ONLINE: C'mon - Wisconsin Needs Clean Energy!

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Nick Wilkes

Carol Barford is director of the Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at UW-Madison.

On Feb. 2, Alliant Energy announced the pending retirement of its last coal-burning plant in Wisconsin, Columbia Energy Center in Portage. The League of Women Voters of Dane County's next Issues Forum features a panel discussion on the positives of the transition to clean energy in the state, via Zoom. Panelists include Scott Coenen (Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum), Sam Dunaiski (RENEW Wisconsin) and Kenneth Walz (Center for Renewable Energy Advanced Technological Education at Madison Area Technical College), with moderator Carol Barford (director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at UW-Madison).

press release: A Virtual Public Issues Forum from the League of Women Voters of Dane County

Join us for this forum as we explore the win-win aspects of Wisconsin’s alternative energy transition. Wisconsin’s aging energy systems send approximately $14.4 billion out of our state each year to purchase fossil fuels.

Register online here. Your confirmation will contain the Zoom link and you will get a reminder prior to the event.

Guest speakers will sketch out our energy transformation from a full palette of possibilities, addressing key questions: What are the barriers to progress? Who is training the workforce for clean energy jobs? What’s in it for rural communities? How can we ensure benefits are shared evenhandedly by all and protect our natural world? And how do system-wide energy efficiencies get buy-in from local governments and consumers?

Our Speakers:

Sam Dunaiski is the Distributed Renewable Energy Program Director for RENEW Wisconsin. Sam manages all of RENEW's solar-energy programs and conducts policy analysis on non-utility sources of renewable energy. Before joining RENEW, Sam was an operational meteorologist, creating weather forecasts for airports, utilities, and the media.

Scott Coenen is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum (WICEF), a non-profit organization that launched in fall 2017. Previously Scott worked in the Wisconsin State Capitol on the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, gaining valuable policy writing experience. Selected as one of the 2019 recipients of Midwest Energy News 40 Under 40 leaders in the clean energy economy, Scott is dedicated to educating and informing conservative leaders on an “all of the above” energy strategy that includes emerging clean technologies and advancing a conservative, pragmatic vision of a renewable energy future.

Dr. Kenneth Walz has taught science, engineering, and renewable energy at Madison Area Technical College since 2003, where he serves as the Director of the Center for Renewable Energy Advanced Technological Education funded by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Walz earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin while performing research on advanced lithium-ion batteries with Rayovac and Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Walz is an alumnus of the Academies Creating Teacher Scientists Program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and he also spent time as a visiting scientist with the University of Rochester Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer. Dr. Walz has been recognized as Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and as the Energy Educator of the Year by the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education.

Moderator: Carol Barford, Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), LWVDC Member, Climate Crisis Subcommittee