ICE helps students fight global warming

The three student winners of Johnson Controls’ 2007 Wisconsin Igniting Creative Energy Challenge accept their awards. The winners are (left to right) Patrick Gathof Jr., Casey Holahan and Collin Richter. Photo courtesy of G Communications Inc.

Casey Holahan knows a thing or two about global warming.

That’s why he’s promoting the use of E85 gasoline, which is an alternative fuel mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Holahan, 12, is a sixth grader at Blair Elementary School in Waukesha and one of the winners of the Wisconsin Igniting Creative Energy Challenge, a competition put on by Johnson Controls and the National Energy Foundation. Johnson Controls started the Wisconsin version of the national program three years ago to let children offer creative, intelligent ideas for tackling a growing energy crisis, said Mary Dowell, community relations director at Johnson Controls.

Competitors from kindergarten to 12th grade are asked to educate themselves about an energy-related problem and then suggest practical solutions, expressing their ideas through a variety of media, ranging from essays to Web sites to photography.

“We want them to look at what we do to conserve at school and at home to make our planet healthier,” Dowell said. “They have to really put on their thinking caps.”

The results pay off. This year’s three winners tackled E85, recycling and energy conservation.

“We knew we have some of the brightest here,” Dowell said.

This year’s three winners were Holahan; ninth-grader Patrick Gathof Jr., 15, of Beloit Memorial High School; and fifth-grader Collin Richter, 11, of Meadowbrook in Waukesha. They will move on to the national competition, and have their choice of a $1,500 savings bond or $1,500 toward a computer or complementing accessories. Their projects will be on display at Milwaukee’s Discovery World in the “TechnoJungle: The Hunt for the Next Great Idea” exhibit.

By sponsoring ICE, Johnson Controls hopes to foster an interest in technology and innovations that one day will make construction, transportation and other industries successful and sustainable, Dowell said.

Participation has grown quickly, from just 36 Wisconsin entrants a few years ago to 370 this year.

“Our next leaders are our kids,” Dowell said.

They’ve got you covered

Soil contaminated with coal tar is a reminder of the former coal-gasification plant on the Xcel property in Eau Claire. Photo courtesy of Eau Claire Public Works Department

Taking on contaminated property can be a risky proposition for a developer.

But the state has a new option to reduce the financial hits sometimes caused by the unknown pollutants lurking beneath the surface.

The Wisconsin Brownfields Insurance Program takes aim at small- to mid-size cleanups, offering developers, businesses and other entities insurance to cover the cost of any surprises.

“It doesn’t cover the costs of cleaning up known contamination; it covers risks beyond that, like if you tear down a building and find additional drums that were buried underneath,” said Michael Prager, land recycling team leader for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “You have to spend less time applying for it and the underwriting is more streamlined.

“There is environmental insurance out on the private market right now, but typically that is only used on really big projects.”

The DNR anticipates that insurance received through the program will be less expensive than regular market rates.

For more information, visit dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/rr/rbrownfields/wbip.htm.

— Jennifer Pfaff