Renewable Energy Issue Makes Front Page of Wausau Daily Herald
Wisconsin is fifth in the nation for dependence on coal for electricity, sending $853 million out of state for the fuel in 2008. Why not keep more of those dollars working in our own economy by switching to clean energy sources like solar and wind?
We’ve been pointing out for ages that when it comes to fossil fuel, Wisconsin is dead in the water. Every lump of coal, drop of oil, and therm of natural gas we burn has to be imported from out of state – thus exporting dollars that could be used to bolster our state’s economy.
Well, it finally made front page news.
Today’s Wausau Daily Herald featured an article penned by Gannett News Service staff writer Larry Bivens, entitled Coal costs Wis. $853 million each year.
The article covers a recent report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) entitled “Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal.”
Coal is one of the dirtiest ways to get electricity. Burning it brings consequences not only for global climate change but for Wisconsin’s air quality and thus the health of its citizens.
In addition, switching to renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind will keep more dollars circulating in our state’s economy.
“Wisconsin has the technical potential to generate 4.2 times its electricity needs from renewable power,” Biven quotes Barbara Freese, a senior analyst with UCS and a co-author of the report, as saying during a recent teleconference.
Want to be part of the solution? Call us to find out how we can help you generate your own clean, local electricity from the sun! 715-218-8654
Tags: coal, PV, renewable energy, solar, solar contractor, Wausau, Wausau Daily Herald, Wisconsin
Action needed against global warming
A few posts ago I shared the letter I wrote that was published last November in the Wausau Daily Herald. They asked me to comment on what inspired me to write. this is what I told them:
I’ve been following science on global warming since I was 14 years old. (I’m 52 now.) I understand the science underpinning global warming inside out backward and forward.
It is as counter-intuitive to think you can add carbon dioxide to the earth’s atmosphere and not raise the temperature as it is to think you could throw a down comforter on someone and think you’re not going to make them warm.
(To combat global warming), the first thing we need to do is to stop building stupid boxes. That’s what I call modern houses (which lose a lot of energy.) the building code needs a radical remake. We need to change the code for housing construction. Second thing we need to do is make funding available for upgrading existing homes, And the third thing is to get serious about electric vehicles.
We can make electricity domestically, but we can’t produce more oil domestically. We simply cannot drill our way out of this. There’s not enough oil on the planet to meet future demand. We can make electricity from a wide variety of sources, but we can only get oil from the Saudis and the Venezuelas of the world.
People aren’t taking this seriously. My generation and I are leaving a legacy for my children and grandchildren. I believe we have to live by the saying: We do not inherit the earth from our parents; we’re borrowing it from our children.
-Dan Michelsen
Tags: electricity, energy, global warming, oil, renewable energy
Renewable Energy Will Help Wisconsin
Recently a letter of mine was featured as the Letter of the Week in the Wausau Daily Herald. I wrote it in response to the Oct. 1 column by Jim Maas entitled “Climate bill would hurt us.” Here is what I wrote:
Here's the mug shot of me that appeared in the paper.
Jim Maas’s recent column is a major disappointment. It recycles tired and worn-out arguments questioning the validity of the science underpinning global warming. There is an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that global warming is real, and man-made. It is clear the “science” Jim Maas cites is full of nonsense and half-truths.
Wisconsin as a state has no fossil fuels. Every time a Wisconsinite uses energy, dollars must leave our state to pay for that energy. If all this money were to stay in Wisconsin, it would cause an economic boom.
The only indigenous energy we have in Wisconsin is renewable energy. Wisconsin has a long history of efficient manufacturing. The transition to clean energy would not only help our economy by keeping energy dollars in the state, but could generate significant export revenue if we were to position ourselves as leaders in the manufacture of the equipment necessary to harvest renewable energy.
The potential long-term consequences of global warming are dire. One example: As the insects which are vectors for tropical diseases are able to move northward due to warmer temperatures, the diseases they bear move north with them. Malaria is already on the rise in the southern United States.
The idea that scientists are biased toward the environment is somewhat incredible. Usually political interest is driven by money. The environment simply does not have a heavily moneyed constituency.
-Dan Michelsen
Next post: What inspired me to write.
Energy Fair Attendance Highest Ever
If you don’t see hordes of people in the 2009 Energy Fair photo at left, it’s because I snapped it early in the day just before the hordes arrived. Believe me, for most of the weekend the scene was hopping!
I just got off the phone with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s home office in Custer. They confirmed what we all expected – this year’s Energy Fair attendance was the best ever. To be precise, the tally of attendees came to a grand total of 23,206 – about 5% more than last year’s record-breaking number.
Congratulations to the MREA for an outstanding job of promoting renewable energy and sustainable living!
Tags: Energy Fair, Energy Fair 2009, Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, MREA, renewable energy, sustainable living
Too bad about the sales tax…
Well, looks like we’ll have to wait another couple years for the sales tax exemption for solar and other renewable energy equipment. Governor Doyle went ahead and passed the bill.
You can’t win ‘em all!
Sales on renewable energy equipment are now slated to become tax exempt on July 1, 2011.
Renewable Energy Sales Tax Exemption in Jeopardy
Renewable energy equipment was to be exempted from sales tax in Wisconsin beginning next month – but due to budget cutting proposals the exemption is slated for a two-year delay – unless Governor Doyle vetos the proposal.
Below is the text of a letter hand-delivered to Governor Doyle’s office today by RENEW Wisconsin to encourage him to veto the delay. You can help too by going to the Governor’s website http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/contact.asp?locid=19 and asking him to support renewable energy in Wisconsin by vetoing the delay proposal. (I am also including the email I sent him just a few minutes ago.
June 26, 2009
Governor James E. Doyle
115 East, State Capitol
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, Wisconsin 53707Dear Governor Doyle:
RENEW Wisconsin and its members across the state respectfully request a veto of the budget bill provision that would delay the effective date of the sales and use tax exemption for equipment powered by or used in the generation of wind and solar energy and manure digesters from July 1, 2009, until July 1, 2011.
Though the sales tax exemption might seem of little economic importance to a planned installation, the amount could significantly change a project’s economic feasibility, depending on installation size. For instance, the sales tax on a 50 kilowatt wind turbine that costs $250,000 would come to at least $12,500. That would add several years to the project’s payback.
This year Wisconsin businesses and homeowners have planned and bid on renewable energy systems based on system costs that include the sales tax exemption. Some would-be system owners have delayed their installation in anticipation of the sales tax exemption. Repealing this exemption on such short notice will result in project cancellations and delays.
Customer-owned wind and solar systems will contribute toward the renewable energy needed to achieve a 25% target by 2025. Please keep us moving toward the target by vetoing the delayed effective date for the sales tax exemption.
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Michael Vickerman
Executive Director
RENEW Wisconsin
Dear Governor Doyle,
I am writing to respectfully request that you support renewable energy by vetoing the proposed delay in sales tax exemption for renewable energy systems in Wisconsin.
Our energy future is uncertain. I know you have to juggle many things as you make the decisions that sculpt our future. But please consider this: At present almost our entire infrastructure – from the way we get around to the heat for our homes to the very food on our table – is heavily dependent on fossil fuel.
What will happen when the oil stops flowing?
And when will that be?
Nobody knows.
But I do know this – no one will suffer if we’ve prepared for the worst way earlier than we need to.
But if that day comes before we think it will – and it very well might – then I hate to imagine the consequences.
Privately owned renewable energy systems can make a significant contribution towards a safer future for the citizens of Wisconsin. But it’s a big commitment. Every incentive helps bring more clean energy systems online.
At the Renewable Energy Fair last weekend in Custer I had the privilege of speaking to a great number of people. Invariably those from outside Wisconsin remarked about how progressive and forward-thinking our state is in terms of its support for renewables.
Mr. Doyle, please uphold Wisconsin’s tradition of forward-thinking renewable energy policy and veto the delayed effective date for sales tax exemption on renewable energy.
Thank you,
Anne Michelsen
On, Wisconsin! Sales Tax Exemption for Renewable Energy
How’s this for progressive? Starting in July 2009, wind, solar, and anaerobic digester systems will be exempt from sales and use tax in the State of Wisconsin.
To be eligible, a system must produce at least 200 watts of alternating current or 600 British thermal units per day. Even most small residential systems should have no trouble meeting these requirements.
But don’t try to take it to illogical extremes. The sales tax exemption does not extend to “receipts from the sale of and the storage, use, or other consumption of electricity or energy” you may receive as a result of owning your system.
