Hundreds Learn About Biodigester Energy Options at a Wisconsin Seminar

Hundreds Learn About Biodigester Energy Options at a Wisconsin Seminar

Posted by Kelly Edwards, Wisconsin USDA Public Information Officer, on March 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Hundreds of people, over the web or in person, learned about the financing and technology ofanaerobic digester systems, the subject of a pair of webinars recently hosted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  A broad spectrum of individuals participated including academics, farmers, and representatives of the environmental community.

The webinars, addressing two critical issues in renewable energy production specifically anaerobic digesters, were part of the Renewable Energy Education Field Days Program. The program is a series of courses targeted to landowners, community leaders, and dairy farmers that focuses on the multiple issues involved in renewable energy production—from feedstock production and refinery conversion technologies to handling, storage, legal and financial issues. The programs provide information useful in deciding whether to implement renewable energy technology in their operation.

The first webinar, Financing a Anaerobic Digester System, showcased dairy farmers and community leaders who shared their first-hand experiences in financing, installing, and maintaining digester systems. Commercial and private lenders also spoke of their experiences in financing digester operations. Topics included return on investment, private funding, government/private partnership funding options, cost of construction, potential revenue generation streams, avoided environmental costs, tax incentives and cost of operation, including management and labor costs.

Technical Aspects of Anaerobic Digester Systems was the title of the second webinar. This session examined digester technologies–psychrophilic (covered lagoon), mesophilic (plug flow and completely mixed), and thermophilic (completely mixed).  Farmer/operators discussed why they selected a specific technology for their operation, as well as their operational and management experiences with those technologies.

The webinars were organized in collaboration with Farm Foundation, USDA Rural Development, USDA Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative of the University of Wisconsin.

The webinars originated from the Pyle Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

For more information about USDA’s energy programs, click here.

CA Technologies Named Official ENERGY STAR Provider Partner

CA Technologies Named Official ENERGY STAR® Service and Product Provider Partner

CA ecoSoftware Helps Customers Achieve Greater Energy Efficiency

ISLANDIA, N.Y., March, 19, 2012 – CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) today announced a commitment to promote energy efficiency and help protect the environment by becoming an official ENERGY STAR® Service and Product Provider Partner.

“CA Technologies partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program is further validation of our commitment to help our customers improve their energy efficiency and performance,” said Terrence Clark, general manager, CA ecoSoftware, CA Technologies. “We believe that the organization-wide energy and sustainability management approach offered in our CA ecoSoftware solution will help to promote greater energy efficiency, while also helping companies to meet their financial and sustainability goals.”

ENERGY STAR Service and Product Provider partners are required to submit evidence of customer-related ENERGY STAR activity, which is then verified by the U.S. EPA.

CA ecoSoftware is a powerful and scalable energy and sustainability management solution designed to help organizations measure, report, and take action on energy, water, waste, and carbon. It helps organizations monitor energy across their enterprise, and more effectively manage energy and sustainability programs. The solution is comprised of three offerings:

• CA ecoGovernance: helps organizations measure, assess, and report environmental impact and performance, align energy and sustainability initiatives with business goals, and automate relevant processes across geographic and functional boundaries. It also offers a bi-directional integration capability with EPA Portfolio Manager.
• CA ecoMeter: an operational energy management product that helps organizations capture real-time information on energy and other variables in facilities and data centers, and then measure, trend, alert, and act to increase efficiency, enhance service availability and reduce costs.
• CA ecoDesktop: a PC power management solution that helps organizations identify savings opportunities and implement profiles that increase efficiency while addressing the requirements of end users for uninterrupted access to their systems. It also delivers reporting to help organizations demonstrate energy cost savings and reductions in carbon emissions.

For more information on CA ecoSoftware, visit:

• CA Technologies Named a Leader in Energy Management Software
• CA Technologies Named a Worldwide Leader in Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
• Brochures and White Papers
• Product Demonstration
• Energy and Sustainability Blog
• @CAecoSoftware on Twitter

EPA Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Energy Star

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2012
EPA Celebrates 20^th Anniversary of Energy Star
Americans saved nearly $230 billion in two decades
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is kicking off the celebration of Energy Star's 20^th anniversary by recognizing the 2012 Energy Star award winners for their outstanding leadership and commitment to protecting America’s environment through superior energy efficiency. Over the past 20 years, with help from Energy Star partners, American families and businesses have saved about $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon pollution.

"As we celebrate 20 years of progress through the Energy Star program, EPA is proud to congratulate the 2012 Energy Star award winners," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Thanks to their innovative thinking and commitment to energy efficiency, these leaders are helping Americans find cost-effective ways to save energy in everything we do, which is good for our environment, our health and our future."

The 109 Energy Star award winners were chosen from nearly 20,000 partners from across the nation. Organizations are recognized in one of four Energy Star award categories: corporate commitment, sustained excellence, partner of the year, and excellence in delivering specific promotions.

Corporate Commitment: Sears Holdings Corporation is being recognized with the highest honor, the Energy Star corporate commitment award. This award is reserved for partners whose superior achievements in energy efficiency span the breadth of the Energy Star program.

Sustained Excellence: Fifty-seven sustained excellence winners continue to raise the bar across their respective industries for outstanding achievements in energy efficiency. A few of these winners include: Food Lion Family, Bloom, and Bottom Dollar Food; GE Appliances & Lighting; Gresham-Barlow School District; Hanesbrands Inc.; Nissan North America, Inc.; PepsiCo, Inc.; and Saint-Gobain.

Partner of the Year: Thirty-six organizations are receiving partner of the year awards for protecting the environment through energy efficient products, practices and services. These organizations promote Energy Star products and practices in their own operations, and provide efficient products and services to consumers within their community. A few of these winners include: Cleveland Clinic; Colgate-Palmolive Company; General Motors Company; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Staples, Inc.; and The Boeing Company.

Excellence: Fifteen organizations are recognized with an excellence award for advancing energy-efficient products, homes, or buildings and helping to expand the reach of the Energy Star program. A few of these winners include: Design Tech Homes; DIRECTV; Good Earth Lighting, Inc.; and Sharp Electronics Corporation.

Launched in 1992 by EPA, Energy Star is a market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Last year alone, Americans, with the help of the Energy Star program and its partners, saved approximately $23 billion on their energy bills while preventing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 41 million vehicles. To date, more than 1.3 million new homes and nearly 16,500 buildings across all 50 states have earned EPA's Energy Star certification. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products with more than 5 billion sold over the past 20 years.

Complete list of 2012 award winners: www.energystar.gov/awards

More information on Energy Star 20^th Anniversary: www.energystar.gov/20th