Tosa Green Summit Looks At Long-Term Solutions

Paying to install solar panels on the roof of your home to cut your future energy bills is a matter of choice.

Having enough exposure to the sun to make it worthwhile is not.

But imagine you could admire your own shiny new panels atop a roof that does not belong to you, but that of a local business or community building, and arrange to share in the proceeds from the energy they produce.

That is the vision of Mike Arney, who is helping organize the second Tosa Green Summit, to be held 5 to 8 p.m. next Wednesday at the Civic Center at Wauwatosa Avenue and North Avenue. 

“I can’t put solar panels on my roof," Arney said. "It’s too shady. But what if I could invest in panels on the high school, or (at) the new pool, or the grocery store?”

That idea and others will be discussed at the summit's Wauwatosa Solar Co-op Roundtable, a conversation about solar power investment opportunities.

Arney believes that local investment of this sort is part of the path to sustainability.

“It’s time to slow our money down, keep it local, and do something really useful with it: create electricity right here in Wauwatosa.” 

This kind of innovative thinking is what Arney and chairman Jeff Roznowski, who is also a Tosa alderman, are hoping to bring to interested citizens and businesses with the summit, which features exhibits on sustainable practices that just about anybody could afford. 

The first Tosa Green Summit was in 2009, put together by Wauwatosa citizens who were concerned about sustainability in the community. This year’s conference builds on those efforts with three goals, Roznowski said.

“We want to create awareness of putting things in place to create a sustainable community," he said. "This will provide a forum to let people know what is available in Wauwatosa.” 

Roznowski also hopes that the summit will help educate people.

“We want people to learn how they can bring sustainability into their everyday lives. The exhibitors are a big part of this education,”  he said. 

A third outcome the organizers seek is collaboration.

“We’re creating an environment where people can work together,” Roznowski said. “Many of the exhibitors establish relationships with each other.”

He pointed to one example of a partnership between the DOT Zoo Interchange Project working together with the Friends of the Monarch Trail.

“They (the DOT) learn about butterfly migration patterns, and that affects their plan.” 

A highlight at this year’s summit is a keynote speech by professor David Petering of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He will address issues of creating a balance between sustainable development and maintaining economic growth.

Roznowski’s stake in establishing this conference originated from his personal interest in issues of sustainability.

“I was very passionate about things like growing food, (and) biking trails,” he says. But because Roznowski is also an alderman, and from that standpoint, he believes it is important for people to know what the city is doing. 

Out of the initial summit in 2009, the Wauwatosa City Energy Committee was formed, and came up with seven goals. These recommendations have been adopted by the Wauwatosa Common Council. Roznowski wants Wauwatosa citizens to be informed about the city's movement on these objectives.

“We want people to know we are implementing progress on the city’s goals,” he said. “We’re still in the development stage of sustainability."

The summit is family oriented, and many of the exhibits will include features of interest for children. A DNR display will include snakes, and Cream City Hens will showcase its cause with, well, hens.

Tosa Farmer’s Market will be on hand as well, and Victory Garden Initiative will be available to spread the word on urban gardens. For a complete list of over 20 exhibitors and events, go to Tosa Green Summit or just click on the poster in the photo gallery.