Energy

March 14, 2017

When Dr. Kim Pierson began teaching a new class about renewable energies, he used some inexpensive materials he found at a local store to build a small model of a solar thermal water heater that he could use in his laboratory. The UW-Eau Claire physics professor quickly realized that his model — if built to […]

January 18, 2017

UW-La Crosse’s energy consumption in 2015 was 12.7 percent lower than a decade ago. That’s according to a Wisconsin Department of Administration report that summarizes annual energy use in all state facilities. The report sets fiscal year 2005 as a baseline and makes adjustments for weather and total campus square footage. Because of UWL’s dedication […]

April 26, 2016

The gas meters that measure energy consumption in buildings pose as great a threat to workers who service them as downed power lines do to electric utility workers. Left in place for decades, the meters are often painted over and rusted, making nuts difficult to budge. Heavy pipe wrenches can slip when workers apply excessive […]

February 19, 2016

It wasn’t a natural disaster or high demand that caused an electrical blackout in the northeastern United States in summer 2003. A high-voltage power line in Ohio brushed against overgrown trees, causing it to shut down, and touching off a domino effect of disabled lines. For the next two days, 50 million people in eight […]

December 20, 2013

Temperatures in the single digits didn’t faze University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and UW Oshkosh Foundation leaders and project partners from cutting the ribbon on a new, 1.4 megawatt biodigester at Rosendale Dairy in Pickett on Dec. 11. About 100 guests — project partners and supporters — gathered at the state’s largest dairy farm to inaugurate […]

August 21, 2013

As students in Craig Kohn’s class at Waterford Union High School can tell you, you don’t need a grant or Ph.D. to do scientific research. A question and some curiosity are all that’s needed—along with a sturdy pair of gloves. Kohn BS’08, who earned degrees in biology and agricultural education at UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural […]

August 7, 2013

Earth’s petroleum stores are dwindling, but a Wisconsin project aims to produce energy from a resource that’s in little danger of running low: cow manure, or “brown gold.” The University of Wisconsin–Madison and several state companies, funded by a $7 million grant from the USDA Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI), have partnered to pilot the conversion […]

August 5, 2013

Johnson Controls, the world’s leading automotive battery supplier, is helping to position Wisconsin as a worldwide leader in energy storage. The company has endowed a professorship, built cutting-edge research labs and funded graduate studies in energy storage at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The goal is to make groundbreaking discoveries and […]

July 31, 2013

Promising biofuels research at a Wisconsin biotech company and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is getting a boost from a $224,292 National Science Foundation grant. C5.6 Technologies of Middleton, Wis., and the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology (WIST) at UW-Stevens Point were awarded the grant to continue work on developing bacteria that will ferment sugar into […]

July 29, 2013

It will serve as both a renewable energy plant and a learning and research laboratory. It promises a more sustainable future for the state’s evolving dairy industry. And it will prepare new waves of environmental and renewable energy scientists for the workforce, students who hail from the kinds of small, rural Wisconsin communities where similar […]