Win $10k with your ad for clean energy

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

SmartPower and You Tube have teamed up to give people across the country the chance to create their own ad on clean energy! (and to win $10,000!)

If you’re so inclined, give SmartPower your best video. Details at SmartPower contest.

Brian F. Keane
President
SmartPower

Peak oil underlies preservation effort

Friday, October 20, 2006

The West Waubesa Preservation Coalition (WWPC) seeks to preserve 250 acres of farmland along the edge of Madison suburb Fitchburg.

The WWPC uses peak oil arguments as the primary reasons for saving the land and lays out the following tasks for itself:

Secure land for locally grown food. How will Madison and surrounding communities deal with food shortages caused by high fuel prices?

Teach people how to grow food without fossil fuel inputs. Many people will want and need to grow food themselves, yet have no experience in food production, especially without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Create structures for people to grow, buy, and sell food locally. Most of the farmland in the area is growing corn and soybeans. We need to grow fruits, vegetables, and grains, and to raise animals for eggs, milk, and meat.

To reinforce the message and their effort, the WWPC will show "The End of Suburbia" in the Promega BTC Auditorium, 5445 E. Cheryl Pkwy, at 10:00 a.m. on November 11.

Payback Analysis: An Impediment to Sustainability

Thursday, October 19, 2006

From the most recent edition of Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch by Michael Vickerman:

To a traditional economist, one who boils life’s complexities down to income, outflows and the time value of money, our decision to install a solar domestic hot water system doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, principally because the return is tiny relative to the large up-front outlay.

But in reducing this transaction to simple, measurable flows of dollars in and dollars out, economists filter out a great deal of relevant information that might confound their notions of rational economic decision-making. Though economists will concede that there are other valid factors besides pure price considerations on which to base one’s purchasing or investment decisions, they aren’t likely to register meaningfully in the economic models they use. Instead, these factors are categorized—and marginalized—as “externalities”—a semantic purgatory designed to prevent these considerations from crimping corporate America’s style.

Read the full commentary at RENEW's News & Views.

Energy Robin Hood to speak, October 18

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Randy Udall sees himself as a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Udall heads the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen, Colorado, which oversees the world's stiffest tax on energy use. The tax, called "REMP" or Renewable Energy Mitigation Program, requires owners of new homes larger than 5,000 square feet to pay fees of up to $100,000 for excess energy use. -- The Osgood File, July 31, 2003

Randy Udall, whose father (Morris) and uncle (Stewart) were conservation giants, will discuss America’s energy challenges at 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2006, at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison.

Udall also writes prolifically and insightfully on energy issues and the coming end of cheap oil. His articles include: Stud Muffins and Kilowatt-hours; When will the Joy Ride End?; Methane Madness; Cleopatra to Columbia.

He will also speak at 8:30 a.m. on the same day at the Monona Terrace during the Sustainability Energy Efficiency conference of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.

Sponsored by Madison Peak Oil Group, RENEW Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.

Links:
Community Office for Resource Efficiency – www.aspencore.org
Madison Peak Oil Group – www.madisonpeakoil-blog.blogspot.com
RENEW Wisconsin – www.renewwisconsin.org
Gaylord Nelson Institute - www.ies.wisc.edu
Wisconsin Green Building Alliance – www.wgba.org

U.S. Energy Flow - In the Belly of the Beast

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Randy Udall, whose father (Morris) and uncle (Stewart) were conservation giants, will discuss America’s energy challenges at 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2006, at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison.

Udall also writes prolifically and insightfully on energy issues and the coming end of cheap oil. From U.S. Energy Flow:

From a biological perspective, think of the U.S. economy as the largest “animal” the planet has ever seen—a living, breathing T. Rex Americus,whose energy appetite is gargantuan. If we dissect the beast to study the energy flows that sustain it, we end up with [a]chart, produced at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. . . .Our economy is not, metabolically speaking, a thrifty creature. About 55 percent of the energy that flows into the economy is ejected as T. Rex dung. This waste carries with it a huge pollution and climate burden.

Udall, who founded the Community Office for Resource Efficiency, will also speak at 8:30 a.m. on the same day at the Monona Terrace during the Sustainability Energy Efficiency conference of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.

Madison Peak Oil Group, RENEW Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and Wisconsin Green Building Alliance sponsor the evening event.

Links:
Community Office for Resource Efficiency – www.aspencore.org
Madison Peak Oil Group – www.madisonpeakoil-blog.blogspot.com
RENEW Wisconsin – www.renewwisconsin.org
Gaylord Nelson Institute - www.ies.wisc.edu
Wisconsin Green Building Alliance – www.wgba.org

When Will the Joyride End?

Monday, October 16, 2006

Randy Udall, whose father (Morris) and uncle (Stewart) were conservation giants, will discuss America’s energy challenges at 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2006, at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison.

Udall also writes prolifically and insightfully on energy issues and the coming end of cheap oil. From When will the Joy Ride End?:

During the last century oil has transformed the world. British coal launched the Industrial Revolution, but American petroleum put the pedal to the metal. No other material has so profoundly changed the face of the world in such a short time. . . . Soon, experts say, world oil production will reach an all-time high, an apex, a peak. Then, after a short plateau, it will decline forever. What historians will someday call the Oil Era will last only about 250 years. In 2000 we are closer to the Era’s end than to its beginning.

He will also speak at 8:30 a.m. on the same day at the Monona Terrace during the Sustainability Energy Efficiency conference of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance.

Madison Peak Oil Group, RENEW Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and Wisconsin Green Building Alliance sponsor the evening event.

Links:
Community Office for Resource Efficiency – www.aspencore.org
Madison Peak Oil Group – www.madisonpeakoil-blog.blogspot.com
RENEW Wisconsin – www.renewwisconsin.org
Gaylord Nelson Institute - www.ies.wisc.edu
Wisconsin Green Building Alliance – www.wgba.org

Minneapolis shows success of light rail

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Rob Zaleski reports in The Captial Times on Minneapolis' current light rail system and plans for the future:

If you've been to Minneapolis lately and ridden on its sleek, efficient Hiawatha light rail line, you probably understand why it continues to draw huge ridership. (One million passengers in August alone, according to city officials.)

Even skeptics who fought the 12-mile system — which began operating in 2004 and links downtown Minneapolis with the airport and the Mall of America — have been won over, locals say.

Now, Minnesota voters are contemplating an even bolder step to alleviate the gridlock that paralyzes rush-hour commuters in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. They will vote next month on a proposed constitutional amendment that would provide $100 million or more per year for a network of new rail lines, bus routes and park-and-ride lots that transit advocates believe could double ridership in the Twin Cities area by 2020.

Fitchburg-to-Madison bike trail won't get paved for 2 years

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

From an article by Maureen Backman in The Capital Times:

FITCHBURG - Due to minimal funding for bicycle projects in Wisconsin's Transportation Enhancement budget, a six-mile stretch of the Badger State Trail between Madison and Fitchburg will not be paved for two years.

"We feel left high and dry in the state transportation budget," said Fitchburg Ald. Steve Arnold.

Arnold - along with Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts, D-Verona, and Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin Executive Director Dar Ward - expressed concern over lack of state funding for bicycle projects at a press conference Monday.

Black said the 2005-07 budget for the Department of Transportation was an "unfortunate decision" by the state Legislature that devastated the state's bicycle projects. The budget totaled $5.8 billion, but Transportation Enhancements amounted to less than 0.2 percent of that budget. Black said the Legislature agreed to take away 70 percent from the bicycle fund, leaving 92 projects in the state unfunded.

Work begins on state's largest ethanol plant

Monday, October 09, 2006

From an article by Steve Sharp in the Watertown Daily Times:

Government officials from the central part of Jefferson County joined Gov. Jim Doyle Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Renew Energy ethanol plant at the former Ladish malting facility. Doyle arrived with further good news of a $1.5 million loan to the firm to allow it to start off on the right foot.

Renew Energy has undertaken renovation and construction of the ethanol plant that is expected to produce 130 million gallons of ethanol per year. The new facility will employ as many as 100 workers. The firm expects to utilize 50 million bushels of corn per year, much of which will come from the area.

The 12 Suggested Steps of Oilaholics Anonymous

Friday, October 06, 2006

Terry Carpenter, an activist in many conservation causes, provided the following program for all of us oil addicts:

1. We admitted we were powerless over Oil Consumption -- that our lives had become Unsustainable.
2. Came to believe that preparing for Powerdown could restore us to Sustainability.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of the Relocalization Network and give up the false hope that Technology would rescue us.
4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of our Ecological Footprints.
5. Admitted to the Planet, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our Unsustainable Lifestyle.
6. Were entirely ready to have the Universe remove all the defects of Consumerism.
7. Humbly asked the Natural World to help us see that Less is More and to redirect our life energy toward our Dreams.
8. Made a list of how we harmed Future Generations, and became willing to make amends to them.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, by Living Within Our Ecological Limits.
10. Continued to take an Energy Inventory and when we were Over-consuming, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with the Universe, praying only for knowledge and acceptance of the Oil Depletion Protocol and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we resolved to carry the message to Oilaholics, and to practice the Plan C principles in all our affairs.

The Simplicity Prayer -- Please grant me the strength to reject over-consumption, the courage to live a simpler life and the wisdom to cherish community.

You can comment on regional transportation plan

Thursday, October 05, 2006

According to the Madison Area Regional Planning Organization:

The draft Regional Transportation Plan 2030 identifies transportation improvements, strategies, and actions that will shape our regional transportation system into the future. The objective of the plan is to build agreement on transportation investments that balance roadway, public transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and other transportation needs, while supporting regional land use, economic, and environmental goals.

Unfortunately, the plan seems to be completely void of any recognition of peak oil and the end of cheap oil.

Fortunately, anyone can submit a comment at the bottom of the organization's Web page.

State unveils home energy, heating programs

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

From an article in the LaCrosse Tribune:

Wisconsin will offer a new “furnace bounty” to homeowners that upgrade to more energy-efficient models as part of the state’s energy-saving incentive programs, the Doyle administration announced Friday.

The programs are designed to help working families save on their heating bills this winter, as well as assist low-income households, according to the statement from Gov. Jim Doyle’s office.

“As energy costs remain high, it is important for people to realize they have the ability to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing comfort or drastically altering their lifestyle,” Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton said during an appearance Friday in La Crosse.

The programs also include a new home performance implementation bonus and rebates for energy-efficient light bulbs.

Madison Peak Oil meets noon, Thurs., Oct. 5

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Meeting Date and Time: October 5, 2006, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Location: RENEW Wisconsin Conference Room, 222 S. Hamilton Street

DRAFT Agenda

1.Introductions

2.Announcements/miscellaneous

3.Preparations for Randy Udall speech (Community Office for Resource Efficiency)
7:00 p.m., October 18, Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St.
- Booth
- Sign up sheet at event
- Other

4.Peak Oil for local officials
a. Discussion of next steps for local government outline (attached)
b. Possible collaboration with Sustain Dane

5.Co-sponsorship of events with Sustain Dane
a. Tuesday, Oct. 10. David Korten, The Great Turning Point. First Unitarian, 7:30 p.m.

6.Transportation
a. What’s happening at city, county, and state level?

7.Next meeting: Nov. 2

State firm's crane runs on veggie oil

Monday, October 02, 2006

From The Capital Times on September 30, 2006:

MILWAUKEE (AP) - A Wisconsin company is testing a crane that uses vegetable oil to run its hydraulic lift system.

Most hydraulic systems use petroleum products that can damage the environment if spilled. Manitowoc Crane Group designed its truck-mounted crane to be used in or near wetlands, lakes and other environmentally sensitive areas.

"It worked just like a regular boom truck. No problems," said Jeff Johnson, chief operating officer of Scott Powerline and Utility Equipment, a Louisiana company testing the crane.

Manitowoc Crane Group had been worried that the vegetable oil would degrade or become rancid with heavy use, said John Lukow, vice president of sales and marketing.

But so far, the test has gone well. Scott Powerline has put more than 1,000 hours on its crane as it installs power line polls near Dallas.

Manitowoc now plans to offer its eco-friendly crane to others. In addition to using vegetable oil in the hydraulic system, the crane runs on a soy-based biodiesel fuel.

The company doesn't expect the veggie crane to be a big seller, but a spokesman said it gives construction companies another option.

"You never know where they're going to end up, and where there are going to be environmental options," spokesman Tom Cioni said.

Rules of downtown development

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Hans Noeldner submitted another tongue-in-cheek look at our four-wheeled world:

I am a trustee in the village of Oregon, Wisconsin, a rapidly growing bedroom community of about 8,300 near Madison, Wisconsin. Like small downtowns everywhere in the United States, ours nearly collapsed in recent decades. During the past few months another trustee and I, along with help from some citizens, have been working on plans to revitalize our downtown. We held four listening sessions and a public forum. It was after that public forum I finally comprehended the rules of the game I have been trying to play.

And here they are - the rules of a game called, “Let’s Revitalize Downtown Oregon!” Some of the rules consist of objections that have been raised against wasting valuable downtown parking space on a “square” or “plaza” – i.e. a large contiguous pedestrian area for public gatherings and events. Some pertain to smooth flow of motor vehicle traffic. Other rules comprise underlying assumptions that everyone knows but no one speaks aloud. The axiomatic rules are at the end of the list.

Tonight (Sept. 27) - Moving toward community energy independence

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Local Living Communities
Featuring Kelley Rajala
7:00pm, Wednesday September 27, 2006
UW-Arboretum (1207 Seminole Highway, Madison)
Free and Open to the Public


As individuals and communities are making a conscious shift towards healthier places, the Livability Project has used innovative methodologies to help them evolve towards renewable energy independence and to develop customized solutions appropriate for their community. Kelley Rajala, Executive Director of the Livability Project will give at free presentation open to the public on Wednesday, September 27th at 7:00pm at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum (1207 Seminole Highway, Madison). Kelley will provide insights into the local living economies movement and cover the intersection of a diverse range of subjects including energy, personal health, urban planning and biomimicry.

This free event is sponsored by Sustain Dane, Madison Peak Oil Group and Dane County Buy Local Initiative and hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Arboretum.

Focus on Energy funds solar testing lab

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Focus on Energy supplied the funds for the $20,000 grant announced by Governor Doyle to the Madison Area Technical College (MATC) to cover start-up costs associated with the development of the Northern Solar Testing and Certification Facility, only the second testing lab in the country.


Don Wichert, Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program Director, stands with the ceremonial check from Focus on Energy.

Doyle Proposes Public, Private Investments to Develop Renewable Energy

Monday, September 25, 2006

From a media release issued by Governor Doyle's office when he announced his plans at the Madison Area Technical College on Monday, September 25:

Part of Broad Effort to Create 17,000 High End Jobs in Wisconsin
Governor Jim Doyle today unveiled plans to grow Bioindustry and Renewable Energy in Wisconsin through a $450 million public and private investment strategy – including nearly $80 million from the state - in renewable fuel sources to help the nation achieve energy independence. The Governor’s proposal, which will be included in his budget next year, is part of a broad effort to make Wisconsin the nation’s leader in energy independence and create 17,000 jobs in our state.

“Here in Wisconsin, we’re doing our part and setting an example for the nation in energy independence,” Governor Doyle said. “This new state funding will encourage innovative new energy technologies across our state that will help the nation kick its addiction to oil. As I’ve always said, when it comes to our energy future, we should be more dependent on the Midwest, and less dependent on the Mideast.”

Read the full release RENEW's blog.

Turbine open house - Byron, Wisconsin

Friday, September 22, 2006

Take a tour of the We Energies Byron wind turbines Saturday, Sept. 23. The guided tours take about 30 minutes and begin every half hour between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Visitors will have an opportunity to enter the tower base and watch the wind turbine shut down and be restarted.

Constructed in 1999, the two wind turbines feature 75-foot blades mounted on 215-foot steel towers, for a total height of 290 feet. Depending on wind speed, each turbine can generate 660 kilowatts of electricity for a total output of 1.3 megawatts. The output supplies power to customers of the We Energies Energy for Tomorrow renewable energy program (www.we-energies.com/eft/).

Attend a tour or visit our Web site to learn more about wind turbines, the importance of wind and other renewable energy sources to generate power, and We Energies' plans for future renewable energy projects.

Representatives from RENEW Wisconsin, Focus on Energy and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association also will be on site to answer questions about customer-owned wind turbines and solar installations.

Tour reservations are not needed for individuals or small groups, but groups of 10 or more should call (414) 221-4264 to reserve a specific tour time.

The wind turbines are located at 5656 County Road F in Byron, Wis.

From the south:
• Take Hwy 41 north to Hwy 49 (Waupun exit).
• Go west on Hwy 49 one-half mile to stop sign.
• Turn north on Hwy 175.
• Follow Hwy 175 north for three miles.
• Turn east on CT Hwy F and follow one-half mile to turbine site.

From the north:
• Take Hwy 41 south to CT Hwy B exit.
• Turn west on CT Hwy B and follow for one-half mile.
• Turn south on Hwy 175.
• Go south on Hwy 175 for two miles.
• Turn east on CT Hwy F and follow for one-half mile to turbine site.

$3 billion pledged to fight warming, wean ourselves from oil

Thursday, September 21, 2006

In pledging $3 billion to fight global warming, Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said, "We have to wean ourselves off our dependence on coal and fossil fuels. Our generation has the knowledge, it has the financial resources and as importantly it has the will power to do so."

"We are very pleased today to be making a commitment to invest 100 percent of all future proceeds to the Virgin Group from our transportation interest, both our trains and airline businesses, into tackling global warming," Branson told a news conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

Read the full story at CNN Money.

Public transit to outskirts needed for fewer villagers on roads

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The Capital Times on September 20 ran the following letter to the editor from frequent blog contibutor Hans Noeldner:

Dear Editor: When it comes to motor vehicle "runoff," Fitchburg is "downhill" from Oregon. Many Oregonians frequently drive on Fitchburg's roads and highways, but few Fitchburg residents reciprocate. The burden is almost entirely one-sided, so Oregonians may not care to think much about the effects of their vehicle travel.

And what about Madison? With few exceptions (Middleton), the bedroom communities and towns surrounding Madison impose far more traffic on Madison than vice versa. We arrive from our suburbs and exurbs and formerly independent villages, and Madison had better make room for us to drive and park. Too bad if people in the neighborhoods through which we drive don't welcome the pollution, hazards, and unpleasant side effects.

Do the municipalities that surround Madison have any obligation to restrain our generation of Madison-bound traffic? We have grudgingly formed a Capital Area Regional Planning Commission to limit storm water runoff, but we reject any limits on the motor vehicle runoff we generate by driving wherever, whenever, and as much as we please. Not that the county, state and federal government are doing anything significant to restrain us.

The whole situation among municipalities is grossly unfair and unjust. Even worse, our fierce determination to drive at all costs is exacerbating our addiction to oil, morally and economically bankrupting our nation to import the stuff, accelerating climate change, and rapidly suffocating a once-verdant Dane County under asphalt.

Leaders in smaller municipalities need not do a damn thing.

We can dismiss the worsening impacts of our driving: "Growth is progress, and more traffic is inevitable!"

We can justify the status quo: "People want to drive and we're just giving them what they want."

We can plead impotence: "Traffic problems must be dealt with at the county, state and federal levels."

Or we can point to vague promises: "Our new comprehensive plan includes our goal to 'minimize absolute reliance on the automobile.'"

Truthfully, we have scarcely begun. Even within this village itself, a tiny fraction of Oregon residents walk or bicycle for day-to-day errands, while at least 98 percent still drive.

The percentage of children who walk or bicycle to school has plummeted (nationwide, from over 66 percent in 1970 to 10 percent in 2003.) Streets near our schools and playing fields are so clogged with motorists that youngsters who still walk or bike are often endangered.

And month after month, more single-occupancy commuter vehicles head north from Oregon to Fitchburg and Madison every morning.

We must do far better - we must lead! Establishing public transit in the Oregon-Stoughton-Evansville area will be an excellent start.

Hans Noeldner
Oregon trustee

Don’t be fooled by oil-based fuel ‘savings’

Monday, September 18, 2006

The Country Today, which covers more renewable energy news than any other state newspaper, carried an editorial comment by Scott Schultz:

Ah, the difference a couple of weeks and a few pennies can make. People have started to smile again as they fill up their automobiles and farm gas and fuel tanks; the gas and diesel fuel prices have been dropping, after all.

Sounds of rejoicing can sometimes be heard within gas station walls as people celebrate $2.64 per gallon gasoline — still far more expensive than it was a few years ago, but lower than it was even a year ago. . . .

Stop the rejoicing. It's a trap, if we let it be. . . .

The bottom line: The savings seen in recent days aren’t real, and put into perspective, aren’t really even savings. The only real savings will be the day
when there is a plethora of energy sources fueling our society.

The rural world will be a better place the day foreign oil is but a memory and when the only oils come out of farmers’ fields.

To read the complete commentary go to The Country Today, and click on page 8A in the edition dated September 13, 2006.

Utility exec wants state goal of reducing electric use by 10%

Friday, September 15, 2006

A story by Thomas Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the stockholders' meeting of Wisconsin Public Power Incorporated:

A state utility leader called on Wisconsin to move further to encourage energy conservation as a way to reduce electricity prices.
Advertisement

"Wisconsin's energy policy doesn't go far enough in advancing the state as a leader in conservation and energy efficiency," said Roy Thilly, president and chief executive of Wisconsin Public Power Inc.

"Now is the time for Wisconsin to establish strong and aggressive policies that lower electric bills and delay the need for new power plants," he said.

Thilly issued his call for greater attention to conservation during the annual meeting of the Sun Prairie-based power company that represents municipal utilities across the state, including Cedarburg, Hartford, Oconomowoc and Slinger.

The company is proposing that the state establish a statewide goal to reduce electric use by existing customers by 10% and to reduce overall annual growth in demand to 1% within 10 years.

Electricity demand is growing at a pace of about 2% per year, according to state Public Service Commission estimates.

Muscoda company lights wood-fired boiler

Thursday, September 14, 2006

From Wisconins' Small Business Times:

Muscoda Protein Products has completed construction of a new state-of-the-art, wood-fired boiler that will reduce the company's natural gas purchases by an estimated 600,000 therms each year, enough to heat more than 650 Wisconsin homes.

An open house to unveil the new burner will take place Friday, Sept. 22, at 10:30 a.m. in the company's plant at 960 Industrial Ave. in Muscoda's Industrial Park.

The bulk of the company's wood supply will come from the nearby Nelson hardwoods in the industrial park.

Scott Meister, a co-owner of the company, said, "This project will help assure the financial health of MPP at a time when skyrocketing natural gas prices are hurting our industry. It represents an additional commitment by MPP to the growth of our business and the Muscoda community."

Funding for the project came from internal funds, a loan from Community First Bank of Wisconsin, a $350,000 subordinated loan from CleanTech Partners Inc. and a $35,000 grant from Focus on Energy, Wisconsin's energy efficiency and renewable energy program.

Founded in 1981, Muscoda Protein Products buys whey from local cheese factories and processes it into whey protein concentrate and lactose.

Editorial: Lessons from the pump

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

An editorial from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Despite a year of soaring gas prices, we're no further along at developing a national plan for weaning ourselves from foreign oil. Despite the welcome news of a vast new oil field, the reality is even that only buys us more time. It's not a fix. The United States is importing two-thirds of its oil, and much of it is coming from thuggish nations that don't particularly like us, don't share our values and don't mind wagging the dog by threatening supplies. As for global warming, there's little question among most reputable scientists that climate change is taking place and that human activity is a significant factor. . . .

It's time to take conservation and development of new technologies seriously. It's time for a national commitment, led by the president.

Canadian crude oil production dropped in 2005

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

A CBC story by James Stevenson reports:

Canada's oil production dropped in 2005 for the first in six years as conventional supplies wane, but that should change as oilsands operations continue their rapid ramp-up.

According to a Statistics Canada report released Monday, companies pumped out 858 million barrels of crude last year, down 2.3 per cent from the year before. One of the key reasons for this drop was a major fire at Suncor Energy (TSX:SU), which cut production at Canada's second largest oilsands operation in half for three-quarters of the year.

"In general, this occurred mostly because of lower output from the conventional sector as well as unplanned interruptions in the non-conventional sector," the statistics agency said.

With Suncor's operations repaired and producing more than pre-fire levels, Canada's oilsands production hit a record 1.2 million daily barrels earlier this year, said Greg Stringham, vice-president of markets for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

A major expansion at the Syncrude joint venture, Canada's largest oilsands producer, has been slow coming on line due to odour emissions. But when up and running, the $8.4 billion expansion is expected to push Syncrude's production to about 350,000 barrels per day.

Any increase in overall Canadian oil production will have to come from greater oilsands output, Stringham said, as "conventional oil has been on a mild and extended decline since about 1997."

Lessons for Madison from Sustainable Sweden Tour

Friday, September 08, 2006

Report on the
2006 Sustainable Sweden Tour
Monday, September 11
Monona Terrace, Madison
7:00 p.m.

Participants in the tour will highlight sustainability activities by municipalities, businesses and non-profits in communities throughout Sweden.

Featuring Sherrie Gruder, City of Madison Sustainable Design and Energy Committee; Lisa MacKinnon, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin; Robbie Webber, City of Madison alderperson; Chuck Erickson, Dane County supervisor; Susan Schmitz, Downtown Madison Inc.

Sponsored by Sustain Dane and Madison Peak Oil Group.

More information at Sustain Dane.

Lessons for Madison from Sustainable Sweden Tour

Report on the
2006 Sustainable Sweden Tour
Monona Terrace, Madison
7:00 p.m.

Participants in the tour will highlight sustainability activities by municipalities, businesses and non-profits in communities throughout Sweden.

Featuring Sherrie Gruder, City of Madison Sustainable Design and Energy Committee; Lisa MacKinnon, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin; Robbie Webber, City of Madison alderperson; Chuck Erickson, Dane County supervisor; Susan Schmitz, Downtown Madison Inc.

Sponsored by Sustain Dane and Madison Peak Oil Group.

More information at article by John Myers in the Duluth News Tribure:

The Sierra Club has criticized large-scale biomass projects because they encourage public land managers to cut even more trees from forests already heavily logged for mills, said Clyde Hanson of Tofte, Sierra Club activist.

"All biomass has an ecological function. Removing it takes nutrients and organic material out of the land. Do it long enough and the biological productivity of the soil falls," Hanson said.

Hanson said Minnesota taxpayers and electricity customers will end up paying more as biomass projects are subsidized. Because of the impact on the forest, Hanson said biomass shouldn't be considered "green" energy.

But Mike Demchik, a forestry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point who is studying the test plots before and after biomass harvesting, said more than enough woody debris is left behind at biomass harvesting sites.

"We're trying to figure out what we can take out and not have a negative impact," Demchik said. "But they're never going to take everything off a site. There's always some material left behind."

The key, Demchik said, is the fertility of the soil. And most forest soil in Minnesota is up to the task.

"I'm really excited about this," Demchik said. "It can help reduce fire danger in some spots where there's no interest from traditional markets. This won't work everywhere. But it should work at enough locations to make it viable."

New Gulf of Mexico oil find isn't much

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Despite the the excitement of news headline writers, the reported discovery of a new Gulf of Mexico oil field will, at best, only slow the decline in annual U.S. production in coming years.

According to various news stories:

It could be the biggest domestic oil find in 38 years, but production is years away, and even then it won't reverse the nation's growing reliance on imports or have any meaningful effect at the gasoline pump.

A group led by Chevron has tapped a petroleum pool that lies 270 miles south of New Orleans in a region that could hold up to 15 billion barrels of oil — more than Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.

Experts predicted Chevron's successful test drill in its Walker Ridge area some 5.3 miles below the gulf waters may lead to 750,000 barrels of new daily U.S. crude-oil production within six years.

However, according to The Seattle Times version of the news:

Some analysts urged caution in inferring too much, too soon.

"One well doesn't tell you a lot of information," said Matthew Simmons, a Houston investment banker and author of "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the Global Economy."

The Associated Press story also dampened the significance of the find:

``It's a nice positive, but the US still has a big difference between its consumption and indigenous production," said Art Smith, chief executive of energy consultant John S. Herold. ``We'll still be importing more than 50 percent of our oil needs."

End of cheap oil will trump teens' freedom

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Hans Noeldner sent the following letter to the editor in response to a story titled For Teens, Freedom:

Dear Editor:

The Wisconsin State Journal stubbornly refuses to connect the dots.

To see what I mean, read the September 1, 2006 lead story “For Teens, Freedom; For Parents, Worry”, and try to find any of the following words: “addiction”, “oil”, “Iraq”, “sprawl”, “global”, or “warming”. No luck? Isn’t it astonishing that Madison’s largest newspaper fails to discern any noteworthy relationship between these looming crises and that most important milestone in the life of adolescents - their transition from addiction to being driven everywhere by Mom and Dad into addiction to driving themselves?

Nor will you find any recognition that fifty years of sprawling, low-density suburban and exurban development has destroyed the practicality of walking and bicycling for most contemporary youth. We-the-boomers have hijacked a precious freedom - to move between the “A”s and “B”s in one’s community without a two-ton motorized exoskeleton.

How is such mind-numbing denial possible? How absurd to write “For Teens, Freedom…”, when it has become crystal clear that freedom which flows from oil wells is tyranny! If I didn’t suspect that at least one person at the Wisconsin State Journal is beginning to see the light (your Prius-driving curmudgeon Bill Weineke), I would cease reading your paper altogether.

Sincerely,


Hans Noeldner
133 West Lincoln Street
Oregon, WI 53575
hans_noeldner@charter.net
608-444-6190

Stats of Confusion

Friday, September 01, 2006

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch
Vol. 5, Number 3
August 31, 2006
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

One of the hazards involved in energy analysis is placing too much emphasis on raw data, like the kind one finds in the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s weekly and monthly reports. While rawness may be a desirable attribute in certain meats and vegetables, it is less desirable in statistical information that is susceptible to errors requiring a correction at some later point. It is even more exasperating when the changes are significant enough to warrant junking a hypothesis that explained the earlier results well but doesn’t fit at all with the newly redrawn picture.

The latest example of this recurring pattern occurred this week when EIA released a compilation of supply and consumption data from January through June this year. In that statistical summary, EIA reported that demand for gasoline inched up by 0.6% from the year-earlier period. But in the weekly reports, EIA’s estimates of increased demand had been ranging between 1.5% and 2%.

Notwithstanding that contradictory finding, EIA reported yesterday that demand for gasoline in the four-week period ending August 25 was 1.6% higher than the same four-week period last year. Evidently, EIA is in no hurry to recalibrate the dials and instruments it uses for compiling its status reports. Analysts and traders, take note!

The difference between these numbers—a full percentage point—is not trivial. Considering that population is growing at a 1% clip annually, the higher number suggests that motorists are not at all fazed by $2.50 to $3.00 per gallon gasoline, while the lower figure indicates that these prices are having some impact on driving habits. That a modest cutback in discretionary driving is underway would make sense given declining consumer confidence and the slowdown in the housing sector. Actual per capita reductions in gasoline consumption are bound to take some of the fizz out of energy markets, at least in the short term.

But this incident raises a disturbing question: if the gasoline demand numbers are unreliable, how much trust can we place in other data reported in EIA’s weekly and monthly bulletins? Or, put another way, how does one know that a significant trend is emerging given the probabilities of a statistical revision later on?

Let us illustrate this dilemma by looking at the question of net export capacity. There has been some discussion in various Peak Oil circles suggesting that the amount of global petroleum available for export to other nations may have peaked late last year. But you’d never know that moment had passed from looking at EIA’s data. Imports of crude and refined products to the U.S. are running 1% above 2005’s totals, and last year’s import volumes were 3% higher than in 2004.

Furthermore, the most recent bulletin reported that crude oil imports averaged 11.2 million barrels per day. That total, according to EIA, is “the second highest volume of crude oil imports ever.” In the effort to ensure a continuous expansion of petroleum supplies available for the motoring public, increases in import volumes must exceed the decrease in domestic output.

But the United States is not the only country that is lapping up more oil from overseas sources. Imports are on the rise in China, India, Indonesia (now the only OPEC nation that imports more oil than it exports) and the United Kingdom, which may have become a net importer of oil this year.

Does this mean that those who contend that net global export capacity has peaked have got it wrong? Not necessarily. Perhaps EIA’s current estimates of petroleum imports will be revised downward in a subsequent report. Perhaps there is more ethanol circulating around the world than is revealed through present statistical measures. Maybe the fuel shortages cropping up in such oil-rich hot spots as Iraq and Iran will trigger policy changes that will take a larger share of their output out of the global marketplace. And perhaps more countries will follow Zimbabwe’s descent into wholesale economic ruin and become, for all intents and purposes, oil-free zones.

Trying to determine where we are along the petroleum extraction curve is a little like driving through the countryside at night to get to an unfamiliar destination. No matter how intently we peer out of the windshield searching for clues indicating its whereabouts, we’re liable to pass it and keep on going until we encounter signposts warning us of a steep downslope ahead.

Sources:

Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report, week ending August 25 2006.

Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review August 2006, Table 3.1a www.eia.doe.gov

-------------

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch is a RENEW Wisconsin initiative tracking the
supply demand equation for these fossil fuels, and analyzing its effects on prices,
consumption levels, and the development of energy conservation strategies and renewable energy alternatives. For more information on the global and national petroleum and natural gas supply picture, visit "The End of Cheap Oil" section in RENEW Wisconsin's web site. These commentaries also posted on RENEW’s blog
and Madison Peak Oil Group’s blog.

Why haven't we banned the incandescent light bulb?

Thursday, August 31, 2006

From "Death to the Incandescent" by Kelpie Wilson as posted on Truth Out:

More than 90 percent of the energy consumed by a standard incandescent bulb is given off as heat, while only 10 percent is converted into light. That's a 10 percent efficiency of converting electricity to light.

By contrast, a compact fluorescent (CF) light bulb is from 35 percent to 66 percent efficient, depending on the design. The new LED lights are even more efficient. By one estimate, if every American household changed just three incandescent light bulbs to CF bulbs, we could eliminate 11 fossil-fuel-fired power plants.

If we can stop even a fraction of those new coal plants being built just by changing our light bulbs, shouldn't we do it already? And why haven't we banned the incandescent bulb yet? When we learned that leaded gas was poisoning kids' brains, we phased it out. Those bulbs are poisoning our kids' future.

But as long as the old-fashioned filament bulb sits there on the store shelves, clear or frosted, white or colored, cheap and abundant, there will always be some of us who will take them home and screw them in.

That's why we need to ban the bulb. It's the kind of political action we could be marching and protesting about. There is an organization working in Britain to ban the incandescent bulb, but I don't know of a serious effort in the US.

More evangelicals see a need to protect the planet

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Rob Zaleski, writing in The Capital Times, looks at the evangelical movement's growing recognition of global warming and energy conservation:

Maybe it's not hopeless after all.

Maybe Americans will wake up in time to help reverse global warming and, in the process, help rescue the planet.

At least, that's what some are suggesting after Pat Robertson, of all people, recently announced that he's a global warming convert.

Yes, it's true, the religious right's shoot-from-the-hip leader told his presumably stunned followers during a broadcast of his "700 Club" a few weeks ago.

"It is getting hotter, and the ice caps are melting, and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air," said Robertson, a longtime global warming skeptic. "And if we are contributing to the destruction of the planet, we need to do something about it."

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

This blog does not intend to endorse any candidates in this fall's elections; yet, it's important to know their positions on peak oil and appropriate responses. It is in this spirit that the blog includes an editorial piece from The Capital Times with Dave Zweifel's perception of Mark Green's position on rebuilding American's railroads:

If you're among the growing legions who see the need to bring viable passenger rail service to this part of the country, you're not going to want to vote for Mark Green for governor.

Green has obviously spent too much time with the Washington faction that doesn't mind throwing countless billions to the highway cabal, but is "horrified" whenever Amtrak comes looking for a small handout that might make riding in a train just a tad more convenient.

In fact, according to a story on Wisconsin Public Radio earlier this week, Green claimed to have never heard of the years-long initiative to get high-speed rail into the Midwest, particularly in the Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-Minneapolis corridor.

Now that, for a man who wants to be the governor of our state, is nothing short of astounding.
Dave Zweifel: Green utterly in the dark about rail
Photo by Associated Press
An Amtrak train gets ready to head out from Portland. Me.

When Mark Green was in the Legislature, after all, it was Tommy Thompson, the Republican governor of Wisconsin, who first proposed bringing high-speed rail into our state and became one of its biggest champions.

Green further told WPR that he worries about the deficits that passenger rail is running in this country, obviously oblivious to the reasons why. He doesn't know, for instance, that potential rail passengers have but one time choice per day to catch a train or that whenever there's a problem with a freight train, Amtrak gets shoved to the side. The Bush administration and its supporters in Congress like Green himself have succeeded in starving passenger rail to make sure it can't succeed.

His answer, like that of his Wisconsin Republican colleague to the south, James Sensenbrenner, is to claim that the private sector ought to run passenger rail, as if that hasn't been tried and miserably failed before. If private interests ought to be paying for and running the rails (as, of course, the freight lines do), then perhaps the private interests who clog our public highways with longer and bigger trucks ought to be building and owning their own roads. Or why not advocate that the airlines ought to pay for their own airports?

While Mark Green is making uninformed comments about passenger rail service (I wonder if he's ever ridden a train), Jim Doyle is pushing the feds to get behind the Midwest High Speed initiative. He's even advocated extending high-speed passenger rail from Milwaukee to Green Bay in Green's own congressional district, something Thompson did too.

But Green is probably not aware of that either.

World peak oil conference, Boston, Oct. 25-27

Friday, August 25, 2006

The Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO-USA) and Boston University (BU) will co-sponsor the 2006 World Oil Conference, Time for Action: A Midnight Ride for Peak Oil, on the BU campus October 25-27, 2006. The Conference will bring energy experts from around the world to discuss the likely timing, impacts, and intelligent responses to the growing Peak Oil challenge. Virtually every sector of our society and economy will be affected by Peak Oil, from transportation, manufacturing, air freight, and agriculture, to homebuilding, city planning, and finance.

“For the first time in history, demand for petroleum could outpace world supply for a host of reasons – including geologic limits, exploding nationalism, civil wars, and skyrocketing demand in China and India,” says Steve Andrews, a co-founder of ASPO-USA. “We’re not saying that we’re ‘running out of oil’ when the peak hits. We’re saying the world is running out of cheap oil. We’ll simply produce less oil each year after the peak, while demand continues to increase. So peak oil is an ambush-in-waiting.”

As a nation long ‘addicted to oil,’ why didn’t we see the early warning signs and go to rehab years ago?

Build a post-peak infrastructure with higher gas tax

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Energy-economist and transport-economist Charles Komanoff wrote:

Today, America's and the world's prodigal use of fossil fuels is creating twin crises: a climate crisis from emissions of heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere, and a security crisis self-created by the industrial world's thirst for other people's oil.

We can solve both crises, but only if we relinquish deep-seated beliefs about fuels and energy. And the attitude we must fling overboard first is our sense of entitlement to cheap energy. We need to recognize that energy does not cost too much; in fact, it doesn't cost nearly enough. To preserve Earth's climate, and wrest political authority from the corporate oil barons and petrodollar sheiks, we must conserve fuel massively and permanently, starting now.

RENEW's executive director Michael Vickerman offers another dimension to Komanoff's propsal -- rebuild a post-peak petroleum infrastructure:

Agreed that current energy prices are, across the board, too low and as such encourage wasteful consumption.

According to EIA weekly petroleum reports, demand for gasoline in 2006 is running 1.5 – 2.0% above 2005 levels. Even with population growth taken into account, it would appear that high fuel prices have had no material effect on gasoline/diesel consumption. But they are taking a fair amount of starch out of the current economic expansion, leaving open the distinct possibility of a recession for 2007, which would not be easy to control given ballooning public and private debt.

I do think we need to raise taxes on fuel, but not for the purpose advocated in the Charles Komanoff essay. A fuel tax (or a windfall profits tax) is needed to build (or rebuild, in some cases) what I would call the post-peak petroleum infrastructure. The centerpiece of that endeavor would be the strengthening of non-private car, non-truck modes of transporting people and goods. Serious public dollars are needed to refurbish and electrify railroad corridors, increase group transport options (buses, streetcars, community cars, ferries, etc.). This sort of funding is not going to come from the private sector, because it is too wedded to the status quo. Therefore, a tax is the only other vehicle for collecting funds for this purpose, though I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to protect such proceeds from diversion by Congressional buccaneers toward other, less noble purposes, like fighting wars in the Mideast. More than $300 billion has been already spent on the current war/occupation of Iraq, all of it charged on the national Visa card. The obligation to pay off these accumulating expenses weakens our capacity to underwrite a more sustainable transportation infrastructure out of general revenues. The only alternative would be a pay-as-you-go mechanism that collects petroleum-based wealth (which is currently being channeled into increasingly unproductive ends like high-end golf-course communities, helicopter skiing, spas for pets, vanity expeditions up Mt. Everest etc.) and redeploys it into transportation modes that will make us less abjectly dependent on petroleum for moving goods and people around.

Autocism

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Hans Noeldner offers "autocism" as a new term in our vocabulary:

Autocism – the belief that motorists have greater transportation rights than pedestrians, bicyclists, mass transit users, equestrians, teamsters, and other non-motorists.

Autocism is the policy basis for funding, constructing, and policing transportation infrastructure that is usually separate and highly unequal. For example, most public highways and roads are open to non-motorists in principle. Given their special rights and sheer numbers, however, motorists endanger and intimidate potential users of other transportation modes to such an extent that few venture to try. Moreover, by designing thoroughfares primarily for the convenience of motorists, planners and transportation engineers thereby catalyze surrounding low-density development that is spatially impractical for non-motoring modes. Thus most of our “public” highways and roads, and many of our streets, have been rendered the near-exclusive segregated domain of motorists.

DISCLAIMER: Hans Noeldner is a Trustee in the Village of Oregon, Wisconsin. The views herein do not necessarily represent those of the Oregon Village Board.

The peak in a picture

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The chart above tells the tale of peak oil, which occurs at the top of the curve. The future "rests" on the downside. (From the Association for the Study of Peak Oil - ASPO)

A different approach to nuclear power

Monday, August 21, 2006

John Frantz, MD, emeritus member of RENEW's board of directors, and prolific writer, offers insights into a different nuclear technology:

We should increase research in ADS [Accelorator Driven System] technology so we are less likely to feel compelled to build more conventional nuclear power plants--they are susceptible to meltdown, produce more long lived waste, and can be used to produce pure Pu239, a raw material for bombs. Thorium fueled nuclear power does look very promising in the long term. After thorough demonstration of no danger of meltdown, it could even be incorporated in cogeneration projects. For more information see: www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348

You can read John's full discussion of nuclear power generation and ADS here.

John also posts his diverse writings on his own Web site.

Evansville site for biodiesel plant and possibly soybean crushing plant

Friday, August 18, 2006

"Localization" of our economy holds a key to coping successfully wiht the end of cheap oil. Localization certainly applies to getting motor fuel from ethanol, according to a story by Nathan Leaf in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Evansville is on the verge of becoming Wisconsin's one-stop shop for biodiesel fuel. And it's all happening fairly quickly for the northwestern Rock County community.

North Prairie Productions, Waterloo, has announced plans to build a 45 million-gallon refinery that will convert soybean oil into biodiesel.

And Thursday morning, Landmark Services Cooperative of Cottage Grove told business leaders in Evansville that it has commissioned an economic feasibility study for what would be the state's first soybean processing plant adjacent to the biodiesel plant.

Doyle Urges Legislature to Reconsider Plan to Add E-85 Pumps

Thursday, August 17, 2006

From the Wisconsin Ag Connection:

One day after suspending the state's minimum markup law for ethanol-blended gasoline, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is asking the Legislature to give another thought to requiring more state gas stations to sell the renewable fuel.

"Making sure ethanol remains more affordable than petroleum is a good first step, but we also need to make sure that consumers can have access to ethanol based fuels like E-85," Governor Doyle said. "I urge the Republican legislature to reconsider my plan to double access to E-85 in Wisconsin by providing incentives to station owners to offer this cheaper renewable fuel."

On Tuesday, Doyle said that ethanol based fuel is not subject to minimum markup law enforcement and directed the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection not pursue any actions against sellers of ethanol blended fuel.

So how has that action affected prices on Wednesday? Not much, according to Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association President Bob Bartlett, who says retailers must pass on to consumers to make up their expenses.

"I'm sure it does sound good. Everybody would like to get energy at less cost, and that includes Wisconsin's independent retailers. What this doesn't recognize is the actual cost those retailers have to pay to get the products," Bartlett said.

The average price of a gallon of gas in Wisconsin was $3.17 Wednesday, down .2 of a cent from Tuesday, when Doyle issued the order.

In March, Governor Doyle launched the Promoting Our Wisconsin Energy Resources Initiative to promote energy independence. But three months later, the Joint Finance Committee rejected a vote to provide $335,000 to fund POWER Initiative projects that would increase the number of E-85 fueling stations, increase use of E-85 in local government vehicle fleets, and promote the use of E-85 fuel.

Currently, there are only 35 stations with E-85 pumps in Wisconsin.

State grants aid area bio companies

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

From The Capital Times:

A town of Oregon farm and a Baraboo bio-based plastics firm have received state grants to help them grow.

A $60,000 grant will help O'Brien Farms collaborate with Great Lakes BioFuels LLC to develop a containerized mobile processor that can be moved from farm to farm to process oilseeds such as soybeans and sunflowers into bio-diesel fuel and animal feed. The grant addresses the first phase of the project, the economic feasibility of crushing the seeds and extracting the raw meal.

"Today's energy prices are sparking the race towards energy independence," Rod Nilsestuen, state secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "We want that race to be won here in Wisconsin."

Gov. Jim Doyle's Declaration of Energy Independence challenges the state to generate 25 percent of electricity and 25 percent of transportation fuel from renewable fuels by 2025.

A $115,000 grant will help Teel Plastics develop and test a process for making composite siding products using waste wood flour and agricultural fibers.

Using wood waste to create new bio-based products is expected to help Wisconsin's saw mill industry, benefit the environment, and create new jobs. Saw mills generate millions of tons of wood flour, most of which must be disposed of at considerable expense to manufacturers and the environment.

Video of presentation by Colin Campbell

Monday, August 14, 2006

To learn more about peak oil from one of the world's leading authorities, you might want to attend a video showing at 6:30 p.m. on August 15 of the ASPO founder’s and veteran oil geologist’s speculation on a range of plausible scenarios after the end of cheap oil. Campbell examines the very core of the mechanisms which make our society function.

Escape Coffee House, 916 Williamson St., Madison

Sponsored by the Peregrine Forum, Four Lakes Green Party, and Peak Oil Action Network.

More information from David Williams: dvdwilliams51@yahoo.com.

New humanoid species discovered!

Friday, August 11, 2006

(Oregon, Wisconsin) Homo Automobilicus: a species of soft, atrophied invertebrate that spends much of its life isolated within a two-ton motorized exoskeleton on wheels. Homo automobilicus has lost the ability to move itself more than fifty to one hundred meters; consequently it is seldom to be found out of doors anywhere beyond its lair, suburbianum ridus mowanacreae. Between five and twelve times per day, the exoskeleton of homo automobilicus can be seen speeding along the broad, constantly expanding asphalt-and-concrete trails that lead from its lair to its every destination.

Hans Noeldner

DISCLAIMER: Hans Noeldner is a Trustee in the Village of Oregon, Wisconsin. The views herein do not necessarily represent those of the Oregon Village Board.

Senate fiddles while America sizzles

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch, Vol. 5, Number 5
August 9, 2006
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

In the midst of the midsummer heat wave that scorched the eastern United States, the Senate voted 71-25 to allow oil and gas drilling in a section of the Gulf of Mexico now off-limits to such activity. During the news conference afterwards, the bill’s champions decided to contribute some hot air of their own to the atmosphere, especially when they began crowing about the bill’s purported effects on oil and natural gas imports.

Continue reading.

Doyle exempts ethanol from minimum markup law

Says Consumers Should Benefit From Lower Prices of Ethanol at the Pump
Governor Jim Doyle said today that ethanol based fuel is not subject to minimum markup law enforcement and directed the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to not pursue any actions against sellers of ethanol blended fuel.

"Wisconsin is emerging as a leader in ethanol and other renewable fuels, and we need to build on that momentum," Governor Doyle said. "I want to send a clear message to producers and consumers of ethanol that the State of Wisconsin will not do anything to artificially drive up the price. More and more drivers are turning to ethanol-based fuels because they are cheaper, and that is a trend we want to continue."

The minimum markup law, passed in the 1930s, sets a minimum price at which motor fuels can be sold in Wisconsin, but makes no distinction between fuel derived from petroleum and fuel derived from ethanol. Governor Doyle said this has the effect of artificially inflating the cost of ethanol blended fuels such as E-85 and E-10. Ethanol is selling wholesale at $1.37 a gallon (accounting for a federal ethanol tax credit), while the price of petroleum is $2.60.

A report earlier today said that the Badger State Ethanol coalition was told by the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection that it couldn't offer E-85 at a lower price. In fact, the Department did investigate a complaint made against Badger State Ethanol but found that no violation occurred. Nevertheless, Governor Doyle wanted to remove any confusion that might exist and make it clear that the Department will not work to make ethanol blended fuels more expensive.

"Governor Doyle is a great friend of ethanol producers, and more importantly, consumers who will benefit from the lower prices of ethanol at the pump," said Gary Kramer, President and General Manager of Badger State Ethanol. "At a time when the legislature has been hostile to ethanol, Governor Doyle has shown incredible backbone in the fight to make our state and our country more energy independent. I applaud his action today."

"The big oil companies have reaped obscene profits in the last year at the expense of our consumers," Governor Doyle said. "Ethanol can break the stranglehold the big oil companies have on us. If a cornfield in Monroe is competing against an oil field in Saudi Arabia, that's a very good thing for Wisconsin."


Catherine Giljohann
External Relations Coordinator
Office of Governor Jim Doyle
(608) 264-6329
Catherine.Giljohann@gov.state.wi.us

A tank of gas, a world of trouble

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Chicago Tribune Reporter Paul Salopek and photographer Kuni Takahashi trace the fascinating human story of oil from a single gas station in suburban Chicago to the fields where was produced and back again:

[T]o truly grasp the scope of the crisis looming before them, Americans must retrace their seemingly ordinary tankful of gasoline back to its shadowy sources. This is, in effect, a journey into the heart of America's vast and troubled oil dependency. And what it exposes is a globe-spanning energy network that today is so fragile, so beholden to hostile powers and so clearly unsustainable, that our car-centered lifestyle seems more at risk than ever.

"I truly think we're at one of those turning points where the future's looking so ugly nobody wants to face it," said Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker in Houston who has advised the Bush administration on oil policy. "We're not talking some temporary Arab embargo anymore. We're not talking your father's energy crisis."

What Simmons and many other experts are talking about is a bleak new collision between geology and geopolitics.

Streetcar Campaign sets dates for community events

Friday, August 04, 2006

The Madison Streetcar Campaign will be hosting a series of four "Let's Connect! Bringing Modern Transit to Madison" informational meetings in early September.

These meetings will provide a fun opportunity to learn more about:
- The Transport 2020 and Streetcar Feasibility Studies
- What streetcars are and how they operate
- How cities across the country are improving their quality of life and economic vitality with streetcars, and
- How you can get involved!

Meetings will be held in community meetings spaces along each of the three corridors under consideration in the Streetcar Study, as well as downtown Madison.

- South Side - Thursday, September 7th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Catholic Multicultural Center at 1862 Beld Street
- East Side - Wednesday, September 13th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Hawthorne Library at 2707 East Washington Avenue
- Downtown - Thursday, September 14th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Central Library at 201 West Mifflin Street
- West Side - Tuesday, September 19th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the WARF Building (UW Madison Campus) at 614 Walnut Street

At each meeting, the presentation will begin at 6:30 and last roughly one hour. If you can't make the one in your neighborhood, feel free to attend one of the others.

Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Sincerely,
Madison Streetcar Campaign

Email us at streetcar@1kfriends.org or ward@1kfriends.org
608-259-1000 x103 - Madison Streetcar Campaign at 1000 Friends of Wisconsin

The Madison Streetcar Campaign is a partnership of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Downtown Trolley, Inc., and the Dane Alliance for Rail Transit.

Will Mexican Oil Soon Be Tapped Out?

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

From a story by Marla Dickerson in the Los Angeles Times:

MEXICO CITY — Output at Mexico's most important oil field has fallen steeply this year, raising fears that wells there that generate 60% of the country's petroleum are in the throes of a major decline. . . .

Though analysts have long forecast the withering of this mature field, a rapid demise would pose serious challenges for the world's No. 5 oil producer. The oil field has supplied the bulk of Mexico's oil riches for the last quarter of a century, and petroleum revenue funds more than a third of federal spending. . . .

It would also be bad news for the United States, for which Mexico is the No. 2 petroleum supplier, behind Canada. And it could exacerbate tight global supplies that have kept oil at record prices. . . .

The Coming "War" with Canada

Curt Cobb speculates on an intriguing battle between Canada and the U.S. for Canadian natural gas:

But there is something else even more foreboding about the leveling off of gas production according to Douglas Reynolds, a resource economist at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks who has studied the North American gas situation closely. Reynolds predicts that North American production will begin to fall precipitously sometime after 2007. And, unlike the gradual downslope that the declining production numbers for a depleting oil well or an entire oil-producing nation trace on a graph, Reynolds expects the falloff in North American gas production to resemble a cliff. When gas wells begin to decline, they decline swiftly and often with little warning.

Which brings us back to the coming "war" with Canada. There will be no quick fixes for natural gas shortages in North America. None. Eventually, natural gas from Alaska and the MacKenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories will arrive by pipeline. But that could easily be 10 years from now. Imports in the form of liquid natural gas (LNG) could offer some relief, but the timelines for building the necessary special purpose ports and ships could be equally long.

Read his full analysis on his blog Resource Insights.

Natural gas inventories decline. Blip or the beginning or a trend?

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

A Blip, or Beginning of a Trend?

by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch, Vol. 5, Number 4

July 31, 2006

Unbeknownst to many Americans, the demand for natural gas during the winter months, with rare exceptions, greatly exceeds real-time domestic extraction volumes. This gap is overcome by tapping into the surplus natural gas injected into vast underground caverns during the warmer months. Historically, storage volumes increase from April through October and decrease during the heating season (November through March).

The most recent storage update from the Energy Information Agency, covering the week ended July 21, packed an unwelcome surprise, when it reported a net withdrawal of natural gas to the tune of seven billion cubic feet (bcf). According to AmericanOilman.com, this was the first time this decade that EIA reported a weekly decline of natural gas in storage inventories occurring between mid-April and mid-October. That week in July typically sees a build of 61 bcf.

Even though current storage volumes are running 20% above historical norms, this surprise development pushed spot market prices above the $7.50/MMBtu mark for this first time in four months.

At first blush, the market’s reaction seems hasty and overwrought. Even if weekly injections between now and Thanksgiving lag behind historical volumes by 50%, there still would be more than enough natural gas to ride out a severe winter. So why are energy traders and speculators so quick to bid up prices?

Continued

Bush just keeps on ignoring railroads

Monday, July 31, 2006

Dave Zweifel writes in The Capital Times on the importance of railroads, but lack of federal attention in transportation plans:

The federal government's Transportation Department has just issued a "white paper" on reducing traffic congestion in the country and guess what? It doesn't include a word about how improvement of either passenger or freight rail in America might be able to help.

Once more, the powers-that-be in Washington are determined to put all the nation's transportation eggs essentially in one basket more and bigger highways with a small sop to improving some airport traffic control systems.

Second largest oil field in decline

Thursday, July 27, 2006

By G.R. Morton from the Web site of DMD Publishing Company:

The second largest producing field in the world is the Cantarell complex in Mexico. It lies 85 kim from Ciudad del Carmen. The field was discovered in 1976 and put on production in 1979. . . .

The implications of this upcoming decline are tremendous to the world. This field produces half of what Ghawar [in Saudi Arabia] does and it won't be doing that much longer. The effect on the energy supply will be felt and there is no way for that not to happen. On Aug. 3, 2004, the OPEC president stated that OPEC has no more spare capacity. They are pumping all out and can't satisfy the demand for oil. If fields like Cantarell begin declining, the problem of supplying the world with oil will only get worse.

PSC energy assessment flunks reality check

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

RENEW Executive Director Michael Vickerman delivered the following statement to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on July 26 on behalf of the Madison Peak Energy Group and RENEW.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch, Vol. 5, Number 3
July 25, 2006
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

The draft Strategic Energy Assessment issued by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission is a particularly fine example of a government report that is interesting only for what it leaves out. Covering the years 2006 through 2012, the SEA purports to bring to light “issues that may need to be addressed to ensure the availability and reliability of Wisconsin’s electric energy supply.” Unfortunately, from a planning perspective, what the report does not address is far more critical to Wisconsin’s electricity future than what is presented in the report.

Take, for instance, the impending global Oil Peak, which many respected petroleum geologists believe will occur between 2006 and 2012. One searches in vain for any reference to a phenomenon that promises to subject the nations of the world to a profoundly wrenching and traumatic transition as supplies of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel become less available and more expensive. How should Wisconsin, which is bereft of any fossil fuel reserves and therefore must import all its coal, oil and natural gas, go about preparing for an energy-constrained future? It’s a question worthy of public discussion and debate, but one the PSC, notwithstanding the first word in its name, lacks the stomach for, or so it would appear.

Read the full commentary at RENEW News and Views.

Peak Oil Group Educates at Hybridfest 2006

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Ethan Johnson of the Madison Peak Oil Group points to the peak on a peak oil curve as he talks to a visitor at Hybridfest 2006, a celebration of hybrid cars in Madison on July 22.

Bloomington, Indiana passes peak oil resolution

Monday, July 24, 2006

Should Madison and other cities in Wisconsin follow the example of Bloomington?

On July 19, the Bloomington, Indiana City Council passed a resolution acknowledging that the global peak of petroleum production is “an unprecedented challenge” for society, and recognizes that the city must prepare for its inevitability. Bloomington is the 7th largest city in Indiana, home to Indiana University, and has a population of 70,000 residents plus a 40,000 student population. The resolution supports a global depletion protocol, such as the one drafted by Colin Campbell and Richard Heinberg.

Read the full story at Energy Bulletin.

Come to Hybridfest, Saturday, July 22

Friday, July 21, 2006

The Madison Peak Oil Group and RENEW Wisconsin will have a display at Hybridfest, held at the Alliant Energy Center. According to a story in the Capital Times by Jeff Richgels:

Hybridfest will feature more than 100 hybrid cars with participants registered from more than 20 states and Canada, Robbins said. Details are available at www.hybridfest.com for the event that runs in conjunction with the Dane County Fair from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. Parking and admission are free.

Test drives will be available, hybrid owners will be on hand to talk about what it's really like to drive a hybrid, and there will be speakers talking on a variety of topics.

Dolan said Toyota also is sending a "real expensive" exhibit piece - a cross-section of a Toyota Highlander hybrid cut in half showing how its hybrid synergy drive works.

The hybrid vehicles that will be on display include the Saturn VUE Green Line that hasn't hit the market yet and the new Toyota Camry, which Dolan said has been proving extremely popular since they started arriving at Smart in mid-May. The regular Camry has been the best-selling passenger car in the U.S. for eight of the last nine years.

Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

Thursday, July 20, 2006

According to social critic James Howard Kunstler, the author of “The Long Emergency,” Americans are woefully unprepared for the end of the cheap oil era. Kunstler observes the American way of life—now virtually synonymous with suburbia---runs only on reliably cheap oil and gas. As oil gets more expensive Kunstler thinks we’re going to have to make other arrangements.

Nick Vander Puy from the Superior Broadcast Network caught up with James Howard Kunstler, near Stevens Point, Wisconsin after his keynote address at late June’s Midwest Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair.

Connect with Superior Broadcast to view and listen to Kunstler's speech.

Push bioenergy development beyond corn

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The Marshfield News-Herald editorialized in support of initiatives to produce ethanol from cellulose:

A study by University of Minnesota researchers shows that only 12 percent of the nation's motor vehicle fuel could be supplied by corn-based ethanol -- if every kernel in the nation went into its production.

Because corn is a major feed source for beef and other animals, converting it all into fuel would make meat either more costly or less available, or both.

And ethanol adds to greenhouse gases, just as petroleum does.

But as Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, points out, ethanol isn't only from corn anymore.

The Governor's Consortium on Bio-Based Industry urges Wisconsin to be the first state in the nation to build an ethanol plant that uses wood products as its raw product, which Still notes "could be a natural fit for communities in northern Wisconsin."

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is developing a biofuels curriculum for its paper science students, and not only could ethanol made from wood fiber be a natural fit for northern Wisconsin, it could be a revenue-producer for papermakers.

Biofuels such as switchgrass and jatropha also show more promise to be energy-efficient than corn-based ethanol.

"It is already clear that large-scale use of ethanol for fuel will almost require cellulosic technology," said Steven Koonin, chief scientist for BP, the energy company whose gasoline is sold by Baltus Oil Co. stations in the Marshfield.

Cellulosic isn't an everyday word. Cellulosic biomass includes cellulose and hemicellulose, which make up about two-thirds of the dry mass. Most of the rest is lignin.

While converting grains to ethanol requires the use of petroleum, lignin -- a renewable resource and byproduct of the production process -- fuels the conversion in cellulosic technology.

The greenhouse gases produced by burning lignin are offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed as the tree or other switchgrass grows. One model shows an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases with the use of cellulosic ethanol compared to gasoline.

Production of ethanol from corn is a short-term answer to alternative fuels, because the plants can be built quickly to convert sugars to alcohol through fermentation. In a brewery state like Wisconsin, that's old technology.

Cellulosic technology is developing, so it's not ready to replace corn-based ethanol yet.

But pooh-poohing ethanol in the face of evidence that it's not the fuel, it's the source of the ethanol, that leads to greenhouse gas concerns and net-energy problems doesn't get us any farther down the road toward a more independent future.

The largest problem is that the "world's scientific and engineering skills have not yet been focused coherently on the challenges involved," BP's Koonin said, adding, "It is now time to do that through a coordination of government, university and industrial R&D efforts, facilitated by responsible public policies."

By 2025, one-fourth of the state's transportation fuels should be alternatives to petroleum, the Governor's Consortium on Bio-Based Industry recommends.

It'll take government/university/industry collaborations to develop the technology, as the BP scientist suggests. Setting an aggressive goal, as the consortium has done, is one of a series of responsible public policies required to achieve real progress.

Wisconsin is an ideal place to make that happen.

Entrust Our Energy Destiny to Big Oil?

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch, July 17, 2006, Vol. 5, Number 2
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin

Lately, I’ve been wrestling with a nagging question: What are Exxon Mobil and the other oil majors going to do with the Everests of cash that will pile up in their vaults when U.S. gasoline prices reach $5.00 a gallon?

Drill for more oil? Certainly a reasonable expectation, but unlikely given what happened a generation ago, when oil companies large and small plowed their profits back into finding new fields rivaling Prudhoe Bay or the North Sea in productivity. Though the sums they spent were impressive, the results weren’t.

Continue reading on Renew-Energy-Blog.org.

Ethanol industry deserves support

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The Wisconsin State Journal editorialized in response to the study below that found that ethanol wasn't a cure all:

Wisconsin should proceed full speed ahead with plans to boost production of ethanol and other fuels made from renewable sources.

Ethanol may not be a cure-all for America's energy problems, but its benefits more than justify the Doyle administration's plans for more state incentives to encourage production and use of ethanol, expand the fledgling biodeisel industry and support further biofuel development.

A thriving ethanol industry can enhance the state's and nation's energy security and independence from foreign oil, it can provide a renewable supply of fuel, and it can create jobs and income in Wisconsin.

Two events in the past week have ignited an ethanol debate - again. On Friday, Gov. Jim Doyle fueled support for ethanol when he endorsed a report from the Governor's Consortium on Bio-based Industry calling for 25 percent of the state's transportation fuel to be alternative fuel, including ethanol, by 2025.

Doyle also outlined plans to reach the 25 percent goal by encouraging ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels.

But on Monday, opponents of ethanol were energized by national news coverage of an alternative fuels analysis from the University of Minnesota. The analysis warned that ethanol cannot solve all the nation's energy problems.

The analysis, however, was far from a condemnation of ethanol. In fact, the lead author of the Minnesota study declared that biofuels, including ethanol, "have a significant potential."

Nothing in the analysis should dissuade Wisconsin lawmakers from pursuing the course laid out by the Governor's Consortium. The plan does not expect ethanol to be a cure-all. But it recognizes ethanol's significant potential as a home-grown alternative to gasoline made from foreign oil.

The plan also supports biodiesel, which the Minnesota analysis said is preferable to corn ethanol. And the plan calls for Wisconsin to become the first state in the nation to build a plant to produce ethanol from wood, which the Minnesota researchers concluded is a better source of ethanol than is corn.

In addition, Wisconsin lawmakers should revisit a proposal, supported by Doyle, to require that most gasoline in Wisconsin be blended with ethanol to produce E10, a fuel that is 10 percent ethanol. That proposal failed to pass the Legislature earlier this year.

No, the United States will not be able to replace all its gasoline with corn ethanol. But ethanol, produced from corn and other sources, can make an important contribution to weaning the nation from foreign oil while boosting Wisconsin's economy.

Ethanol should be part of Wisconsin's energy future.

Ethanol isn't cure-all

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Several newspapers carry a story by AP writer H. Josef Hebert on a report to be released soon in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science:

Ethanol is far from a cure-all for the nation's energy problems. It's not as environmentally friendly as some supporters claim and would supply only 12 percent of U.S. motoring fuel - even if every acre of corn were used.

A number of researchers, the latest in a report Monday, are warning about exaggerated expectations that ethanol could dramatically change America's dependence on foreign oil by shifting motorists away from gasoline.

As far as alternative fuels are concerned, biodiesel from soybeans is the better choice compared with corn-produced ethanol, University of Minnesota researchers concluded in an analysis Monday.

But "neither can replace much petroleum without impacting food supplies," the researchers concluded in the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

So We Drive On

Monday, July 10, 2006

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch, Vol. 5, Number 1
by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin
July 10, 2006

Every week (usually on Wednesdays) the U.S. Energy Information Agency releases a status report of the nation’s fuel inventories. These weekly updates are rich in detail: refinery inputs and outputs, crude oil inventories, gasoline inventories, net imports (crude and finished products), and fuel prices (wholesale and retail). Without doubt the EIA’s weekly report is the most meaningful indicator of energy price movement in the days ahead.

In addition to the week-by-week fluctuations in fuel supplies, the report also tabulates a four-week moving average of demand for finished products, broken down by fuel type. In recent weeks, energy markets have been keying on those numbers, which show that energy demand in 2006 is running ahead of the same four-week average in 2005. Small wonder, then, that fuel prices are also trending upward.

The report issued for the week ending June 30 follows the pattern that’s been in place since May. Demand for motor gasoline is up 1.4% relative to last year, and the same holds true for both distillate fuels (1.8%) and jet fuel (3.3%). Yet at the same time the report reveals bulging inventories of crude oil and ample supplies of gasoline. So why do energy traders and speculators fixate on the demand figures and disregard the supply numbers?

The answer is simple: the world has virtually no spare capacity left to meet any growth in demand for liquid hydrocarbons. Even though the volume of liquid fuels (including ethanol and biodiesel) produced worldwide has never been higher, it is not enough to slake our prodigious thirst for these wondrously energetic substances. And there is plenty of evidence to suggest that world’s leading exporters of crude oil and refined fuels will not be able to ratchet up the number of barrels they now sell to importing nations.

What this means is that unless the demand for transportation fuels actually changes direction and heads downward, prices have nowhere to go up. But is the U.S. leadership class talking about demand reduction, as measured in barrels of oil and motor gasoline? Why no, that would be unthinkable.

Instead, we are told via the mainstream media that high price of energy is the greater scourge. Unfortunately, there seems to be an endless supply of officials and commentators on tap to inveigh against the high cost of motoring and pitch their latest cure-all, whether it’s more drilling on federal lands and over federal waters, bigger tax credits for hybrid cars, or rolling back state gasoline taxes. As long as we Americans remain hung up on energy prices and not on the larger issues of energy sustainability and security, the policy remedies and infrastructure improvements that might actually make a dent in our supersized energy appetite will never leave the drawing board.

In the current political environment, the only thing that can bring about a more serious discussion of our energy predicament and--dare I dream it--a forward-looking set of federal policies is the economic pain that will come with gasoline prices breaching the $5.00 per gallon mark. Absent that stimulus, the likelihood that American motorists will somehow summon the self-discipline necessary to limit fuel consumption is extremely low, while the odds of discovering new and vast energy reserves to bail us out of our impending date with the global energy bottleneck are slimmer yet.

To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald’s closing line in The Great Gatsby: So we drive on, fuel tanks running low, sucking dry the wealth of the past.

Sources:

Energy Information Agency: Weekly Petroleum Status Report (week of June 30, 2006)

Petroleum and Natural Gas Watch is a RENEW Wisconsin initiative tracking the supply demand equation for these fossil fuels, and analyzing its effects on prices, consumption levels, and the development of energy conservation strategies and renewable energy alternatives. For more information on the global and national petroleum and natural gas supply picture, visit "The End of Cheap Oil" section in RENEW Wisconsin's web site.

High speed rail needed

Saturday, July 08, 2006

The Capital Times editorialized in support of Interstate II -- a nationwide system of high-speed rail:

Today, a drive to Chicago from Madison can take as long as it did in the pre-interstate days on the old two-lane U.S. 12 and U.S. 14.

Unfortunately, like in most of the country, there is no rail alternative. Amtrak, which Congress continually squeezes almost to death, serves a small piece of the country and then only with one train per day, often at inconvenient times.

All of this is leading to a new movement that proclaims it is time for "Interstate II," a nationwide system of high-speed rail that can connect with urban light rail and bus systems to make travel easier and quicker without having to rely on cars hopelessly caught in traffic backups.

A piece of the Interstate II has long been proposed for the Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-Minneapolis corridor to connect the most vibrant pieces of the Midwest's economy.

What in the world are we waiting for?

Doyle leads declaration for energy independence

Friday, July 07, 2006

At press conferences in Green Bay and Madison, Governor Jim Doyle and others signed a declaration of energy independence with the following broad goals:

The Declaration calls for a joint public-private effort by the State of Wisconsin, including the University of Wisconsin, to achieve the following goals:

* To generate 25 percent of our electricity and 25 percent of our transportation fuel from renewable fuels by 2025.
* To capture 10 percent of the market share for the production of renewable energy sources by 2030, helping America kick its addiction to foreign fossil fuels and bringing tens of thousands of new jobs to our citizens. Achieving this goal would bring $13.5 billion annually to Wisconsin’s economy by 2030.
* To become a national leader in groundbreaking research that will make alternative energies more affordable and available to all – and to turn those discoveries into new, high paying jobs right here in Wisconsin.

Executive Director Michael Vickerman signed the declaration on behalf of RENEW Wisconsin.