The Institute of Ecological Design, a research endeavor spearheaded by UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, recently created renderings for a Milwaukee windmill project.

The Milwaukee Office of Environmental Sustainability has been looking into the installation of wind turbines within the city. Two possible locations have been identified. Both in Bay View, one would be near 2323 S. Memorial Drive and the other would be adjacent to the Lake Express car ferry.

Two different sized turbines are in consideration: a 115-foot windmill and one that is 156 feet. The larger can supply enough power for 12 homes while the smaller can generate enough for two. Erick Shambarger, with the environmental sustainability office, said the hope is to use wind energy to power the Port Administration building.

The Institute for Ecological Design created photographic renderings of what the locations would look like with the proposed turbines. The two locations were selected because of their proximity to the strong gusts of wind from Lake Michigan but not near homes.

The renderings aren’t exact but offer a visual representation of how the windmills will look in the Milwaukee urban setting.

In a Journal Sentinel article, Matthew Howard, the city’s sustainability director said, “It’s one of the best profiles in the southeast region for wind. We don’t want this to be a gimmick. We want this to be an economic energy-producer for the city.”

The expected cost for the urban wind farm is unknown, but Howard expects the total to be around $600,000. Overall costs may be reduced by incentive money received from We Energies and the Focus on Energy program.

The city plans to pay for the project with money the city received from federal economic stimulus funds.

A meeting was held on Jan. 13 at the South Shore Pavilion to give members of the community an opportunity to see what the installed turbines would look like and voice their opinion.

Concerns raised included noise generated by the turbines, impact on migratory birds, and whether the project was a good use of the stimulus funds.

Resident Sharon Murphy recognized that although the city would not be using property taxes to pay for the project, the stimulus package is still tax-payer money.

Others touted the project as a statement about the city’s commitment to clean and renewable energy. Other Great Lakes coastal cities have taken advantage of the power-producing waterway such as Toronto and Cleveland.

Governor Scott Walker has recently put together legislation which increases the regulation for constructing windmills in Wisconsin. Some provisions include increasing the minimum distance of turbines from non-consenting property owners and conducting investigations into the impact on nearby property value a windmill would have.

The turbines selected for the Milwaukee project are small enough (100 kW) to remain exempt from Walker’s proposed legislation as it is now.

Renewable Energy at UWM

Earlier this month the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) praised UWM for its “Energy Matter Initiative.”

The goal of “Energy Matters” when it was started in 2008 was to commit the university to reduce its energy consumption by 25 percent by 2013.

In 2005, following an order by the governor, UWM along with 10 other UW institutions made a commitment to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent by 2008. In 2008, it turned out consumption had increased five percent.  It was at that time UWM Physical Plant Services created the “Energy Matters” program.