Wisconsin’s Energy Report Released

By Paul Snyder

Gov. Jim Doyle’s Energy Efficiency and Renewables Task Force’s draft report to the Public Service Commission highlights means of conserving energy and promotes better coordination between the PSC and the Department of Administra-tion.

The PSC said it will be introduced to the Legislature in the next couple of weeks.

In a statement Tuesday, PSC Chairperson Dan Ebert said the report will help the state make the right financial decisions in the face of rising energy costs.

The new report will help us set goals for energy efficiency and renewables in the state and shows us the most efficient ways to meet these goals, he said. With the increases we are seeing in fuel costs to generate electricity and heat our homes, we need to look for smart, common sense ways to lower energy de-mand and to use Wiscon- sin’s home-grown resources as a source for energy.

Doyle created the task force two years ago to help make Wisconsin a leader in energy efficiency and use of renewable resources. Wisconsin currently ranks seventh in the nation in the amount the state spends on energy.

Among other statistics, the task force’s report says that the state could conserve enough electricity to defer the construction of one power plant every five years and replace enough natural gas to heat as many as 65,000 homes a year.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we’ve seen the price of natural gas jump from $7 to $13 per decotherm, and we’ve put in a lot of action that can help now, said Dan Schoof, executive assistant to the chair with PSC. But we realize that the costs are still terrible and the volatility of not knowing what the price of natural gas will be tomorrow is hard. That’s why we need to begin implementing long- term solutions.

Increase renewables

One such long-term solution in the task force’s recommendations calls for at least 10 percent of Wisconsin’s energy to come from renewable resources by 2015.

The task force’s report comes during a decidedly energy-focused week for the governor. On Monday, he appeared before the American Council on Renewable Energy in Washington D.C., calling for a new policy that increases the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels.

Schoof also noted that Doyle recently became the first governor to sign an eight-state Midwestern agreement to reduce the consumption of natural gas by 1 percent every year for five years.

Getting this report through the Legislature and getting the state focused on conserving energy is one of the top priorities of the Doyle administration, he said.

The next step is for the Legislature to introduce and pass legislation implementing the task force’s recommendations. Schoof said that Doyle would like to see it passed before the end of the year.

There’s great bipartisan support for this, he said. It’s not a one-party bill.