This week I had the pleasure of hosting long-time friend and Sconz commenter Patrick McEwen on the Sconzcast. McEwen, who studies nuclear engineering at UW, is a genuine energy policy geek, which makes him the perfect guest for a discussion on the UW's Charter Street Heating Plant, a topic I addressed in a post on Monday.
To get a little background on the controversy, here is an article about Gov. Walker's decision to halt construction of the biomass boiler at the plant, which provides heating for UW campus buildings. Environmentalists have decried the decision, however, as Patrick points out, the biomass boiler actually received a lower environmental score than the natural gas alternative that is going forward. Here is a copy of the state report on the facility, including the environmental and economic assessments of the various boiler technologies.
I would appreciate any feedback on the podcast. Sconzcasts are still very much in the experimental stage I'm still figuring out how to record and edit the podcasts to make them as interesting and fun as possible. They'll only get sexier in the future.
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