Some good ideas from The Daily Green. We'll run a couple a day:Have you started to think about positive changes for next year? Please send us your ideas as we work together in 2013 for a better, healthier world:Avoid Waste: RecycleCost: $0For every trash can of waste you put outside for the trash collector, about 70 trash cans of waste are used in order to create that trash. To reduce the amount of waste you produce, buy products in returnable and recyclable containers and recycle as much as you can..
The old Shell Oil terminal at the Port of Milwaukee has been sold to a New York-based biodiesel company that plans to use the terminal for distributing biodiesel and other renewable fuels in the Midwest.
The terminal, built in the 1950s, includes a 20,000 square foot warehouse, offices and a garage. It also has access to railroad service and an idled connection to a petroleum pipeline.
Wisconsin Electric Power Co. [d/b/a We Energies], the state’s largest public energy utility, is seeking Public Service Commission approval to spend $3 million to study the feasibility of harnessing the Great Lakes’ wind power.
With more than a half-dozen wind farms sprouting up in corn and soybean fields from Montfort in southwest Wisconsin to Portage, Eden and Kewaunee on the banks of Lake Michigan in northeast Wisconsin, the real potential for wind power exists on the Great Lakes. That’s according to a November 2008 PSC report.
While no one doubts the potential for wind power on the Great Lakes, there are environmental, construction, transmission and maintenance issues that need examination before wind turbines and towers begin rising in the depths of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
“What we’re proposing is taking the next step forward from the PSC report,” said Roman Draba, WEPCO’s vice president of regulatory affairs and policy.
The PSC’s own Great Lakes wind power study summarizes the various state, federal and tribal statutes, rules and regulations that may have to be changed before any proposal to build an off-shore wind project can move ahead, but these are not insurmountable obstacles, said Carl Siegrist, WEPCO’s senior renewable energy strategist.
Less known is whether the technology exists to economically transmit the wind power from off-shore turbines to on-shore transmission lines. Also unknown is the cost to build and maintain the turbines and towers, especially in winter, Siegrist said.
“A big part of the study will also monitor exactly what the wind patterns are and how productive they may be,” said Draba.
The WEPCO Lake Michigan study also will look at the potential environmental impact the towers and turbines would have on bats and migratory birds.
Develop a green economy. We must also create jobs that will last, and hopefully will not be easily exported to another state or country. Good options are green jobs that will benefit Wisconsin residents by helping the state to use our resources wisely. Right now, Wisconsin is an energy island-that is, a fossil fuel energy island. But the state is rich in clean energy potential, such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. We absolutely must wean ourselves from our reliance on gas and coal.
What's more, these green job projects will train workers in skills that will be helpful in the coming decades, whether they're upgrading the city's aging housing stock, house by house, or launching massive clean energy projects like a wind farm or a green roof.
Mequon - The largest wind turbine on a technical college campus in Wisconsin has been erected at Milwaukee Area Technical College in Mequon, where officials hope that what's been dubbed "Blades of Freedom" will reduce campus energy costs and help train students for sustainable energy jobs of the future.
The turbine, which at 160 feet high and 56 feet wide easily is visible from Highland Road, also is aimed at raising awareness among the public about renewable sources of energy, said Michael Townsend, vice president of the Mequon campus.
Questions about the turbine's appearance, noise and other issues initially caused City of Mequon officials to pause when they took up MATC's request in April 2006. But four months later, after hiring a consultant, the city gave the turbine a green light.
The school purchased a reconditioned 90-kilowatt, V-17 turbine from Vestas, a company in Denmark.
The original cost to MATC was pegged at $150,000, but it has since climbed to $188,000. With $67,000 in grants from We Energies and the state's Focus on Energy program, the total cost is about $255,000.
The MATC portion rose because a vendor that the school originally intended to use withdrew from the deal, said MATC spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl. And after the turbine was purchased, it sustained damage while being stored on the Mequon campus as the school waited for approvals from the city, she said.
MATC expects to recoup its investment because the turbine will generate about 8% of the Mequon campus' electricity. . . .
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