Going Green? Easy Doesn't Do It

A commentary by Michael Maniates in the Washington Post seems to ring true for many people concerned about energy issues. Here's a excerpt from his column:

The hard facts are these: If we sum up the easy, cost-effective, eco-efficiency measures we should all embrace, the best we get is a slowing of the growth of environmental damage. That's hardly enough: Avoiding the worst risks of climate change, for instance, may require reducing U.S. carbon emissions by 80 percent in the next 30 years while invoking the moral authority such reductions would confer to persuade China, India and other booming nations to embrace similar restraint. Obsessing over recycling and installing a few special light bulbs won't cut it. We need to be looking at fundamental change in our energy, transportation and agricultural systems rather than technological tweaking on the margins, and this means changes and costs that our current and would-be leaders seem afraid to discuss. Which is a pity, since Americans are at their best when they're struggling together, and sometimes with one another, toward difficult goals.

Environmental Summit, St. Norberts, Dec. 5

St. Norberts will host an Environmental Summit:

This event will introduce participants to the Business/Natural Environment interface. We will address the confusion and hype surrounding the topic of sustainability from a business perspective. The triple bottom line strategy of economy, equity and environment will be presented using both local and international success cases involving our presenters.

The Summit is targeted at leaders in business, education, the community and students. If you have questions about the impact of global warming, sustainability, and greening on your organization, you owe it to yourself to attend this dynamic, interactive program. We will outline how you can help your firm become a high performance organization utilizing a strategy that employs environment, people and economics.

Global warming task force proposals now online

From Mike Neuman, author of "Conserve, NOW!: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Other Environmental Costs by Offering Financial Incentives that Reward Less Driving, Flying and Home Energy Use", November 1, 2000

The public has an opportunity to review and comment on Draft Policy Templates prepared by work groups of the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming on: Transportation; Conservation and Energy Efficiency; Industry; Electric Generation and Supply; and Carbon Tax/Cap and Trade. The draft templates are now posted and available on the DNR's web site.

Each Task Force work group prepared a series of templates containing various policy options which the DNR says "may" reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin.

Comments on the templates are due to the corresponding work group contact by either November 27th, December 1st, December 6th or December 8th, depending on which policy templates you are submitting comments on.

The DNR site says the Work Groups will revise their policies after considering comments they received from the public. They are to submit their final policy templates to the Governor's Task Force "around the end of the year", according to the DNR.

UW-Green Bay seeks return to Eco-U

From an article by Sean Ryan in The Daily Reporter:

In an attempt to reclaim some of its 1960s glory as Eco-U, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is going to try heating its buildings with biodiesel.

The college was one of four UW campuses that Gov. Jim Doyle wanted to become energy independent — meaning it doesn’t pull any power from outside utilities — by 2012.

The idea of burning biodiesel rather than natural gas in the boiler that heats the university’s buildings is one part of that broader effort, said John Katers, associate professor of natural and applied sciences at UW-Green Bay. And if it succeeds, the university might get the same kind of attention it received in the 1960s, when Harpers magazine dubbed it Eco-U for the university’s environmental education programs, Katers said.

Katers also serves on the Operations Committee of the Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program.

Governors sign energy pact to cut use, build new resources

From an Associated Press story by Emily Fedrix in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The region's governors signed an agreement Thursday to work together to reduce energy consumption, focus more on renewable energy and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The noon signing was part of a regional summit on energy and climate change hosted by the Midwestern Governors Association.

The office of Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, chairman of the 12-member group, said the Midwest can lead the nation in renewable energy.

"Our strong manufacturing base and rich agricultural industries, along with the wealth of resources in our vast northern forests and our world-leading research universities, position the Midwest to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy," he said in a statement released by his office.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, co-host of the summit, said the agreement could serve as a national model.

"We're a little bit smaller and more nimble than the federal government," Pawlenty said.

The plan calls for a reduction in carbon emissions of between 60 percent and 80 percent. The group will work together to determine limits for each state, Canter said. . . .

The agreement calls for a number of other changes by 2015, including:

- Reducing energy consumption by 2 percent, with a 2 percent reduction each year after that.

- Offering the ethanol-based gasoline known as E-85 at 15 percent of gas stations, up from the current 3 percent.

- Generating 10 percent of the region's electricity from renewable resources. By 2030, that portion should be 30 percent.

Introductory renewable energy workshops,Nov. 17

We Energies is sponsoring 2 two-hour workshops next Saturday, November 17, in Room E114 of the new ECAM Center on MATC's Oak Creek Campus in cooperation with MATC and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA). Both workshops will be taught by Jim Funk for MREA.

10 AM to Noon: Introduction to Renewable Energy Systems
This two-hour workshop covers renewable energy systems (solar electric, solar hot water, solar thermal and small wind systems) for the residential and small business setting, 10 steps to install a renewable energy system and available financial incentives.

1 to 3 PM: Solar PV Systems for Homeowners
This two-hour workshop covers solar photovoltaic (PV) technology basics, making solar PV work in Wisconsin, determining if your site is solar ready, sizing a system to meet your needs, obtaining financial incentives and selecting an installer.

The official street address of Milwaukee Area Technical College's Oak Creek campus is 6665 South Howell Avenue, Oak Creek, WI.

If you're driving from downtown Milwaukee, go south on I-43 approximately 8 miles to the first exit past the airport at College Avenue; drive east about a mile on College to the MATC entrance on the right. The ECAM Center is on the west end of the Oak Creek campus.

Each workshop includes handouts and Focus on Energy fact sheets. Demonstration equipment will be available for viewing and hands-on activities are included in the Solar PV Systems for Homeowners workshop. The workshops have no prerequisites. You may attend one or both workshops. The cost is $15 per workshop or $5 for any We Energies Energy for Tomorrow® residential, small business or large business customer.

To register, phone George Stone, MATC instructor, at 414-297-7430.

How are wind farms regulated and permitted?

From an article by Gina Duwe in The Janesville Gazette clearly outlines process and issues in siting wind turbines in Wisconsin:

A new crop is sprouting in Wisconsin.

In windy areas of the state, utility and renewable energy companies are planting wind farms that will help the state meet its mandate of producing 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.

But that’s not the only reason utility companies are attracted to wind energy, said Michael Vickerman, executive director of Renew Wisconsin.

-- With tax credits, wind energy can compete with natural gas or coal generation plants.

“If a utility were to build something new, all three are roughly competitive,” Vickerman said.

-- Wind is the only renewable energy that can be scaled up to the utility size, he said. For example, 2,000 homes each with a solar electrical system would be needed to match one commercial wind turbine, he said.

“We expect wind to account for about 90 percent of all renewable electricity required under the law,” he said.

-- The cost to produce wind energy doesn’t increase over time, Vickerman said.

“Ninety percent of the cost is wrapped up in original generating equipment,” he said.

Wisconsin has 53 megawatts being generated by 55 commercial wind turbines, although several other projects are being planned, permitted and or built.

The state Public Service Commission has approved three projects in the Fox River Valley, and We Energies announced plans last month to build a 100 MW project in central Wisconsin.

“There’s no shortage of projects in the pipeline or development queue,” Vickerman said.

So how are the farms regulated and permitted?

The fuel of the future? Say 'cheese'

From a story in the Oshkosh Northwestern:

STRATFORD — What will the fuel of the future look like and where will it come from?

Prepare for a variety of fuels from many sources, says Wisconsin entrepreneur Joe Van Groll whose start-up renewable energy company produces both ethanol and bio-diesel without a single corn kernel or soybean in sight.

The Grand Meadow Energy LLC near Stratford trucks in waste from surrounding cheese plants and raw canola oil from a nearby farm.

"There is no one silver bullet," Van Groll said in a press release. "The silver bullets are already out there — taking waste streams and turning them into profit centers."

Van Groll bought the Grand Meadow Coop cheese plant when it closed more than three years ago, converted it and with $29,000 from the state's Agricultural Development and Diversification grant program, began testing what is now a trade secret. Today, customers buy a license to use the yeast-based technology he developed with help from the grant.

As concerns about the environmental and societal impact of corn-based ethanol rise, he lists the advantages of his method.

"I don't use energy; I put it back on the grid. I don't slurp up water; I purify and recycle it. I don't push up food costs; I dispose of waste," he said.

Van Groll is a 13-year veteran of the state's cheese industry, and his process focuses on permeate, a by-product of cheese making. But Van Groll says the technology can be used on a variety of waste streams and he sees no end in sight to its application.

Photos of FDL wind project construction

Fond du Lac Reporter photographer Patrick Flood documents progress on the Forward Wind Energy Project in a gallery posted on the paper's Web site.

One of the photo captions highlights the short-term economics of renewable energy for Wisconsin:

Rodney Borkenhagen of Appleton, a union iron worker for White Construction, checks over the very tip of one of the blades of a wind turbine about to be raised near Leroy Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. The wind tower os one of 66 locations in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties being built by Michels corporation of Brownsville as part of the Forward Wind Energy Project. The towers will be 262 feet high, with 122 foot blades, each blade weighing 14,000 lbs.