Wisconsin’s newest wind projects in the Fox Valley

RENEW Wisconsin's summer/fall edition of Wisconsin Renewable Quarterly is now online, including the following articles:

Peak Oil Spices Meeting with Cong. Baldwin
Countdown to Solar Tour
Solar H2O on Madison Fire Stations
Global Warming Task Force Report
Wisconsin’s Newest Wind Projects
PHEV+Wind=Clean Air
Small Wind Conference Wrap-up
Calendar

Green Jobs for America, June 26, Menasah

From the Blue Green Alliance:

We Can Solve It!

Menasha
June 26, Thursday
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Menasha High School Auditorium
420 Seventh St.

Climate Change is real. It’s urgent. And it demands that we invest in alternative energy sources that result in good green jobs.

The United Steelworkers, the Blue Green Alliance and the Sierra Club are holding a Town Hall meeting to discuss what the people of Wisconsin are doing to invest in good green jobs and fight dangerous global warming.

The panel of experts will include:

• Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO;
• Kris McKinney, Manager of Environmental Policy for WE-Energies;
• Mark Westphal, Candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly 55th District;
• Fred Schnook, Wisconsin Delegate to the Great Lakes Commission
• Ryan Shryver from Clean Wisconsin;
• Menasha Mayor Don Merkes, moderator!

Part of Sheboygan power plant to go idle

From an article by Erik Litcke in the Sheboygan Press:

Alliant Energy plans to shut down one of three coal-fired generators at its Sheboygan power plant by 2013 as part of an initiative to increase efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, the company announced Thursday.

The move — which is tied to construction of a new $1 billion plant in Cassville — is expected to result in rate increases of 5 to 6 percent annually, company officials said.

"Having a green energy future, that's really where we want to go," said Ken Wilmot, who supervises the Edgewater Generating Station and all other Alliant plants in Wisconsin. "Doing this in a cost-effective manner is important to us. We believe this is the right approach to take."

Wilmot said the shutdown of the oldest of the plant's three units should have little or no effect on the Edgewater work force, since Alliant will be implementing more rigorous pollution controls in the coming years that will require more manpower. The plant's 117 employees were notified of the planned shutdown Thursday morning. . . .

Unit 3, which was built in 1951 and is Alliant's oldest coal-fired plant in Wisconsin, would be retired in 2013 if the more cost-effective Cassville plant is approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Unit 3 can produce up to 75 megawatts, or about 10 percent of Edgewater's total capacity.

Ride free on Valley Transit on Earth Day, April 22

A press release from the City of Appleton:

On April 22, people from all over the planet will celebrate Earth Day. Residents of the Fox Cities can share in this worldwide effort by riding a Valley Transit bus, riding their bikes or walking to work.

Valley Transit is offering free rides all day, Thursday, April 22 in honor of Earth Day. Free rides will be honored on all Valley Transit routes including the Call-A-Ride service that serves the Town of Buchanan.

Statistics show that transit ridership reduces harmful emissions associated with single occupancy automobile usage. Valley Transit wants to help the residents of the Fox Cities do their part for the environment by offering Free rides for Earth Day.

“This is a great opportunity for Valley Transit to show how public transportation usage can benefit the environment and the community,” says Valley Transit Manager Chuck Kamp, “And by offering the Free rides we can make ‘being green’ a pretty painless exercise.”

According to the American Public Transit Association:

* "Compared with private vehicles, public transportation produces, on average, per passenger mile, 95% less carbon monoxide, 92% fewer volatile organic compounds, 45% less carbon dioxide and 48% less nitrogen oxide."

* "A single person commuting via transit, instead of driving alone, will save 200 gallons of gasoline a year."

* A 10% nationwide increase in transit ridership would save 135 million gallons of gasoline a year.

Global warming task force issues interim report

From a story by Thomas Content and Lee Bergquist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

To tackle global warming, Wisconsin should:

• Consider erecting wind turbines on the Great Lakes.

• Reward utilities for cutting energy use instead of building power plants.

• Study the possibility of pumping carbon dioxide from power plants into the ground or sending it by pipeline to other states.

Those are among the recommendations in an interim report that the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming will vote on Tuesday in Sun Prairie.

The task force also will endorse a significant cut in energy use by Wisconsin homes and businesses as a critical first step in addressing global warming. . . .

. . . the panel sought to concentrate on how the state can move the quickest. Its top pick: energy conservation.

If it cuts its appetite, Wisconsin would reverse course and, by 2015, cut electric demand by 2% per year, and natural gas use by 1% annually, the report says.

Other strategies call for adoption of building codes that promote energy efficiency, incentives for green buildings and a directive to owners of rental units to install high-efficiency lighting in public spaces.

To bolster the state's portfolio of renewable power, the report calls for a study by year's end that would evaluate the potential for Great Lakes wind power.

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.

Clean City Initiatives of Interest to Appleton resident

Below is an article on sustainable cities I wanted to share with you. I recently returned from a visit to the featured city, Vaxjo, Sweden, with a group through the U.W. I would be interested to learn how you think we can incorporate some of these ideas here in Appleton.

Nadine Miller
Appleton

European cities tackle climate change on their own
Vaxjo, Sweden, has cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993
Barcelona requires all new and renovated buildings to install solar panels

VAXJO, Sweden (AP) -- When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal would have any impact beyond the town limits.

A few melting glaciers later, Vaxjo is attracting a green pilgrimage of politicians, scientists and business leaders from as far afield as the U.S. and North Korea seeking inspiration from a city program that has allowed it to cut CO2 emissions 30 percent since 1993.

Vaxjo is a pioneer in a growing movement in dozens of European cities, large and small, that aren't waiting for national or international measures to curb global warming.

From London's congestion charge to Paris' city bike program and Barcelona's solar power campaign, initiatives taken at the local level are being introduced across the continent -- often influencing national policies instead of the other way around.

"People used to ask: Isn't it better to do this at a national or international level?" said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. "We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level. . . ."

"We are convinced that the cities are a key element to change behavior and get results," said Pedro Ballesteros Torres, manager of the Sustainable Energy Europe campaign. "Climate change is a global problem but the origin of the problem is very local."

Read the full article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/15/europe.clean.cities.ap/index.html

ECOS Climate Change Position Statement

Excerpts from the ECOS Climate Change Position Statement:

Global warming is a sustainability issue that will have unparalleled effects economically, environmentally, and socially. An overwhelming majority of the scientific community agrees global warming, caused primarily by human activity, is occurring. It is altering our climate and increasing the strength of weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. If left unchecked, it will generate extensive changes to our climate and environment. To preserve quality of life, it is essential we put effective policies in place that stimulate climate-friendly behavior. If we act now, we join organizations, cities and countries around the world in developing and using the broad range of solutions available to avoid the most severe impacts of global warming while improving our economy. This effort requires a civilization-wide response by citizens, institutions, governments and businesses. Wisconsin can prosper by leading the way. . . .

ECOS-Fox Valley recommends the following:

• Educate the public (starting in grade school), our legislators, elected officials about climate change and the urgency to act now.
• Encourage regional renewable energy events to raise awareness of products and sources.
• Encourage the state to be a leader in the reduction of greenhouse gases.
• Support energy independence by increasing renewable energy sources.
• Support state and local grants and tax incentives for universities and other research entities, corporations, and companies to study, promote, provide, and use alternative forms of energy.
• Encourage tax incentives for universities and other research entities, corporations, and companies to study, promote, provide, and use alternative forms of energy.
• Encourage the development of light rail and efficient mass transportation systems.
• Support the establishment of regional and the expansion of local transit systems.
• Encourage the development of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that provide linkage to statewide trails and the development of local systems that encourage pedestrian and bicycle use.
• Encourage municipalities to incorporate and implement sustainable development principals in their smart growth comprehensive plans.
• Encourage sustainable forest management, the preservation of natural areas and the protection of water recharge areas.
• Continue to provide support for incentives that encourage homeowners and businesses to purchase and install energy efficient appliances.
• Encourage the Federal Government to adopt a stronger energy policy and be a leader in sustainable energy use and climate friendly practices.
• Encourage the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere.

Read the complete statement.