Almost eighteen months ago we awarded the contract for Dane County’s Comprehensive Energy Assessment to HGA, a national engineering and design firm with offices in Middleton.
There’s nothing more exhilarating than being in a room where you can feel change happening. I had that experience on May 3 when our office partnered with HVAC industry partners to host almost 100 HVAC contractors for a conversation about air source heat pumps in Dane County.
Dan Williams has always been interested in sustainability. His older home was heated by a fossil gas-fueled boiler and cooled with traditional central air conditioning. In order to reduce his future reliance on fossil fuels, he decided he wanted to transition to an air-source heat pump to heat and cool his house.
How can you reduce your carbon emissions if you’re not sure what you’re using right now? That’s the premise behind Culture Over Carbon, a research study currently in progress that’s aiming to collect and analyze energy use data from over one hundred museums and cultural institutions across the country - including right here in Dane County.
Susan Millar has been concerned with the impending effects of climate change since she was a teenager. Over the last few decades her sense of urgency about climate change has steadily increased. With this frame of mind, she has become a trailblazer when it comes to energy efficiency.
The vast majority of Dane County residents understand that climate change is happening. So what does it take to move folks to action? Local Girl Scouts are hoping that they can spur action by showcasing an issue we do not talk about a lot, the carbon embedded in our buildings.
It has been a long and fun journey to Madison and my work at Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change (OECC). I grew up in a city in South Korea and I traveled around the world thanks to my uncle and aunt who lived in Australia and France. This wonderful opportunity gave me a chance to experience different kinds of nature compared to South Korea, including this interaction with a baby kangaroo. I think my kangaroo encounter was the start of my interest in the environment.
