Many a Wisconsinite loves to talk about the color green come Packer season. Many others are talking “green” all year long, much to the benefit of Wisconsin’s economy and energy independence.

“If you survey the landscape, you’ll see in the last 10 years a tenfold increase in the number of companies that are installing renewable energy systems and manufacturing parts that go into them,” says Mike Vickerman, executive director for RENEW Wisconsin.

RENEW Wisconsin works to identify barriers to renewable energy production, and brainstorm strategies to move past these stumbling blocks, which could be anything from regulations to low profit margins. It also has a large educational base, working to grow the state’s knowledge on the benefits of renewable energy to all groups, not just business owners. The organization is comprised of Wisconsin business leaders, state agency officials, farmers, educators, utility managers, environmental advocates and even concerned citizens.

Vickerman explains that Wisconsin has many local natural resources available to its residents. Sun, wind, water and even manure are plentiful throughout the state, and “it’s one of the proven pathways for job expansion in the state,” he says of the renewable energy push. “It’s a really good fit for Wisconsin to participate in manufacturing and installing these systems.”
Even more interesting is that these alternative initiatives are not just creating jobs, but also retaining existing economic activity. Farmers are finding outlets for manure and an additional revenue stream, keeping the dairy industry thriving. Some plumbing and electrical companies have opened new divisions that focus on renewable energies. This keeps the past revenue stream strong and also builds new opportunities. “When you’re promoting renewable energy, you’re promoting small businesses, which really are the engine of job creation,” says Vickerman.

With that statement, he says, he doesn’t discount the big players such as Johnson Controls, whose campus in Glendale has received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. The U.S. Green Building Council rates buildings on energy and water savings, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, indoor environmental quality as well as overall environmental impact. Johnson Controls has received the highest LEED designation possible.
 
Many industries are contributing to this exciting flurry in Wisconsin’s economy. Each plays a part and works together to make a big impact on the current and future employment outlook.

Wind
In Oshkosh, Renewegy is manufacturing a 20-kilowatt wind turbine targeted for schools, businesses and farms. It currently has 25 units commissioned mainly throughout the Fox Valley. Wind power helps offset rising energy costs, provides a reasonable return on investment and reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

Renewegy vice president of sales Dana Enz believes the green sectors in Wisconsin are growing due to a number of converging forces.

•    Attitude: “People are growing in their understanding of the relationship between our appetite for energy and how we get that energy,” she says.

•    Technology: Knowledge has paved the way for sustainable energy projects to become a reality.

•    Business Strategy: “The more electricity they generate themselves, the less they need to purchase — the wind is free,” she says. “Not only do businesses recognize this gives them an advantage from a sales perspective (customer influence/rating) but also positions them to weather energy price increases.”

•    Education: “Positive public perception/acceptance seems to be growing at a fast pace,” Enz explains. “Students begin to learn at a young age about the environment and our responsibility to future generations.”

•    Jobs: “For each electron generated from a Wisconsin-made machine, it is less dollars going out of the state and country,” she stresses. “Not only do we manufacture and employ workers here in Oshkosh, but 90 percent of our components are sourced from our Wisconsin partners. As we grow, they grow.”

Sun
After a long winter, the sun is warming up the state and the economic future of solar energy.

Helios Solar Works manufactures mono-crystalline solar modules for solar electric systems. Brent Brucker, general manager for Helios, says these are the typical panels a person would see on a rooftop or in a field.

Helios located its business in Milwaukee because of the area’s manufacturing know-how, good worker base and central location. The line opened in February and is growing fairly fast, Brucker explains.

Solar energy is growing all over the world, by “leaps and bounds,” says Brucker. “Whether it grows here is totally dependent on government action.”

The future of renewable energy in Wisconsin he says is dependent on “how the state and region goes about making it a priority. We have to make a choice: Are we investing in the future or looking for ‘cheap’ energy?”

He explains there are subsidies and incentives available for renewable energy, but says that every energy industry has the same benefits. “We need the equivalent government incentive to spur this market,” Brucker explains.

Wisconsin, he says, is a very progressive state with a lot of companies starting grow the green sector. However, other governments and countries are putting a lot more effort into developing the alternative fuel industries. “If that doesn’t happen here, the jobs won’t be here,” says Brucker. “We have to make a decision.”

Earth
Up until January of this year, biodiesel was more expensive than diesel fuel, explains Hardy Sawall, president of the Wisconsin Biodiesel Association. With that situation now flipped, there has never been a better time for people to start investing in the future.

Diesel is traditionally used in heavy equipment, farming and trucking industries, “so when you’re running a business, the cost of that product really determines whether you use it,” says Sawall. “Our focus is to get consumers to start using it.”

It’s not as if there’s none available. The largest biodiesel refinery in the state is making 20 million gallons per year, and the smallest, 1 million. The production capacity is out there, Sawall explains.

He believes the ability to keep fuel production in the state, can have a tremendous beneficial impact. Wisconsin lies at the heart of where most of the nation’s renewable fuels are produced. Also, access to Lake Michigan through the Port of Milwaukee is a big plus, says Sawall. “As the industries mature, you’re going to have to move product in large volumes out to where the customers are.”

The reason for this growth: federal mandates and subsidies. “The challenge is it takes a lot of capital to operate these plants and we lost the tax credit in 2010,” says Sawall. “A lot of companies went out of business and the ones that survived are depleted capital-wise.”

For biodiesel, there is hope. “There’s an obligation right now by some of the major refineries and importers of fuel to purchase a certain amount of biodiesel,” he explains. “The bottom line is the tax credit.”

And more Earth
Who would have thought that manure would be a catalyst for “green” energy?

Melissa VanOrnum, marketing manager for GHD Inc. of Chilton says that the energy produced by anaerobic digesters is considered “baseload” power by the utility companies because it is not weather dependent. “The cows and manure are always there, and the digesters run 24/7,” she explains.

Digesters are creating and retaining jobs throughout the state, and country. GHD alone has a presence in 14 states, with 24 sites in Wisconsin. Manufacturers are needed to build these devices, and employees needed to maintain them once installed. It also provides a steady income source for the farmer.

In a typical year a farm with 200 milking cows produces three to four million gallons of manure. An anaerobic digester acts as a cow’s stomach, but holds the waste for 22 days instead of only 12 hours. GHD’s patented two-stage digesters harness that energy, producing a combination of 58 percent methane (natural gas) and 42 percent CO2.

The other byproducts of the process are put to use in their own way. A solid acts as animal bedding and also fertilizer. A liquid is spread onto fields during growing season, reducing runoff and odor, which were burned off during the initial process. The ability to fertilize during growing months also increases crop yields.

VanOrnum says that though digester installations are growing rapidly in the state, “the industry is still in its infancy here. Germany has 5,000 digesters.” The Europeans, she explains are “leaps and bounds” ahead of the states when it comes to renewable energy production. The purchase rate over there is much higher, at about 30 cents/kilowatt, where in Wisconsin it is between 6 and 7 cents/kilowatt.

In Wisconsin, with more renewable energy initiatives, it will translate to growing jobs and economic activity all around. Many Wisconsinites are beginning to see “green” apart from the football field.

Photos by Shanna Wolf

By Jen Bradley

Jen Bradley is a freelance writer living in East Troy.

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