We got a news release from Governor Jim Doyle’s office about this.  I can’t say I’m terribly knowledgeable about this, because I’m not.

Basically, the state is making available grants for outreach and education about renewable energy.  They’re coming from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.  The funds themselves are coming from the stimulus (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

The state wants to use the money to meet its 25×25 effort.  That’s the goal to increase Wisconsin’s use of renewable sources for electricity and transportation to 25-percent by the year 2025.

The grants will be competitively bid.  The news release makes it appear they will likely be awarded to non-profits who already focus on the environment.

I’m still a little unclear what this money will do, or how much is actually being provided.  For information, you can click here.

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It’s been a week of promising news for one much-hyped PHEV.  For another, reality may have hit hard.

First, the encouraging news.  CNBC recently reported on the latest test drive of GM’s Chevy Volt.  You can read the review here.  Overall, it was positive.

Some other news about the Volt… A number of blogs are posting information lately that GM will sell about 2,500 of these in November and December of 2010.  Earlier speculation had placed the number at about 10,000, so it sounds like GM will progress more slowly with this.

Also, GM apparently is looking to only sell the first wave of Volts in five markets at the outset.  This would, in theory, help Volt owners and mechanics reach each other.  The test markets have not been announced yet.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Aptera is delaying its launch.  Again, some blogs out there are citing fudning issues.  Therefore, the quirky three-wheeled, all-electric car might not be able to be produced until next year.  Earlier hope was for a launch before year’s end to beat out other competition like the Volt and Nissan’s all-electric LEAF to the market.

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To explain the headline, MotorTrend announced that the 2010 Ford Fusion is the car of the year.

For my loyal blog readers, this is the car I purchased back in April and blog about frequently.  Specifically, I bought the hybrid model.  The award appears to be the whole line of Fusions… hybrid, gas, sport, etc.

You can read the link and check out MT’s reasoning.  Apparently this car is also one of the best selling in what became a terrible year for the auto industry, Cash for Clunkers notwithstanding.  Maybe it was all those commercials during American Idol. 

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So I walk into work today on what is my “Monday.”  Someone in the newsroom had dropped off a press release on my desk about a local home that is attempting to the the first in the city to be deemed “net zero.”

Generally, these are homes that produce as much energy as they consume.  There’s often a geothermal or solar-electric component, along with a host of efficient technology to reach that goal.

Unfortunately, the press release doens’t detail the specs of this home.  It does go into detail, though, about how a blower door test will be conducted on Monday to prove the home is “tight”, and that it uses about one-third the energy of homes that are considered air tight.

In any ecent, I find this interesting because of what two very different people told me over the past month.  Both a UW Health doctor, and one of the 27 News photographers on staff, suggested to me that homes that are so air tight are actually causing people to breathe in pollutants that normally would flow outside.  Whether we’re talking about household cleaners lingering in the air longer, or mold growing quicker, the insinuation was that there might be an unintended consequence behind making buildings air tight.

Is that really the case?  Who knows.  Just lots of anecdotes and speculation at this point, with not a whole lot of research.

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So today, my assignment was to cover a proposal to create siting standards for residential wind turbines in West Baraboo (link here).

We never outright said on the air why we did that story, but I figure the blog is a great way to share the info!

Over the weekend, I received a pseudo-anonymous email from someone who apparently lives near the turbines in question.  Her email is as follows:

“This issue has come up in the Village of West Baraboo.  A resident has requested to put up a 40 ft. wind turbine atop his garage.  His request is for back up power in emergency.  The village lawyer informed the planning commission that the State encourages the use of wind power, so the village can’t forbid it.  In regards to wind turbines, what are the state zoning laws concerning a residential area on lots 66 X 130?  How noisy are these wind turbines?  How small can the turbine be to produce no more than 100 kw?  I’m all for working toward green ideas, but this isn’t the right way.  In a rural setting, property owners with over 4 acres would be a good standard.  I don’t feel turbines below in a residential area.  Please pass this along to anyone that can help us.   Thank you.  “

If you read the article, many of these questions are answered.  Some of this is just debatable based on your personal preferences, etc.

Almost immediately after the story aired on 27 News at 6 p.m., I then received the following email from Jim Hughes in Jefferson County.  It sounds like her experience in constructing turbines has been much easier, but I’m thinking she also lives in a more rural area.  Here is her email:

“Hi Carl,  My wife and I have two 3000 watt wind and a smaller 400 watt wind generator in the process of going up now.  We live in Jefferson Co. Town of Milford.  Just East of Lake Mills, WI. We just go a blessing form the county and town board  before we did anything.  Jim Hughes SR.”

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Unfortunately, with my working a nightshift and anchoring on Friday, and with the craziness of the Fort Hood shooting this week, we were unable to cover Friday’s unveiling of this year’s Green Built Makeover.

Though it looks like the Madison Area Builder’s Association and Abe Degnan did another fabulous job.  This year’s challenge was a house on Baird Street on Madison’s south side.  The home has about six children.  It’s only about 800 square feet.  The rooms were nearly impossible to heat.

I’m posting a couple of photos here… all credit goes to Abe Degnan.  You can see everything he posted on his Facebook page, or by following him on Twitter.

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Courtesy: Romses Architects

So how often have you seen an image like this?  It’s what’s called a vertical farm.  Think of a skyscraper where the building isn’t offices or condos, but farm.

Maybe it’s hydroponic farming, maybe it’s built to support the weight of soil.

Either way, Treehugger has an article quoting some experts who suggest that this will never be a reality because the yield of these concepts could never be enough to pay for the skyrocketing costs of urban land prices.

The article includes the following:

“But the fact is, the existing land sprawling out around New York and the US and gasoline to transport the goods from the heartland to NYC is still far cheaper when an accountant crunches the figures.”

The writer then gets a tad defensive of these critics, suggesting that the focus in any case should be on all the unused rooftop spaces in metropolitan areas.  Then maybe at some point, we’ll see skyscrapers are built that could allow limited farming on each floor on the south facing side.  In other words, start moving to incrementally more urban farming in whatever way possible.

You thoughts?

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So I’ll give props to a blog from the LA Times about this story.

Basically, man drives often on a certain street.  That street it getting popular with bicyclists.  Some of the bicyclists are bad apples.  So when two bikers ride abreast, driver gets upset, drives ahead of them, then slams on his brakes.  The bicyclists smash into his car.  At least one had a broken nose among other injuries.

That physician was convicted for assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem.  Sentencing to take place later.

I can already hear the arguments about issues like this, even in the Madison area.  Reading the comments that follow the blog, there are sympathizers of the driver who have posted their thoughts.

Reading about this in LA though reminded me of the recent trip I made to Southern California.  I was amazed at the number of roads with fast speed limits where bicycling was taking place.  Many of these roadways had limits of 50 to 60 mph, winding through canyons to get from the inland to the beach.  They were basically 2 or 4-lane roads, with a wide shoulder where the biking was taking place.  At first I thought the cyclists were brave.  Then I noticed that these roads had those green “bike route” signs posted, just like the ones we see in the Madison area.

So even in an area that’s very auto-centric, there was likes of biking being encouraged all over the place there… even on roads that didn’t seem terribly safe.  I know I wouldn’t feel terribly comfortable riding on something like that unless I was part of a large group (ala the AIDS Ride) where collectively we were more visible.

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So hopefully you got a chance to watch part of Brett Favre versus Packers’ fans twisted emotions Part Deux yesterday.  A blowout became a furious comeback, that then fizzled toward the end.  Favre gets the best of his former team.  If he plays against the Packers again, it would have to be in the playoffs, or possibly next year (if you can bear the retirement drama for another off season).

In any case, I had the pleasure of doing the typical “news-side” of the story yesterday by talking to fans.  Will they cheer, boo, or something else when Favre walks out onto the field. (Click here to watch yesterday’s report).

As  part of the story, I made the effort to only interview fans who were wearing some version of a Favre #4 jersey.

It was when I interviewed this fan from Waukesha when the topic of recycling came up.  This is clearer when you watch the video, but he doctored his #4 Favre Packers jersey to now be a #41 Spencer Havner jersey.  For someone who roots for the green and gold, this fan said he wanted to be “green” and recycle his jersey. 

Obviously, this is all in good fun. 

Here’s another example of a Favre jersey that was turned into something else:

There were many more examples of this everywhere you looked. 

Remember when these teams played last month in Minnesota?  There was a bar owner in the Eau Claire area who was organizing a bonfire at halftime of that game.  He wanted people to throw their old #4 Packer jerseys into the fire.  Once that got publicized, the Department of Natural Resources stepped in and said no because of possible environmental impact, no permit, etc.

That makes me wonder exactly what these jerseys (regardless of the player) are made of.  I also just find it amusing that even at an event like an NFL football game with emotions over issues like  “loyalty” and “respect”… the environment was still a peripheral matter.

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The three-wheeled, all-electric Aptera.

In the race to build an electric car that’s relatively affordable (about $30,000) and certainly eye-catching, a California company is building the Aptera.

This is a company that’s hoping to get these autos out in the next few years, and the federal government recently made some changes that might (… might…) make it easier in a landscape that is increasingly cluttered with alternative and electric vehicles.

Wired magazine is reporting that President Obama is allowing two- and three-wheeled high efficiency vehicles can become eligible to apply for Dept of Energy loans that some of those other companies have been eligible for.

However, the Aptera (and some other 3-wheeled companies) are still stuck meeting safety standards for motorcycles, not cars.  That’s not necessarily a good thing.  While those standards can be easier to meet, it also makes the cars less credible in many peoples’ eyes.

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