UW Energy Hub

This information is forwarded by friend of Energy Hub,
Niels Ole Holck, who works with WISPIRG, www.wispirgstudents.org:

The Madison March for Green Solutions will take place Friday, November 13th from Library Mall to the Capitol Building.  Meet at Library Mall at 3:00pm.

We are marching because energy consumption, depletion of natural resources, local pollution, and green house gas emissions all are rising. This is a completely unsustainable path and cannot be continued!

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Xcel Energy Press Release Monday, Nov. 2nd, 2009:

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) has unanimously approved Xcel Energy’s application to install biomass gasification technology at its Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland, Wis. When completed, the project will convert the plant’s remaining coal-fired unit to biomass gasification technology, allowing it to use 100 percent biomass in all three boilers and making it the largest biomass plant in the Midwest. Currently, two of the three operating units at Bay Front use biomass as their primary fuel to generate electricity.
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by Michelle Hu, Energy Institute Writer

Nuclear energy and political science modelers gathered together last Tuesday at the UW campus to discuss models that predict how likely a nation is to pursue nuclear weapons. Dr. Clifford Singer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Andrew Kydd of University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Dr. Man-Sung Yim of North Carolina State University each presented in the public panel discussion titled, “Who Will be the Next to Pursue the Nuclear Bomb?”
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DOE Press Release Monday, October 26, 2009:

(San Francisco, Calif.) The Department of Energy today announced major funding for 37 ambitious research projects – including some that could allow intermittent energy sources like wind and solar to provide a steady flow of power, or use bacteria to produce automotive fuel from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

The $151 million in funding is being awarded through the Department’s recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (“ARPA-E”).  ARPA-E’s mission is to develop nimble, creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership.  This is the first round of projects funded under ARPA-E, which is receiving total of $400 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In announcing the selections, Secretary Chu said: “After World War II, America was the unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences. It was this leadership that led to enormous technological advances. ARPA-E is a crucial part of the new effort by the U.S. to spur the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, creating thousands of new jobs and helping cut carbon pollution.”

The grants will go to projects with lead researchers in 17 states. Of the lead recipients, 43% are small businesses, 35% are educational institutions, and 19% are large corporations. In supporting these teams, ARPA-E seeks to bring together America’s brightest energy innovators to pioneer a low cost, secure, and low carbon energy future for the nation.

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Hoover Dam, photo by Mitch Epstein

Photographer Mitch Epstein’s series entitled “American Power” is featured in a recent New York Times article. “Powerful” is certainly one way to describe these images, which can be seen in a slideshow at the NYTimes site.

Mitch uses an 8 x 10 large format camera to capture these wide-angle shots, which feature classic American scenery overshadowed by the massive energy infrastructure that runs our nation.

Our kickoff meeting was a success, with lots of new students coming to hear what they can do to get involved in our energy future.  To get involved with Energy Hub, email info@uwehub.org with “Join eHub” as the subject line.

The event was also covered in the Badger Herald. Click here for the full story.

Many thanks to our guest speakers, Lauren Azar of the Public Service Commission and Professor Dane Morgan of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UW-Madison. They gave excellent talks about the enormity and uncertainty of the challenges surrounding energy but also the opportunities we have to make a difference.

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The Sierra Club has just released its third annual “Cool Schools” rankings, which judges colleges around the country on their eco-friendliness. Meanwhile, The Princeton Review has started to give each college a “green rating.”

As it turns out, UW-Madison is not on the Sierra Club’s list, and it did not receive a rating from the Princeton Review because of “insufficient data.” This suggests that the university did not respond to inquiries from these two entities.

Why would it not respond? The university should be proud to display its “We Conserve” effort, and it has a good public transit system in place thanks to collaboration with Madison Metro. However, there may be some aspects that UW-Madison may not be proud of, such as the Charter Street coal plant that ran into trouble with the DNR over air pollution a couple of years ago.

Attaining a “green” campus starts with students, who can save energy through their individual actions and push campus leaders to do more to help the environment. One way we’re trying to inform students about conservation and sustainability is the “Why We Conserve?” course, a joint effort between Energy Hub, We Conserve, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Spots are still open for the Fall 2009 semester if you’d like to register. The course number is Environmental Studies 400, Section 1.

It took awhile, but the U.S. Midwest finally has recognized that the industries that once powered its economy will never return. Now leaders in the region are looking to renewable energy manufacturing and technologies as key to the heartland’s renaissance.

With federal stimulus money helping to drive a green transition, the Midwest is determined to get its share.

Read the full story from Yale Environment 360

On E&E News TV today, Gov. James Doyle (D) discusses Wisconsin’s progress on clean energy and explains how his state will be affected by a federal cap on emissions. Specifically, Doyle responds to questions about the Waxman-Markey ACES legislation. He addresses a recent move by Wisconsin’s Legislature to cut $30 million in funding for a signature clean energy fund. Doyle also explains how Wisconsin plans to use stimulus funds for clean energy programs and job development.

Read the transcript or watch the video.