Advertisement
At S&S Cycle Inc. in La Crosse, Doyle promoted the Clean Energy Wisconsin plan that he first announced Tuesday. He said the plan will promote renewable energy, increase energy security and efficiency, improve the environment, and create jobs.
S&S Cycle makes high-performance engine parts and engines for motorcycles, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The company also has manufacturing operations in Viola, Wis.
“As we see in this great facility, you are leading the way in clean engines,” Doyle said during the press conference inside the company’s emissions certification laboratory. “This is one of the few facilities anywhere where you can test whether a motorcycle can meet EPA air standards.”
Doyle also said he is excited to hear the company is looking at ways of powering motorcycles with alternative fuels.
The governor said the state Department of Commerce will begin taking applications April 1 from businesses and researchers seeking grants and loans from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund. The department expects to award $15 million annually, to support research and development of renewable fuels and to encourage businesses to adopt new technologies that save energy and use renewable resources.
In his plan, Doyle renewed his 2006 call for Wisconsin to generate 25 percent of its electricity and 25 percent of its transportation fuel from renewable fuels by 2025; to capture 10 percent of the national market share for production of renewable energy and bioproducts; and to become a national leader in research that will make alternative energies more affordable and available.
The plan also calls for targeted investments and strategic use of assets such as forests and farm materials, and energy research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Materials that once were left for waste on farms and in the paper and timber industries now can be used as a replacement for oil, Doyle said.
While corn-based ethanol currently dominates the renewable fuel market, the plan
says, wood waste and forest materials are untapped sources of feedstock for cellulosic ethanol.
Wisconsin leads the nation in producing renewable energy from anaerobic manure digesters on dairy farms, Doyle said, and has become one of the nation’s leading ethanol producers. He noted Wednesday’s announcement that Virent Energy Systems in Madison is working with Shell oil company on a project to convert sugar from plants such as switchgrass and corn stalks into gasoline.
The state is committed to energy efficiency and to meeting more of the energy demand with renewable fuels, Doyle said.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan @lacrossetribune.com.
