Energy Hub is kicking off the new school year with a bang! Come join us for free pizza at our kickoff meeting and learn how you can get connected to energy issues on campus.

When: September 10, 6-8 pm.
Where: Tong Auditorium, Engineering Centers Building (map)

Event highlights:

• Free pizza
• Hear more about Energy Hub and our mission
• Find out about projects and events we’re working on this semester
• Learn how you can help out and take part in our energy future
• Guest speakers:
  Commissioner Lauren Azar of the Public Service Commission
  Professor Dane Morgan of Materials Science and Engineering at UW-Madison

Post-Event News: The SMART COOKOUT was a big success with over 1,200 students in attendance in just over 6 hours.  Read more post-event details here.

Energy Hub is teaming up with WE CONSERVE, Engineers without Borders and REthink Wisconsin to bring you a fun and educational event on Library Mall. Come enjoy some FREE local grilled sweet corn, in-season apples, and learn more about renewable energy, smart recycling, and conservation!

Volunteers: Contact eHub Program Director Nathan Pinney with any questions, npinney@wisc.edu.  No more volunteers are needed for the event, thanks for your interest.

What: SMART Cookout
When: Sept. 8, 10 am – 3 pm
Where: Library Mall

Contact: Nathan Pinney, UW Energy Hub Program Coordinator, npinney@wisc.edu, (608)262-6798

Event highlights include:

• Free local grilled sweet corn and in-season apples for students
• Madison Gas & Electric Solar Trailer—a portable PV array with inverters, regulators in demonstration format
• Midwest Renewable Energy Association will bring a Prius and a demonstration-scale wind turbine
• Info about WE CONSERVE, Engineers without Borders, Energy Hub, and REthink Wisconsin.

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.

The Big Green Bus (thebiggreenbus.org), a student-run, veggie-oil fueled, pro-sustainability roadtrip is coming to Madison Wednesday, August 5th.  This motivated group of Dartmouth College students wants to showcase their green-engineering marvel, the Big Green Bus, on the UW-Madison campus, and promote their mission to help create a future that sustains people, the environment, and the economy.  

Tour the Bus/Meet the Crew:
Where: Library Mall/Langdon Street, UW-Madison Campus
When: 12:00-2:00pm

Learn more about the Big Green Bus mission (short presentation):
Where: Engineering Hall, Rm 3024
When: 3:30pm

It’s time to see megawatts of wind up close and personal.

UW Energy Hub and friends are invited to tour 3 wind turbines near Montfort on July 25th. Plans are to leave Madison at 9am with an arrival of 10:15am. Carol Anderson will give us a lot of facts about the windmills on her property and wind energy in general.

Confirm your tour spot by joining the UW Energy Hub Facebook event

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.

Madison Gas & Electric is installing several charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs), right here in Madison. Check out this story from autobloggreen.com. According to MG&E, this is the first project of its kind in the United States. All we need now are affordable EVs or plug-in hybrids to get some use out of these stations once they’re built.

In related news, a new report from New York found that their regional grid will be able to handle a substantial increase in plug-in vehicles without building new capacity, as long as they charge overnight. The report also supported the argument that plug-in vehicles would support wind power, since wind is intermittent and often blows stronger at night. Plug-in cars’ batteries provide a source of storage for intermittent power sources. But, it’s too early to tell how quickly these cars will make a dent in the market.

After many years of uncertainty, the US Department of Energy finally launched its new program, ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy).

ARPA-E was designated back in 2007, but to certain extent, APRA-E was finally and formally described in President Obama’s speech on April 27, 2009 to the National Academy of Science. A handy summary comes from the ARPA-E website:

“ARPA-E will uniquely focus on high risk, high payoff concepts – technologies promising true energy transformations. The Department invests heavily in basic research and ARPA-E is not intended to augment these efforts.”

Most exciting is the recent request for proposals announcement. Visit ARPA online to learn more.