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Ideas for Eau Claire Innovation

Hey. I love farms and rural areas, and I live in the city. I'm part owner of a local food coop and member of our community in many ways, raising kids, serving on the Transit commission, and staying active in ag and environmental issues.

I would like to support some green, local initiatives, but haven't found any real local, stunning ideas to grab onto. Are any of these biomass burning methods legal or desirable in the city? What sorts of projects are worth pursuing, as individuals but more as businesses, small industry and collectively through government?

I was supportive of biodiesel for our bus fleet, but have lost enthusiasm for it due to lack of infrastructure and local feedstocks I support (I do not like GM soy biodiesel, but slightly prefer it to petrodiesel). We will certainly get new diesel electric hybrids in our new fleet, but biofuel sources remain off the table - should they?

There is a lot of natural gas being burned for heat, what can replace that in a city? I have asthma that can flare up from neighbors woodburning (and my own, when I bake bread in the cob oven). I like that wood is local, though, and can be done sustainably. What would work?

Leave comments with ideas please!

Fuels for Schools

Focus on Energy has just released a new report which analyzed the feasibility of woody biomass heating systems for schools in Wisconsin. Turns out there are already a dozen schools doing this with half here in our own backyard in NW WI. To link to the report see their case studies page linked here.

Looking at Finland

(Note: I would like to hear more discussion on here about local initiatives. I am not really too knowledgeable with the regional or statewide things going on, but hopefully readers will not tire of me looking into things happening overseas as well.)

I would also like to read more on this blog about what the academic sector and economic development sector in rural areas thinks about the renewable energy/bio-energy issue. We have several UW universities and technical colleges in this northern half of the state and economic development corporations/agencies throughout also, and it seems that they would have a lot to offer. Research has shown that a region will have a lot better chance at becoming an innovative region and/or create a clustering of an industry if academics plays an equal role, in addition to the government and private sector (triple helix). In looking (quickly) at bioenergy and how things are done in Finland, I came across the following:

(The first picture of a forested area in Finland. Note the different maturity of the sections of the forest. The second picture is a map of the EU (old era) and forested areas. There are smiliar attributes in our Great Lake region or Midwest.)

"In Finland, there are seven univiersities engaged in energy and bioenergy technology and in reinforcing knowledge-based knowhow for this field. The R&D efforts of the universities and industry combined with the enormous practical use of bioenergy in Finland have made the country the world leader in biomass combustion technology, for example in the manufacture of fluidized bed boilers suitable for burning a wide range of biomass materials. Today, the product range includes power and heating plants and cogeneration plants from farm size up to the world's biggest construction. Advanced wood fuel harvesting, transport systems and technologies have also been adopted." (Seven universities!?!?!)

"Another renewable sector where Finland is among the world's leaders is wind power technology. Finnish industry manufacturers all the key components, including generators, gears, steel for the towers, fiber glass reinforcements for the blades, and also ice-free wind sensors and anti-icing systems for blades in arctic wind turbines. "The value of annual exports of wind power technology has increased 5-fold since 1996, to almost EUR 200 million. Furthermore, the industry has produced a domestic wind turbine and exports the technology," says Mr. Bengt Tammelin, Executive Director of the Finnish Wind Power Association." (Perhaps I am totally wrong, but it seems that we are really missing out in the market of building renewable energy products.)

To put some of this in context, Finland has a population of 5.3 million and Wisconsin 5.5 million and Finland is roughly twice the size of Wisconsin. I know that there are numerous different variables (energy prices, taxing structure, etc), however I would be really interested in what the academic sector thinks it could/should be doing to help, specifically in R&D. Perhaps it is happening. I do not know.

Here are a couple of links that educate on forests in Finland.

http://www.mmm.fi/en/index/frontpage/forests.html

http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25853

On the bright side of this cloudy day, at least we have a better bioenergy website:

http://www.finbioenergy.fi/

time to move is now...partnership idea

International Herald Tribune
Two studies conclude that biofuels are not so green after all
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/07/healthscience/biofuel.php

Honestly, I am not a bio-fuel hater by any means. I just find it extremely interesting that this is news in Europe, and big news at that (since the EU is requiring a percentage of energy coming from bio-fuels in the future). I would REALLY like to see a cooperative effort of our state to look at what progressive bio-energy projects are happening in the Nordic countries, primarily Finland, Norway, and Sweden, when it comes to bio-energy from wood. How about some sort of partnership with a region in one of those countries? I know that they are really ahead of the game. I would not mind doing some initial research on that. I really have a feeling that this whole corn and soybean thing is going to turn around (not be as popular and/or lose some steam) in the near future (next five years or so) and we need to be already pushing our greater region (maybe northern WI or NW WI) as a source for renewable and indigenous bio-fuel. I can only imagine that this would help stimulate some of the smaller local economies as well. The local organic cherry on top would be to limit (or eliminate) dollar leakage from these regions and have the industries that profit from this be local.

Quick note update. I just read on the blog below that yesterday 10 of the most prominent environmental scientists in the U.S. sent a letter to President Bush urging him to re-think U.S. biofuel policy. Interesting.

http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/business/green/index.php

Milk used to heat Swedish castle

You have to love this. Things like this are no longer the future. They are the now.
From The Local

Milk used to heat castle
Warm milk is being used to heat up Wapnö castle outside of Halmstad in Sweden. The heating system uses energy from the milking of the castle's 1,000 cows. Wapnö castle's herd produces some 30,000 (8,000 gallons) litres of milk per day. The milk leaves the cows at a temperature of 37 degrees centrigrade and is quickly cooled to 3 degrees to preserve its quality. In a drive to be more environmentally-friendly Wapnö castle has developed a way to collect the energy used in the cooling process to heat up the castle and other buildings.

Lennart E Bengtsson, Wapnö MD understands the surprised reactions saying that "sure it is difficult to believe, but there is energy left over when cooling the milk from 37 to 3 degrees centigrade. We collect that energy."The excess energy is currently used to heat hot water and the staff room but is in the process of being connected to the central heating system and will be used to warm up the castle and workshop buildings.The new system will replace the 15-17 cubic metres of oil previously used to heat up the castle. "The oil-fired boiler in the castle will now be removed and scrapped," Bengtsson says.

http://www.thelocal.se/9850/20080202/

Energy and County Government

Barron County recently appointed an energy policy work group. A co-worker suggested I contact Tony Mancuso, Property Management Director for St. Louis County,MN, to see what they have been up to for several years. Well, it turns out they've been up to alot. We talked on the phone last week and I wanted to share a list of the ideas and suggestions Tony had for other units of government working on energy improvement.
Tip#1: Purchase a low cost utility tracking program to find out how much energy you are using now. Not only does this allow you to benchmark where you are at now, but will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of future investments. For example, he was able to prove that the County's investment in insulating and adding new windows to the "Motorpole" Building halfed the heating bill for the building. He said you don't need a real expensive tracking program with all the bells and whistles. He estimated this cost at $700
Tip#2: Education is very important. You have to constantly educate people about what you are doing and why. Tony emphasized the importance of gathering and sharing information to report back to elected officials and the public to maintain support for effeciency and renewable energy investments. The message that seems to work: conservation is a no brainer - new more efficient equipment will last a long time; result in lower maintenance costs; and often pays for itself quite easily. The message also seems to be more effective when its couched in terms of reducing "pollution" rather than talking about "global warming" which not every elected official has bought into.
Tip#3 While St. Louis County has done some renewable energy projects including wind, Tony called energy conservation measures the "meal ticket" which actually pays the bills. He emphasized that while renewable energy projects may also be worth pursuing, conservation measures have a much faster payoff and thus a better return on investment.

Does anyone know of energy policies enacted by local units of government in Wisconsin or elsewhere? If so, please leave a comment with some ideas - Thanks

Methane Digesters Conference

I had the opportunity yesterday to attend the Role of Methane Digesters on Small and Medium Sized Livestock Farms conference yesterday in Stevens Point. I thought the conference was good. I was disappointed in the weather, since that Secretary Nilsestuen was not able to attend. I have heard him a couple times now and he seems like a very informed and progressive leader. Not to mention, you can tell he loves the state.

I would like to take just a couple minutes to highlight a few things.
- Depending on who you talk with, Wisconsin has between 18 and 21 digesters. All of which produce electricity, except for the ones on Baldwin and Emerald Dairy. Actually, we lead the nation in digesters. 2nd - NY and PA with 16 and 4th - CA. We also lead the nation in energy produced from them, more than double what is produced in the second leading state, CA.
- There are about eight digesters in process of being constructed, of which none are northwest of a line from Grant County to Shawano County.
- It seems like a big issue is how much a farmer/producer can get per kwh. At this time, it is around $.05, with Ontario being around double that, and places in Europe being double (if not more) again.
- There was a lot of discussion on complete mix digesters, which is when you can add additional organic matter. Regarding organic matter, liquid cattle manure (25 cubic meters/ton) has the least potential of biogas yield, with baking waste having the highest (657 cubic meters/ton).
- Discussion also went towards what you can do with extra heat, water, etc. Some of which was discussed in the posts about Emerald Dairy. However, there was talk about ideas of cheese and yogurt operations on sight where digesters give them heat and water and those operations give them organic material.
- Bio-methane was talked about alot and that again, Sweden and Germany are the tops at this. Note that California has signed an agreement with Sweden to work with them on bio-methane.
- I ate lunch next to a guy from a company out of Vermont who make digesters and he said that they have pilot projects that are working now with dairies with 80 cows. Personally, that is needed here, due to the fact that 72% of all the herds in Wisconsin are under 200 cows.
- Discussion about community digesters came up. Note, this is happening a lot in Sweden also. I heard that it might be happening soon in Barron County.
- Finally, John Vrieze offered to pay for the plane tickets and hotel expenses for anyone willing to head out to the state of Washington and learn how university students there were able to build a devise that is much more (I am pretty sure this is right) efficient in the production of on-site bio-fuel and help him implement it on his dairies in St. Croix County. Just to let you know, he was serious.

State of the State address

http://media1.wi.gov/DOA/Viewer/Viewers/Viewer240TL.aspx?mode=Default&peid=6d16fadf-1692-411d-8985-1516073bf8f3&pid=8966b6a0-a09c-49f4-adda-0d48685b87ee&playerType=WM7#

If you go to minute 20, it is close to the beginning of when Governor Doyle starts talking about renewable energy in his State of the State address. Rice Lake is mentioned.

Biofuels, ever changing.

I guess this is a quasi part two of an entry from a couple weeks ago that I did...

The more I have been reading about different policies around the world, it is obvious that nations that have implemented renewable energy policies and programs a lot earlier than we have here in Wisconsin and the U.S. as a whole are starting to discuss the negative impacts of certain bio-fuels. Without getting too deep here, it seems that perhaps we should be looking ahead of what our next steps might be. I am not sure how everyone else feels, but I would guess that we are a couple steps behind the more progressive areas in the world when it comes to renewable energy. Perhaps our next steps are a couple steps behind what is currently being discussed in Europe, Asia, South America, etc. I will give a case in point. The Governor's plan to
- Generating 25% of our state’s electricity and transportation fuels from renewable resources by 2025
- Capturing 10% of the emerging bioindustry and renewable energy market by 2030
- Lead the nation in groundbreaking research that will make renewable energy more affordable and will create good paying Wisconsin jobs

How will biofuels play a role in the first one. Should we be promoting corn? What are the local and global impacts from it? In five years, will it even be a market. And that leads into the next question/statement and the last two goals which relate to bioindustry and renewable energy market and research. If we are thinking globally, we are currently being informed that certain biofuels are not as "good" as others. Should we (as a state and as a NW Wisconsin region) not be looking for the next global market that people will be looking to invest in? Perhaps we are. I am not sure. Needless to say, I think it is VITAL that we as a region and a state focus on the best possible local inputs for local outputs. What percent of the Wisconsin's goal of 25-25 can come from this part of the state? Are we going to compete with the southern part of the state for this 25-25? Our wood vs. their corn. In regards to synchronic time, what is our horizon of expectation? I hope we as a state are in the same segment of now as the rest of the world and will not learn lessons that others are currently learning and continue to lag behind in innovation.

Here is a quote from Norbert Wiener (The Human Use of Cybernetics, 1950) that I think is important to think about.
"I repeat, feedback is a method of controlling a system by reinserting into it the results of its past performance. If these results are merely used as numerical data for the criticism of the system and its regulation, we have the simple feedback of the control engineers. If, however, the information which proceeds backward from the performance is able to change the general method and pattern of performance, we have a process which may be called learning"

Critique Mounts against Biofuels
By Charles Hawley in Berlin
The European Union has announced plans to increase the use of gas and diesel produced from plants. But the critique against biofuels is mounting. Many say they are even more harmful than conventional fossil fuels.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,530550,00.html

another example

I just got back from a meeting this morning with a company that is looking into Technology Zone tax credits. They are in the process of getting into the bio-energy sector. I cannot go into too much more detail right now, but this is another perfect example of existing conditions in our part of the state and a company taking advantage of that to implement creating bio-fuels. Hopefully, as this proceeds, I can do a write-up about the company and what they are going to be doing.

Near and Far

Here are two things I would like to share this sunny and cold morning from the Chippewa Valley.

1st.
An article from the International Herald Tribune. This is a great article. One of the few things that I took from it, is the importance of local bio-fuels and limiting the negative impacts that can be associated with certain types bio-fuel. Also, they talk about wood and grasses being possibly the best types of bio-fuel. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but that is us. That is our backyard. That is what we are bringing to the table. I don't know how feasible this would be (or if it has been done), but right now, I am envisioning a map that shows the amount of wood and grass currently being used for bio-energy for the state. Also, a map similar to the Farm Fresh Atlas that shows what is currently going on in God's Country in the different aspects/stakeholders in the bio-energy economy .
EU considers banning the import of certain fuel crops
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/14/business/biofuels.php?page=1

2nd.
The link to the Midwest Value Added Agriculture Conference. There are breakout sessions relating to bio-energy.
http://www.rivercountryrcd.org/valad.html

By the way, who voted against the Packers on the Packer Poll on the main website? Heck, being originally from Illinois, I voted twice for the Pack. Vote early, vote often.

Emerald Dairy Tour II

Thanks Pete for putting this up on the blog. I was getting ready to type something up, and saw that you did it. The tour was just amazing. A couple more points that I would like to add.

1. John also discussed the idea of having a carbon footprint on the packaging of dairy products. Personally, I think this would be huge for the farmers and producers that would want to take part and the state as a whole. More and more people are looking at how what they do and what they eat impact the environment. Wisconsin dairy is already known around the world (we produce more types of cheese than France), and placing the environmental impact of producing that block of cheese, gallon of milk, etc. would put Wisconsin so much farther ahead of its competition. California, take that. As was stated yesterday, imagine what the carbon footprint would be for cheese grown in many parts of California as opposed to Wisconsin. I have read about discussions about this very topic in Europe. Innovative and dynamic indeed and we, right here in western Wisconsin, are ready to lead the way. This is a perfect example how paying attention to impacts on the environment can stimulate economies.

2. The company Integrated Separation Solutions is working collaboratively with John with the separation of the manure and getting the different end products after the majority of the solids are produced for the bedding. We met a couple gentlemen from ISS that were up for the week from Madison keeping track of the data from the system at the dairy. They stated that right now, this product would be viable for dairies that have 700 cows or more (between John's three dairies there are 2700 cows). I think we all agree that it would be great to see this get even lower, and I am sure it will as the result of the ongoing project at Emerald Dairy, as this is the only operation like this happening in the world right now.

Stay posted for other previews and post visit commentary about the other case studies...
Wow.

Emerald Dairy Tour, St. Croix County Wisconsin

I toured the Emerald Dairy yesterday with John Vrieze and was again reminded that I’ve got an interesting project right in my back yard.

The dairy produces methane that is delivered via truck to a national pipeline that just happens to run through Baldwin(some interesting homeland security issues regarding the pipeline that runs from Gulf of Mexico to Minneapolis). He’s even exploring the possibility of installing a local pipeline for area producers to send their biogas to a shared ‘gas cleanup facility’. John also has installed what he calls a ‘water treatment plant’ that removes much of the water from the manure saving him pumping costs and producing large volumes bedding material, fertilizer, and of 120 degree distilled water. He’s now experimenting with using some of these bi-products to grow algae to press into biodiesel and is even looking at other adjacency niche markets such as aquaculture (raising Tilapia) or vegetable production (use water to heat green houses). We’ll be developing a case study of this operation with the help of Eric Anderson at West Central WI Regional planning.

Anyway, John’s always got a lot to say and he's is very connected politically in the state and nation. His overall goal is to have a zero carbon footprint for his facility and the products it produces and position the dairy industry to take advantage of the coming carbon economy.

renewable energy stocks

Good cloudy, foggy, and gloomy Monday morning to everyone. When is the last time we saw the sun in the Chippewa Valley?

Anyway, I was watching a few different morning news shows this morning down in the gym and I thought, I wonder if there are any websites that show the activity of the stocks for bio-energy companies. I will not pretend to be a player in the world of stocks, but we all know that stock prices show a lot in regards to how an industry is doing. I thought it might be a good link on the main website or on the blog. Here are a couple. The first one has the current prices and how they are doing. The second has links to a variety of companies.

https://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/progressiveinvestor.stocks

http://www.renewableenergystocks.com/Companies/RenewableEnergy/stock_list.asp

Go Packers!!

Harnessing the power of parsley

Another gem forwarded along by Roger Kasper. It brings up a great point - let' not forget about the rest of the "bio" out there beyond soybeans and corn - whether we're talking bioenergy or bio-based products. What other waste streams does Wisconsin have alot of? I know that Wisconsin has alot of food processing for one - not to mention potatoes, cranberries, onions, and other vegetables (Are cranberries a vegetable?)

SOURCE: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/home/chi-parsley_cleanerdec30,1,5311134.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
By Susan Clotfelter, New York Times News Service
December 30, 2007

If you've got the grime, a spray bottle with a surprising ingredient has the time.

I've got the grime, for sure: dogs with muddy paws and drooling lips; a vegetable garden that sends soil into the kitchen along with the produce.

But a cleaner with parsley? It's good to see the herb bust out of its garnish rut, but into a role as magical cleaning elixir? Skepticism bloomed.

Earth Friendly Products' Parsley Plus All-Surface Cleaner smells a lot more like an umbrella drink than a fresh bunch of parsley. That's not surprising since its ingredients include "purified water, biodegradable coconut-based surfactant and parsley essence."

I couldn't decide whether the aroma made me crave a salad or a day at the beach. But the overall effect was fresh, clean and not annoying in the least.

It's also nice to have an all-purpose cleaning spray whose origins are botanical rather than numerical. On just about every kitchen surface where I'd have used Formula 409 years ago, including an antiquated '70s kitchen faucet, Parsley Plus ruled. It even cut the sticky film on the range hood, although it also cut through the already-peeling paint. It left stainless steel with a lasting sparkle.

For the bathroom-floor tile, I just spritzed it on, then pushed a damp rag around with my bare feet. Dust bunnies and lotion spills, begone.

Parsley Plus sells for about $5 at selected stores or see http://www.ecos.com/pages/parsley.html for a store locator.

Michigan Tech - Michigan State Biofuels Partnership

This is from a couple months ago, but I wanted to share it. Andrew, perhaps this would be a good article for the website.

Michigan Tech-Michigan State Biofuels Partnership
November 19, 2007--First they went to Sweden together with the governor. Now Michigan Technological University and Michigan State University are teaming up to further support the developing renewable fuels industry in the state.

"Finding alternative sources of energy and fuel is going to be critical for our nation and can mean thousands of jobs for Michigan citizens," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm. "Our state has the assets to be a leader in this sector, and we are looking to our universities to provide the knowledge to get us there. I'm delighted Michigan Tech and Michigan State are going to be working together on research to refine fuel from forest products.

"The universities each have strong biofuel programs. That expertise will be combined to create new collaborative research, outreach and economic development programs centered on fuels and energy made from forest biomass. The programs will be overseen by an eight-member Renewable Fuels Working Group made up of four scientists from each university.

"We're very excited about this agreement," said David Reed, Michigan Tech vice president for research. "It's particularly significant that two of Michigan's leading research universities are cooperating with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on a project supporting the economic development of this emerging industry within the state."

"Michigan State is delighted to collaborate with our colleagues at Michigan Tech to help create a bioeconomy that is based on the state's vast forest resources," said Steve Pueppke, director of the Michigan State Office of Biobased Technologies. "This is the logical way to move forward, and Michigan Tech is our logical partner. We are looking forward to creating much deeper working relationships with Michigan Tech and providing services to alternative energy companies."

Members of the Renewable Fuels Working Group are, from Michigan Tech: Margaret Gale, dean of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; Jeffrey Naber, associate professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics; David Shonnard, professor of chemical engineering; and Barry Solomon, professor of social sciences. From Michigan State: Kyung-Hwan Han, associate professor of forestry; Daniel Keathley, Forestry Department chairperson; Ray Miller, research forester and Upper Peninsula forest properties manager; and Chris Saffron, assistant professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering;. Miller and Shonnard will serve as co-chairs of the group.

Reed, Shonnard, Pueppke and Miller also were part of the contingent that traveled to Sweden with Gov. Jennifer Granholm and members of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in August. During the visit, Chemrec AB, a Swedish company, and the NewPage Corporation, which operates a paper mill in Escanaba, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore developing a plant to produce fuels from woody biomass at the Escanaba plant. At the signing ceremony, Granholm emphasized the importance of university support for the success of the project.

"This is a superb opportunity for us to come together and determine what Michigan needs in terms of university research, workforce education and outreach to jump-start the state's emerging forest bioeconomy," said Shonnard.

"Michigan State and Michigan Tech are natural partners in this arena," said Ian Gray, vice president for research and graduate studies at Michigan State. "The working group will identify areas where we need more knowledge and then conduct the research to create the knowledge that will lead to renewable fuel industry development in Michigan.

"For more information on the Sweden trip, visit Tech Today: http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/ttoday/previous.php?issue=20070907&id=3989&nav=1#1
and the Special Report: http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/sweden/index.php?home

Michigan Technological University is a leading public research university, conducting research, developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering, forestry and environmental sciences, computer sciences, technology, business and economics, natural and physical sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences.

Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.

http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/news/media_relations/632/

New "Bio Energy" Year Goals

Regarding this site and bio energy in the state and/or region, I was wondering if there are any bio energy goals for this next year. I think it would be great to think of a few and put them down here on the blog and then keep track of them during 2008. Just an idea.

Happy 2008 to everyone!

2007 Wisconsin Energy Statistics

clipped from wibiodiesel.blogspot.com

Click on the graphic above to download the Executive Summary and report highlights.

The complete 2007 Wisconsin Energy Statistics report from the

Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence is available here

Economic Impacts of Bioenergy Growth

There has been a little bit of discussion here on the economic impacts of bioenergy growth for Wisconsin. I haven't had much luck tracking down any research on that but below are excerpts from an article in the Des Moines Register that touch on the economic impacts of increased bioenergy production in Iowa. I found this article clipped on the Truth about Trade and Technology website

“Infrastructure upgrades vital to Iowa's economic future

Iowa's economy relies on more than the state's 114,000 miles of road and 25,000 bridges to do business….its infrastructure needs are growing as Iowa adds a new generation of businesses.

For example, Iowa's ethanol plants will draw 1.4 million truckloads of corn as they close in on producing nearly 2 billion gallons annually. The amount will only climb as the nation pushes to use at least 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. That amount includes 21 billion gallons of advanced renewable fuels, 16 billion of which must be cellulosic ethanol, made from such materials as cornstalks and switchgrass….Transportation officials say Iowa needs to spend $27.7 billion over the next two decades to improve deteriorating roads and bridges and prepare for future demand.”

So how is the State preparing to pay for all these improvements?

“U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Leonard Boswell want a federal study that looks at the feasibility of building a pipeline to move ethanol to other parts of the country. Officials say U.S. ethanol is too corrosive to move through existing pipelines without extensive modifications.”

This would seem like a logical way to distribute some of the financial burden of infrastructure improvements beyond Iowa taxpayers. However, I wonder if its a bit premature to be considering investing in a massive infrastructure upgrade when the future of cellulosic ethanol production is unclear. For example, where do you site an ethanol pipeline? Since its unclear which feedstocks are going to be the main cellulosic inputs (assuming this technology does become affordable) this seems like a tough nut to crack at present.

This article also makes reference to Hendricks industries which is planning to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant apparently. I wonder if this project is still a go in light of the fact that the recently passed Energy Bill did not extend the production tax credit for wind development.

“Hendricks Industries, founded by Ken Hendricks, the Wisconsin billionaire who died last week in a building accident, wants to use Keokuk's port on the Mississippi River to move turbine towers that will be built there.The company said it will spend $22 million updating the port and $57 million to build a plant to manufacture towers that are 260 feet long and weigh about 80 tons.”

Rail service in Chippewa and Barron

I saw this in the paper. I would guess that this will help existing/prospective bio-energy businesses in the region. No rail service for these areas would be a huge barrior. Great news.

http://www.leadertelegram.com/story-news.asp?id=BF989V3U947
Regional rail service gets funding
Rail service in Chippewa and Barron counties received a boost from the latest appropriations bill recently approved by Congress.

The bill includes $2.45 million to help the Wisconsin West Rail Transit Authority (WWRTA) purchase and rehabilitate rail lines in Chippewa and Barron Counties. WWRTA is a joint effort by Chippewa and Barron counties created in 2001 to preserve and strengthen rail service in the counties.

The federal funds will help the authority move forward with a plan to upgrade to 25 mph the roughly 50 miles of existing track in Chippewa and Barron counties, U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a press release announcing the funding.

The rail lines serve local and regional businesses such as The Turkey Store, Bloomer Plastics and ABC Truss. The businesses require access to competitively priced transportation to receive raw materials and to ship their finished products.

State Sens. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, and Pat Kreitlow, D-Eau Claire, were major backers of the funding.

Invitation from Great Plains Inst.

We at the Great Plains Institute would like to INVITE YOU to be part of the solution by investing whatever tax-deductible contribution you can manage into the implementation of a comprehensive Energy Transition. We have worked over the past 5 years with a diverse range of interests to develop the plan for doing it: www.poweringtheplains.org!

Many of these consensus-based energy solutions have already gained the commitment of Midwestern Governors (see headline above), and with your help we can ensure their implementation. To give you some idea of what you'd be helping to make happen, consider some of the targets to which governors are now committed, thanks in part to our efforts:

Dramatic improvements in efficiency. The goal is to cut regional electricity demand by 2 percent by 2015 and reduce demand by an additional 2 percent per year after that. That may not sound like much, but it would mean that after 2015 we would collectively save billions of dollars and eliminate growth in CO2 emissions from using electricity and natural gas.

The most ambitious renewable electricity targets ever in North America. 30 percent of our energy would come from renewable sources by 2030 for the entire Midwest (equal to 83,000 commercial wind turbines or enough electricity to serve 31 million average American homes).

A 10-fold increase in the availability of domestic, low-carbon transportation fuels. This includes reducing, by half, the amount of fossil fuel used to produce biofuels (such as ethanol); and by 2025 meeting half of the region's transportation fuel demand through biofuels and other domestic, low- carbon fuels.

 

Potential Contribution of Bioenergy to the World's Future Energy Demand

Below is a link to download a publication discussing potential of bioenergy worldwide and also discussion of potential impacts. After the Energy Bill was passed last night calling for a 4 or 5 fold increase in ethanol production in the US it appears likely that this issue will be with us for a while longer.


LINK to LARGE 3.2M report: http://www.ieabioenergy.com/MediaItem.aspx?id=5586
Date: Sep 2007

Description: This publication highlights the potential contribution of bioenergy to world energy demand. It summarises the wide range of biomass resources available and potentially available, the conversion options, and end-use applications. Associated issues of market development, international bioenergy trade, and competition for biomass are also presented. Finally, the potential of bioenergy is compared with other energy supply options.

Thanks to Roger Kasper, WI DATCP, for pulling out some highlights from the report below:

Select quotes to give flavor of report. Report has some charts and tables that maybe usable by those giving talks.:

"Biomass in particular can play a major and vital role in production of carbon-neutral transport fuels of high quality as well as providing feedstocks for various industries (including chemical). This is a unique property of biomass compared to other renewables (solar, wind, hydro, etc.) and which makes biomass a prime alternative to the use of mineral oil. Given that oil is the most constrained of the fossil fuel supplies, this implies that biomass is particularly important for improving security of energy supply on the global as well on a national level. In addition, competitive performance is already achieved in many situations using commercial technologies especially for producing heat and power. It is therefore expected that biomass will remain the most important renewable energy carrier for many decades to ! come."

"Targets and expectations for bioenergy in many national policies are ambitious, reaching 20-30% of total energy demand in various countries. Similarly, long-term energy scenarios also contain challenging targets. Sufficient biomass resources and a well-functioning biomass market that can assure reliable, sustainable, and lasting biomass supplies are crucial preconditions to realise such ambitions. To date, various countries have considerable experience with building biomass markets and linking available resources with market demand. Examples are found in Brazil, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and the Netherlands. Relati! vely recently, international trade in biomass resources has become part of the portfolio of market dealers and volumes traded worldwide have increased at a very rapid pace with an estimated doubling of volumes in several markets over the past few years [Faaij et al., 2005]."

Table 1 provides a synthesis of analyses of the longer term potential of biomass resource availability on a global scale. Also, a number of uncertainties are highlighted that can affect biomass availability. These estimates are sensitive to assumptions about crop yields and the amount of land that could be made available for the production of biomass for energy uses, including biofuels. Critical issues include:

● Competition for water resources:
Although the estimates presented in Table 1 generally exclude irrigation for biomass production, it may be necessary in some countries where water is already scarce.

● Use of fertilisers and pest control techniques:
Improved farm management and higher productivity depend on the availability of fertilisers and pest control. The environmental effects of heavy use of fertiliser and pesticides could be serious.

● Land-use:
More intensive farming to produce energy crops on a large-scale may result in losses of biodiversity. Perennial crops are expected to be less harmful than conventional crops such as cereals and seeds, or even able to achieve positive effects. More intensive cattle-raising would also be necessary to free up grassland currently used for grazing. (Debatable by some?!?!)

● Competition with food and feed production:
Increased biomass production for biofuels out of balance with required productivity increases in agriculture could drive up land and food prices.

alternative links

I thought I would pass along some links to some interesting bio-energy programs/projects in Europe and a website from Africa.

European Biomass Association

http://www.aebiom.org/

EUBIONET2
http://www.eubionet.net/

European Biomass Industry Association
http://www.eubia.org/

World Bio Plants

http://www.worldbioplants.com/

African Biofuels Conference

http://www.africanbiofuels.co.za/index.html

I really think the next step is for our region to get on the world stage. I envision a noticeable and clean logo for our region and getting the word out about bio-energy in our region. Why not NW Wisconsin. I remember a gentleman that was in the audience/speaker at a bio-energy conference in Rice Lake and he mentioned the idea of putting an add in the NY Times or something regarding our region and bio-energy. When would the timeframe be for something like that? Are we close? What do we need to do to get to that point? How do we get our region noticed on the global stage? How do we get people in our region excited about it, and for them to know we are a bio-energy player/giant?

Climate Change

Thanks to Jay Moynihan for this info.

The publisher Island Press has produced a lay person's guide to the IPCC Summary Report to Policymakers. Recommended.
http://www.islandpress.org/ipcc/IPCC_03.pdf

Climate Change Strategy Training

The UW School of Engineering is holding a two day workshop/conference entitled, "Developing a Climate Change Strategy for Businesses and Public Institutions", January 23-24, 2008, in Madison. The program brochure and registration information is available at:
http://epdweb.engr.wisc.edu/Courses/course.lasso?myCourseChoice=J887

Ethanol and Economic Development

Here is an article that caught my attention - not because I'm a big fan of semi-truck accidents but because of where this truck originated and what it was carrying. Wisconsin, with its array of steel fabrication manufacturing industries, is making ethanol equipment for export to Nebraska. Yes, that is the sweet smell of cornhusker dollars flowing into our great State - via Iowa to boot. Here's the story:

Semi stuck on Hwy 1 for three hours
by Jake Krob · December 12, 2007

A bottomed-out semi trailer found itself stuck in uptown Mount Vernon for about three hours last week.

Mount Vernon Police Chief Mark Winder said the incident, in which a semi carrying a 108-foot load couldn’t crest the Hwy. 1 hill at First Street, didn’t result in any citations. However, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) has been told that such loads shouldn’t be sent through Mount Vernon on Hwy. 1, as this is at least the third time in a year that a long, low trailer has bottomed out on the hill.

B&K Trucking of Marathon, Wis., was following its prescribed DOT route Wednesday, Dec. 5, when its rig made it over the Hwy. 1 hill at First Street while traveling south. The low trailer, however, bottomed out, stopping the entire load just after 3 p.m. It was carrying a part for an ethanol plant in Nebraska. The load sat there until just after 6 p.m., when two tow trucks from Darrah’s Towing of Hiawatha pulled it off the hill.

The two tow trucks affixed cables to the back end, pulling the entire load backward and north on Hwy. 1. That allowed the semi to back the rig all the way to a spot near Gordon Lumber and Trent Video/KMVL TV-18. The driver was able to park the semi and trailer in a lot adjacent to Trent Video. It stayed there all night, leaving at about 9 a.m. the next morning with a new route.

A spokesperson for B&K said the truck was carrying the ethanol plant part from Wisconsin to Wood River, Neb. She said B&K, which specializes in oversized loads such as wind turbine towers, requested to travel on I-380. The DOT permit came back with a route across Hwy. 151, then south on Hwy. 1.

The truck had to sit in Mount Vernon overnight until a new permit could be issued by the DOT; it was allowed to travel north to Hwy. 151, across on Hwy. 13, then south to Hwy. 30.

Chief Winder said two Mount Vernon officers, one from Lisbon and the state patrol were on the scene to direct traffic while the semi was stuck uptown. It was stuck in such a way for one lane of traffic on Hwy. 1, but completely blocked those wanting to travel across Hwy. 1 on First Street.

Winder said he has notified the DOT about not having long, low loads travel through town on this route.

The spokesperson for B&K Trucking said it will be persistent about asking the DOT to assign a different route in the future.

weak american dollar...

I have been seeing/hearing a lot of news lately about foreign companies looking to do business/investing in the U.S. due to the extremely weak American dollar. I could not help but think on my walk to work this morning about how that could impact bio-energy here in NW Wisconsin. Would foreign investment here be a good thing or would it be a bad thing?

If some sort of foreign investment here would be beneficial for the region, there are several avenues to go about it. Again, if it would be a good thing, this seems like the perfect time to search for foreign investment. I would think that this would help add diversification, innovation, and dynamics to the region for bio-energy. Perhaps this is the time for us to strive for being a global player, not only in the things we are doing, but who is doing it. Northwest Wisconsin - The Bio-Energy Center of the U.S. It is just a matter of time, and our time is near. We need to start thinking and believing that we are the center of U.S. bio-energy and market that globally.

Beer and Bio-Energy - Go Wisconsin!

Here is a creative business idea from David Anderson.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BrewFarm Enterprises of Wilson, Wisconsin (Saint Croix
County) is in the planning stages to become the
premier demonstration project of Renewable Energy
applications, "Green" building concepts, Sustainable
Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship for rural
economic development. This will be a 35 acre
"live/work" space devoted to the production of
high-value niche and value-added products. The primary
business will be a small craft brewery, producing
unique beers of distinction, using as much self- and
locally grown ingredients as possible.
The brewery and residence will be built using EPS SIPs
(Expanded PolyStyrene Structural Insulated Panels),
which is an extremely energy efficient design and
minimal waste method of construction. The latest
alternative and renewable energy technologies of wind
power generation, solar, and geothermal heating will
be incorporated into the overall project to highlight
advances and applications of these technologies into
future "everyday" uses.
One of the larger, value-added aspects of this venture
will be the growing of organic hops and other
herbs/spices/fruits on the farmstead to supply and
supplement the brewery. It is anticipated that energy
production will exceed use, with the excess
electricity sold back to the utility.
"Governor Doyle's energy independence goal is to have
25 percent of the state's fuel and energy from
renewable sources by 2025 and to make Wisconsin the
best place for no waste, bio-based industry to grow."
We intend to be a part of this goal and help others
see the viability of these alternative and "green"
technologies that can be applied to their lives.

Construction is slated to begin Spring 2008.

Nobel Prize

As I was traveling the past couple days, I could not help but notice where the article regarding the Nobel Peace Prize was located in different newspapers in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the USA Today. In all honesty, I thought it was rather disheartening. I guess most people did not even know that the ceremony was held. Therefore, I would like to give you a link to the Nobel Prize website where you can watch and/or read the lectures from Al Gore and from the IPCC. I was able to watch it live on CSPAN. I was impressed to see that Al Gore received a standing ovation from the Norwegian royalty at the presentation in Oslo. I think it is safe to say that it does not happen often.

http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/ceremony_oslo/video/2007/index.html

Small Scale on-farm Biodiesel Production

This morning Pete Kling and I sat down with Carl Duley (Buffalo County Ag Agent) and Jon Zander (Trempeleau County Ag Agent) to talk about an interesting project they are developing. Last year several hundred folks turned out to attend a couple biodiesel workshops. This project takes a systems approach to analyze the economics and safety of a closed loop system for small scale biodiesel production. The objectives of the project are to better understand and document safety issues; analyze costs associated with growing, processing, and utilizing the byproducts of the biodiesel processing.

This project will take place on a 800 acre farm in Buffalo county using Haas Converting equipment from Clark County. The Swedish type 70 press will cost approximately $7,500 and will be capable of making approximately 100 gallons/day of fuel. With the costs for transesterification equipment, furnace, and reclaiming equipment and augers/conveyors is approximately $30,000. The glycerin by-product will be used to generate heat through a Glycerin furnace (used oil furnace modified). The meal by-product will be tested for feed value to determine its value.

The inputs for the press will be soybeans at this point. Sunflower and Canola plots have not had good yields over the past couple years.

For more information on small scale biodiesel and straight veggie oil technologies visit the following websites:
National Sustainable Ag Research Info Center
Iowa State Biodiesel Research site
University of Idaho
For additional links click here

Växjö, Sweden - update

I wrote about bio-energy and Växjö Sweden a couple months ago. I just found out that they won an award for Best Environmental Practice from the Union of Baltic Cities. Much of their success is from the use of bio-energy.

http://www.vaxjo.se/vaxjo_templates/Page.aspx?id=1661
http://www.ubc-action21.net/award2007.htm

"The emissions of carbon dioxide from Växjö have decreased by a fantastic 30 % per capita between 1993 and 2006. This means that every citizen of Växjö contributes to the climate change with 3,232 kg CO2. This level is far below the global average...The result is mainly due to the big share of biomass used for heating. In the heating sector, nearly 90 % comes from renewable energy sources."

How about the idea of NW Wisconsin giving out an award every year or every other year for exceptional bio-energy projects? Perhaps there could be two or three different categories.

renewable energy...downstream

A week or so ago, I heard about the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone increasing and part of that due to the increase in corn production due to the desire for ethanol. In addition, the report stated that there is a scare that if more acreage is changed to corn (as it is expected), that the Dead Zone will significantly increase even more. I am sure there are many other good links about this issue, but here is one below. I could not help but think of Andrew's post from his trip to Guyana and the government's uncertainty if the increase in sugar cane will push the cattle grazing lands into the rainforest. So many times our policies look at one specific issue, and do not look at how it will impact other issues/policies, like the increase in corn production greatly impacting the Mississippi River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. In our area, it would involve additional watersheds/basins.

It is my understanding that this part of the state has exceptional opportunities for indigenous forms of renewable energy (which we are just beginning to tap into), which is a stated opportunity to reduce the causes of the Dead Zone growing downstream. In addition, in many instances they are much more efficient forms of renewable energy than corn. Below is a portion of the article and the link to the webpage.



"However, the report cautions, “certain aspects of the nation’s current agricultural and energy policies are at odds with the goals of hypoxia reduction and improving water quality”—specifically, the emerging national strategy on renewable fuels that grants economic incentives to corn-based ethanol production.

Existing incentives could lead to corn production on an additional 16 million acres, which would “dramatically” increase nitrogen loadings to the MARB. The SAB report identifies the most significant five opportunities for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loading in the Mississippi:

- Conversion to alternative cropping systems (e.g., using perennials or alternative rotation systems) and promotion of environmentally sustainable approaches to biofuel production in targeted areas of the basin"

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/10/epa-science-adv.html

World's largest Biomass plant approved in Wales (Int'l - Ind. Report)

The newslease below caught my attention. How is it that they Europeans are able to build such large bio-energy facilities and import across the Atlantic the very renewable resources we have growing in our own backyard in Wisconsin?

The U.K. has granted approval for a 350 MW biomass power plant to be built in southern Wales by Prenergy Power. The plant would annually burn 3,000,000 metric tons of woodchips imported from sustainable forestry operations in North America. The plant, which is expected to cost $823,000,000 US ( £400,000,000) would be operational in 2010. (Source: AFP, Nov. 21, '07)

Contact: Prenergy Power, +44 (0) 20 7409 5400, info@PrenergyPower.com, www.prenergypower.com

Dec 7th Greenhouse Workshop to Highlight Energy Efficiency/Alternative Heating Options

Reducing greenhouse heating costs - THIS WINTER!

UW-Extension, Focus on Energy, and The Flower Farm are putting on a 3 hr. workshop Dec. 7th at the WITC conference center in Rice Lake. Email andrew.dane@co.barron.wi.us for more info.


Heating costs can be the difference between profits and losses in a greenhouse business. Fortunately there are a number of options that can reduce the costs. This presentation will cover both low cost things that can be done before the next heating season and some longer term strategies to save energy. Short term items might include maintenance items, reducing air infiltration, higher efficiency heaters, and different glazing materials. Long term items might include energy curtains, type of heat distribution system, different types of greenhouses and wind breaks. The advantages of different alternative energy sources will be considered and brace-type solar greenhouses discussed.

Holding the heat IN – Thermal curtains for greenhouses

Many things can be done to reduce heating costs: make sure furnaces and heaters are cleaned and adjusted, replace older less efficient heaters, make sure the envelope of the greenhouse is tight to keep infiltration leaks at a minimum and wall off unused areas of the greenhouse to reduce the amount of heated space. These are important maintenance tasks which good greenhouse managers should already be doing. The average greenhouse requires 80% of their heating at night. So what can I do to have a major impact on reducing energy costs? ….Install Thermal curtain.

These are not new they have been available for many years. Thermal curtains are pulled across the roof areas and sometimes the sidewalls to add an additional thermal boundary layer at night and to reduce the volume being heated. The presentation will cover the types of installations for different types of greenhouses and types of fabrics used. A lower cost manual opening curtain aimed at small greenhouses will also be discussed.

Alternative Energy Sources

There may be alternative and waste heat sources in our local communities that we may be over looking as potential heating sources. This presentation will look at some projects from around the North America that are using alternative energy or waste heat stream for heating greenhouses or other agricultural enterprises.

Midwest Governor's Conference sets Aggressive Goals

At the Midwest Governor's Conference in Milwaukee this week several Governor's, including Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, signed off an accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, encourage energy conservation and efficiency, and increase renewable energy production. I asked Tim Baye, UW-Extension Business Development specialist and renewable energy expert about the conference:

What was your overall impression of the conference?

"It was well intended by a nice cross section of NGO's, University, and Industry folks. I’ll second the comments made by the Minister of Environment from the UK. I was quite surprised to see how aggressive the platform was that was basis of resolutions put forward by Governors; including the greenhouse gas reductions and the time frame and methodologies outlined in the resolutions. I expected a goal setting with broader objectives but this was more well articulated and with an aggressive time frame with aggressive goals. I’m very pleased."

What happens next?

"The working groups are assigned by the governors to hammer out the details for implementation across the broad areas outlined in the accord"

Does the State of WI need to adopt this legislatively?

"In all likelihood there will be legislative components. For example, any authorizations of money or specific reduction targets need to be adopted by the legislature."

Visit the website to read the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord and Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the Midwest.

China, South America, and Ethanol

Brazil has long been praised for its long commitment to developing its sugar ethanol industry. Now, the sugar ethanol industry is headed North to the small country of Guyana, pop. 750,000, situated between Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname and facing the carribean ocean.

In the town of Skeldon, the Chinese have formed a local partnership to develop a large plant with annual production of approx. 200 million gallons. Even from afar it is an imposing site on the horizon.


On a recent trip to assist the Guyana Ministry of Ag Extension, our UW-Extension project team met with several farmers and others around the Country who are asking themselves the same sort of questions I hear around Wisconsin:

What does biofuel development mean for agriculture, land use, and rural development?
What will be the impacts on the environment, on food prices?

In Guyana, like Brazil, he primary feedstock from ethanol production is sugar cane. Large sugar plantations are found along a narrow stretch of the coastline. The cane is still harvested by hand (machete) and then loaded onto a train of little boats that transport it to the sugar mill. On its way into the mill the boats pass by a cluster of little blue shacks where the approx. 100 imported Chinese workers live that are building the ethanol plant. You can see the solar water heaters atop the roof line.

Ethanol from sugar cane has some advantages over corn. For one, sugar is converted directly to ethanol through the fermentation process - with corn the starches must first be converted to sugar. Bagasse - the by product after crushing the sugar cane - is burned to provide process heat and electricity. Outside the mill we saw several giant piles of bagasse, which looks like sawdust from afar. It's not hard to understand why the economics of sugar cane ethanol are so favorable when compared to corn.

in talking with local farmers in the area the ethanol plant, which is scheduled to come on line in spring 2008, is already having an impact on agriculture. Sugar cane acres under production must grow from 11,000 acres to 35,000 acres in order to meet the increased demand. The additional acreage in this case will come from multiple sources. Adjacent landowners have entered into lease agreements to plant sugar on fallow lands and cattle grazing lands. One farmer said his agreement will pay him 65% of the value of the raw sugar cane harvested. He said that with the ethanol plant coming on line he would negotiate for higher prices, knowing that the sugar cane would be converted to ethanol in addition to sugar.

Most of the cattle grazing in the Skeldon are is open with no fencing. Cattle ranching will likely get pushed back further from the coast as more sugar is planted, although it is unclear whether this will require clearing additional rainforest or not. For the time being it appears there are sufficient underutilized and fallow lands for cattle to migrate to.

World Bio-Diesel Potential

A recent report from UW-Madison's SAGE center has received alot of media. The report uses existing public data sources to look at the World's production potential for Biodiesel. Copies of the report can be found at the SAGE website. This is a nice map of world biodiesel potential by country. The developing world stands to benefit from biodiesel production. While there is legitimate concern over clearing virgin lands to plant feedstock sources such as sorghum, cassava, and palm tree plantations, there are also import substitution opportunities where countries that are currently exporting coconut oil and palm oil for cooking may want to convert to biodiesel production for in-country use. This is especially the case for smaller, isolated countries that spend alot of money importing relatively expensive foreign oil to run their economies.

Heating (and cooling?) with Wood in Barron, WI

Dave Miller (Barron Economic Development) and Tim Jergenson (Barron County Ag Agent) and I recently caught up with Monti Halberg, Superintendent of Barron School District, for a look at the innovative heating (and soon to be cooling) systems which the Barron High School and several adjacent buildings utilize. This connected "district" includes a hospital, a medical center, an assisted living center and elementary school. A community center is also set to join the system. It sounds innovative to me but they've been doing it since 1981.

With estimated savings around $100,000/yr in energy costs somebody had alot of foresight. I thought this might be an interesting story for school districts (or other municipalities) around the State to hear about - especially those facing high energy costs and with access to available bio-energy feedstocks like wood. Accoding to Monti around 10-15 other schools are using wood for energy around the State, including Rice Lake, Lake Holcombe, Cornell, and Turtle Lake.

Our first stop on the tour was Bell Timber - a company making poles on the edge of Barron . The School purchases scrap lumber (chip ends) and wood shavings from the company.

The first step in the process is to chip the wood down to size which the school does itself with a large chipper it purchased. A large used truck hauls the chips over to the school building about a mile away. Clearly this ain't as easy as turning the valve on the natural gas. With labor factored in Monti estimates the chips cost $15 per ton or $32/ton if purchased delivered. Shavings are an even better deal at around $8/ton.

So what's next for the school system? They recently completed a Focus on Energy efficiency project. The school district also passed a referendum to expand the project by adding a wood boiler at the middle school and they are poised to become the first school in the State to use an absorption chiller to run air conditioning through the system.

To learn more about district heating visit the District Energy St. Paul website. It turns out our neighbors have the largest such system in North America.

Kristianstad Sweden

Kristianstad is located in the far eastern portion of the province of Skåne in extreme southern Sweden. The city of Kristianstad has a population of approximately 29,000, and the entire municipal population consists of approximately 76,000 and covers 500 square miles (Eau Claire County is 645 square miles). With the help of favorable farming conditions, a strategic location, and a commitment to research and development, Kristianstad is now one of the major food centers in Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole.

Skåne is located in the Öresund region which comprises of eastern Denmark and Skåne. The Öresund region, including Kristianstad, is one of the most rapidly developing, diverse, and innovative regions in Europe. There are numerous similarities between Skåne and the northwest Wisconsin. This includes a) in sphere of influence of a large metropolitan area in a different administrative “state” (Twin Cities and Copenhagen), b) land use (seven county WCWRPC area has 60% agricultural land and 35% forest land, Skåne has 48% agricultural land, Sweden only has 8%, and 30% forest land), c) presence of universities, and d) percentages of total employment of several employment sectors.

Just eight years ago, in 1999, the executive committee of the Kristianstad municipality unanimously voted to pursue becoming a Fossil Fuel Free Municipality. Similar to many communities in northwest Wisconsin, the Kristianstad food industry results in the availability of large amounts of organic waste and manure. This, along with the transportation structure at the time made Kristianstad realize that these two issues were pertinent to the success of becoming fossil fuel free. The Swedish government banned organic waste from landfills in 2005. The organic waste is now being diverted to biological treatment to produce biogas. Biogas and wood waste is burned in a local cogeneration plant. Electricity and district heating are then created.

Some highlights:
- In the mid 1980’s, C4 Energi (Kristianstad Energy Ltd) started replacing oil with bio-fuel and started creating a combined power and heating plant.
- In rural areas where district heating is not as suitable, 43 boilers have been converted from oil to pellets and one to straw in public buildings. Households are also being changed to pellets. The 43 new boilers have reduced CO2 emissions by almost 3,000 tons/year.
- Biogas is produced at three locations: the landfill, the wastewater treatment plant, and a biogas plant in Karpalund (just west of Kristianstad proper).
- The landfill gas is used for incineration in the district heating plant, together with a part of the biogas from the plant in Karpalund.
- The biogas from the wastewater treatment plant is used partly for internal heating production (3,500 MW) and partly as vehicle fuel (3,500MW).
- In 1997, Renhållningen Kristianstad (municipal waste company) started building the biogas production plant in Karpalund. In 2004, the capacity was doubled to 40,000 MW/year. Karpalund is using manure and organic waste (households and food industries). In 2005, total production was 70,000 tons of raw material which generates 40,000MW of biogas and 62,000 tons of fertilizer back to farms. This was the first plant in Sweden to co-digest household solid food waste (5% and placed in paper bags) and food industry (45%), and manure (50%).
- Car pool with biogas vehicles for City Hall employees.
- 18 privately owned wind turbine generators in operation.
- AB Kristianstadsbyggen (The Municipal Company) constructed a pilot solar panel project.
- Waste from the forestry sector is used in the community from a 100 km (65 mile) radius.
- Skånetrafiken, the public transit company, in 2005, had 22 buses which operate on biogas in the municipality alone.
- Overall goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2050, from 1990 levels.
- Annual CO2 emissions have been reduced by 123,000 tons.
- Target audiences include industry, households, and children.

For Year 2005
Heating and electricity
Energy for heating sold from the power plant 285,000 MW
Electricity produced in power plant 30,000 MW
Number of dwellings connected to the heating system 14,300 (18,000 total in Kristianstad)
Number of houses converted to bio-pellets 660
Number of schools converted to bio-pellets 43
Electricity from wind turbine generators 16 000 MW
Electricity from two solar panels 11 MW
Biogas production from the landfill 14,700 MW
Biogas production from the waste water treatment plant 6,800 MW
Biogas production from the biogas production plant 40,600 MW
Biogas used for vehicle fuel 11,200 MW


City of Kristianstad Environment Website
http://www.kristianstad.se/templates_custom/PageInternational____8103.aspx

City of Kristianstad – Fossil Fuel Free Municipality – pdf.
http://www.kristianstad.se/upload/Miljö%20Energi/dokument/energi/fossil_fuel_free_program_feb2006.pdf

European Commission – Directorate General for Energy and Transport – Case Study
http://www.managenergy.net/download/nr254.pdf

Interesting academic article - Sustainable Bioenergy Systems: Experiences from Sweden
http://www.bioenergynoe.com/docs/Sustainable%20Bioenergy%20Systems%20experiences%20from%20Sweden.pdf

Again, as I mentioned in the Växjö case study, history seems like it is playing an important and vital role in the success of Kristianstad’s initiatives. What is northwest Wisconsin’s history? Does it consist of the lumber/forest sector and food production? Do we have a history of entrepreneurship? One can probably safely answer these questions with “yes” and “yes”. If so, were/are we leaders and successful? How do we hold onto and use our history and evolve/innovate at the same time? Can our region's future consist of aspects of bio-energy? Can we use bio-energy to not only reduce our impact on climate change, but at the same time, can we use bio-energy to create a more sustainable employment base for our region? Can bio-energy help keep our existing polycentric spatial development pattern, create more cohesion in the region, and allow small communities to stay vibrant and relatively self sustaining economically? Does our current situation and geographic location make northwest Wisconsin ripe for being a national and/or global player in the bio-energy sector? Personally, I think between our history, various aspects of our geographic location, and existing interest, there is no reason why we as a region can't quickly become a national pioneer in bio-energy and work our way into the next decade as an international bio-energy player.

Växjö Sweden

All throughout Europe many communities are attempting to achieve fossil fuel free status. A significant share of these communities are located in Sweden. Sweden is roughly the size and shape of the state of California (three and a half times the size of Wisconsin) and has a population of nine million people. I had the opportunity to live and study in Sweden for one year, and I would like to share some of my sustainable development/bio-energy experiences with you in this blog.

It is widely known that the country of Sweden is among the leaders of addressing climate change. This can be seen in the activities of the Ministry of the Environment, which includes energy and the climate, and sustainable development, among other responsibilities. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the communities in Sweden have implemented Agenda 21 plans and/or Action 21 plans to address climate change. When you put these two together, you get a nation that has done an efficient and effective job of addressing climate change with a mixture of a "top - down" and "bottom - up" approach. Does it have flaws? Of course, yes. However, is it better than most? Yes.

We in Wisconsin are obviously several years, if not decades behind the Swedish when it comes to addressing climate change at the national, state, and local levels. Obvious questions are: Would the avenues taken in Sweden work in Wisconsin? How should they be altered? One approach, the local approach, seems like it would work in Wisconsin. In all actuality, it is in the process now with the eco-municipality movement in our state. With that, with this first entry I would like to share the vision and actions of a community in southern Sweden called Växjö, and it is located in the middle of Småland. Many of my relatives live within one hour of Växjö and I have cousins who live in the city, so it easily holds a place in my heart. The format that I will use are brief bullet points of highlighted information and links to different websites.

It is essential to note that Växjö is located in the deep and thick forests of southern Sweden. Many argue that timber and wood have been, is, and will be vital to the success of Växjö and surrounding area. Växjö has started using various new ways to take advantage of this location/resource. This includes encouraging wood construction for homes, public buildings, and even a six plus story building made entirely of wood. In addition, they are encouraging the use of pellets and wood for heating purposes. The picture below shows an all wood building on the Växjö University campus. It is amazing. Simply, Växjö has analyzed their history (lumber center, which saw steep declines) and has successfully incorporated new innovative ways to take advantage of their history (existing resources/infrastructure and knowledge of the timber industry), as opposed to continue steering down a path that is no longer beneficial or sustainable for the community (socially, economically, and environmentally). This has allowed Växjö to succeed in its push to become fossil fuel free.

- In 1996, Växjö decided to become fossil fuel free.

- In 1997, the municipal energy company built a new 100MW power and heating plant for the production of electricity and district heating. This was fueled by wood chips.

- 1997 - 1999: small scale district heating plants were built in four small villages outside of Växjö.

- The goal is for emissions per capita to be reduced by 50% in 2010 and 70% in 2025, from 1993 levels. Emissions of carbon dioxide decreased by 30% from 1993 to 2006.

- The current success is largely due to biomass being used for heating. Roughly 90% of the heating sector comes from renewable energy sources.

- City gives subsidies to private persons for the installation of solar panels and conversion to biomass heating.

- The triple helix method (public, private, education systems) is used in Växjö with action being done in the educational system. The Center for Gasification of Biomass was established at Växjö University in 2003.

- Municipal counselling about energy is provided, free of charge.

- District cooling (absorption) is starting at the energy company, university and hospital.

- Solar panels have been installed in numerous public buildings.

- In 2005, 51% of the energy consumption was from renewable energy sources.

- During the 2007 European Sustainable Energy Week, the City of Växjö received the Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2007 in the category Sustainable Communities for its activities on Fossil Fuel Free Växjö. Sustainable Energy Europe is a great website that has a lot of information regarding what is happening in Europe.

The following have extremely interesting facts and programs ongoing in Växjö.

Fossil Fuel Free Växjö - website

Fossil Fuel Free Växjö - pdf.

Växjö Environmental Programme - pdf.

September 9th Renewable Energy Conference

I had an opportunity to attend the AM portion of a great energy conference at WITC in Rice Lake today. This event was organized by Kim Odden and Jerry Ravelle (apologies for mispellings) whom are WITC Ag Businesss instructors and instrumental in the on farm bio-diesel movement. They brought in Mark Haller a wind consultant who talked about the direction of the wind industry to start off the day. Mark talked about the tremendous growth in the industry and the direction toward larger towers and turbines which he said reflects the European-driven marketplace. The movement to larger is in part due to Europe's need to develop more off shore wind farms given their greater population density and the fact that some countries are already pretty saturated with wind farms (like Germany). He said that he felt that eventually their would be a good market for medium size wind projects in the U.S. that could be financially feasible utilizing the wind turbines in the 1MB range. These types of projects might be more appropriately scaled for the type of topography and land uses that we have here in North-West Wisconsin. Because of the rapid growth in the industry there is not alot of supply available for the next several years making this type of mid-range project potentially difficult, however.

The second speaker this morning was Cecille de Massie (apology if I got the spelling wrong). Cecille is originally from Hillsdale in Barron County and has 30 plus years experience in process engineering including work on several renewable energy projects in WI and MN. He talked about the economics of biomass and overviewed several different technology options. He has recently been working with the Emerald Dairy project in St. Croix county which involves a digester system. What is very interesting about this project is the potential to link with several other dairy farms in the region each with their own digester and collectively sell gas into an existing pipeline that passes through the County. This system, unlike a community-owned central digester system places digesters on each farm and thereby reduces the transportation costs associated with trucking large quantitites of manure to a central digester and then also paying to truck large quantities of solids back from the central digester.

Included in this post are a couple pictures from two exhibitors at the conference. One is from a company out of Eau Claire that has a boiler/furnace unit that burns all types of oil including biodiesel and the other is from a fella from the Dodgeville area that has converted a generator to use straight vegetable oil to produce electricity.

Western WI Intergovernmental Panel to discuss siting

The Western Wisconsin Intergovernmental Collaborative (Polk, St. Croix, and Pierce Co’s) is sponsoring a panel discussion on alternative energy facility permitting. This panel discussion ties in nicely with the goals of the Earth, Wind, and Fire regional bio-energy initiative. Details below

Date: Thursday, Sept. 27

Time: 7-9PM

Location: UWRF Campus

Village of Osceola Administrator, Neil Soltis, is in charge of putting the event together and is looking to find the following panelists:

· Alternative energy industry representative. He’s especially interested in finding someone who has gone through the permitting process (good or bad) for an alternative energy facility.

· State agency rep. or reps. for facility permitting (DNR/Commerce/other). Air quality, view shed, wildlife concerns, surface and ground water management, etc.

· Local planning and zoning representative (city or county).

· Engineering firm. Engineer or firm that has designed/installed alternative energy facilities.

· Energy producer/supplier. Xcel, Dairyland Power, St. Croix Electric Coop, etc.

Investing in Ag Conference - Pewaukee

Yesterday I attended a great conference put on by Badger Agvest and the Ag Innovation Center in Pewaukee. In the morning we heard from two panels. The first panel discussed the current and future bio energy trends in the State and the second focused on manure management technologies. After hearing from an Angel Investor we broke for lunch where we heard from Molly Jahns, the new College of Ag Dean, about the UW System and bioenergy specifically about the new federal Dept of Energy grant recently awarded. In the afternoon four companies gave a sales pitch looking for outside investors to help grow their business. More later.

Renewable Energy Events Calendar

Renewable Energy Events Calendar: "August 15 Myths of Energy Summit Hosted by Lakeshore Tech. College, UW Extension, etc. Location: Manitowoc, WI - Holiday Inn Energy Summit, August 15, 2007 from 8:45am-4pm. Presentation subjects include 'Myths of Energy”, “The State of Electricity in WI”, 'Bio-Mass: Wisconsin's Diamond in the Rough”, “Energy Efficiency-the Real Money Saver,' and 'The Role of Education in the Future of Energy.' For program information contact Richard McDonald at 920-973-1878, or Richard Larson at 920-901-0024. For registration information call 866-727-5575. Contact: 866-727-5575 Website: http://www.mythsofenergy.com"

Earth, Wind, and Fire: Preparing for Bio Energy Opportunities in Wisconsin

It is a long, long title and a bit misleading but hopefully catchy. Welcome to the blog portion of the website bioenergyforum.com