes of the show would dwarf it.
The home’s modest size will make it less expensive to heat. But the energy-efficient design of the residence also will have much to do with keeping its heating bills in check. The home is being built upon a super-insulated concrete slab and will incorporate high-efficiency 8-inch thick panel walls and triple-glazed windows.
Although Whitesel said there wasn’t sufficient lead time to procure solar panels for the home, Builders Commonwealth was able to incorporate passive solar heating into the design. The home will be heated with a combination of fuels, including wood, propane and electricity, allowing it to operate with off-peak electrical heat.
To help the home retain heat, it will feature a 6,000-pound heat sink and a thermal-storage wall behind its wood burner, according to Arno Kahn project manager and co-founder of Builders Commonwealth.
Plans also call for a wind turbine which should meet most of the home’s daytime electrical needs. Kahn explained that building in a fuel efficient manner is key to ensuring the longevity of the home, which he fully expects to exceed a century.
“Fuel is expensive now, but think of what it could cost in 40 or 50 years from now,” he said.
by jboullion | Aug 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW-TV:
Menomonie (WQOW) – One local business got some green Wednesday for going green.
Governor Doyle is giving out $600,000 under his emerging industries skills partnership initiative for businesses in green industries. . . .
Specialty Pallet and Crate is one local company that will be receiving some of this grant money. The Menomonie business recycles old pallets and turns them into new products.
“Our business takes a wood pallet that is damaged, repairs it, if it can’t be repaired, the wood is cut off, and that wood is used to make custom or fix other pallets. And then if it can’t be used for anything else, it comes out here and is ground into either animal bedding or landscape mulch and then colored, and sold locally to landscapers around the Menomonie area and Dunn County and Eau Claire County,” says Wendell Noble, vice-president of Specialty Pallet and Crate.
They will be receiving some of the money, in part, because of a new business they created called Bioensertech. That company will make biofuel beginning this winter.
Says Noble, “The biofuel, that is going to be a wood pellet, about that size, and hopefully it will replace coal. It burns 95 percent cleaner than coal and the waste can be used for fertilizer instead of trying to sell it to somebody to discard it. This is made from wood waste, all wood waste, so it’s all 100 percent recyclable material.”
With this new product, Bioensertech hopes to work with the department of workforce development to train current employees and gain new ones.
by jboullion | Aug 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW-TV, Eau Claire:
Eau Claire (WQOW) – A new program aims to teach area residents all about sustainable living.
The UW-Extension was recently awarded a $7,500 grant by the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board to help start eco-teams. Eco-teams are small groups of individuals or businesses that work together to lessen their impact on the environment.
When it comes to going green the options are endless.
“Hanging out your laundry, starting a compost bin, installing low-flow shower heads,” says Erin LaFaive, UW-Extension horticulture educator.
But figuring out what those options are might not always be easy. That’s why the UW-Extension is stepping in with a new program called EcoTeams.
“EcoTeams is a way to have an evironmentally sustainable lifestyle in a fun way. You get groups of people together at work or in your neighborhood or your faith organization and go through a workbook called the green living handbook,” adds LaFaive.
After completing each chapter you meet with your EcoTeam to discuss what you learned and ways to apply that to your everyday life. Topics in each chapter include things like water, electricity and garbage.
“In the workbook, it asks you what actions are you willing to take and you check those off, then when you’re done with the workbook it asks which ones you really did,” says LaFaive.
The book even helps you calculate things like energy bill savings and how much garbage you go through. And with cities going green, LaFaive says now is the perfect time for everyone to jump on board.
