As Americans increasingly clamor for renewable energy sources to supplement utility power grids, Glendale-based Johnson Controls is exploring a possible new product line: energy storage hubs. “We have a building efficiency business, we have a battery business and we have automotive,” said Brian Dillard, executive director of systems electronics and integration for Johnson Controls. “Energy storage kind of fits somewhere in between buildings and batteries for us. It’s a new area that we’re focused on.”

Despite a clear call from voters for power utilities to increase wind, solar and other renewable energy sources, industry executives agreed in Milwaukee that’s going to be expensive and complicated. Many residents and businesses are intrigued by the idea of installing solar panels and wind turbines that would feed carbon- and pollution-free energy into major utility grids — with the goal of helping the environment, lowering their energy bills and perhaps even “selling” excess energy to the utility. But building the physical facilities and a fair pricing structure won’t be easy or cheap, panelists warned Tuesday at the 2015 Mid-America Regulatory Conference annual meeting in Milwaukee.

Support for introducing toll roads in Wisconsin — a traditionally unpopular notion — has risen somewhat since last year. And that might be partly because Wisconsin’s middle- and upper-middle class are fed up with road construction delays and deteriorating roads, say experts analyzing the results of the latest Wisconsin Economic Scorecard poll.

The Midwest’s EPA chief said Wisconsin stands to gain economically from new rules that require states to cut carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent within 15 years, rebutting opponents of the rule at a WisPolitics.com luncheon in Milwaukee.
Yesterday’s luncheon led with a presentation by Susan Hedman, EPA Region 5 administrator, who outlined the proposed rules and suggested “building blocks” for states to proceed.

Today’s young professionals – so-called millennials – seek a clear path to career growth, recreational opportunities and above all, plenty of public transportation when deciding where they want to live and work. That was the consensus of a panel of young adults who spoke frankly to
business professionals attending the Future Wisconsin Economic Summit Wednesday in downtown Milwaukee.

Shobhan Thakkar and Kari Douglas of Tascet Inc., a 9-year-old Madison-based tech firm that invented software to protect clients from identity fraud, nabbed Randall Lambrecht, an executive with Aurora Health Care for just15 minutes on Monday.

The latest Wisconsin Economic Scorecard survey illustrates a trend that has some financial advisers at odds with real estate professionals on this key
question: is home ownership a good investment? The latest Scorecard quarterly results released last month included a question
about homeownership and whether respondents believed it to be a good investment.

A top federal official said that after the current open enrollment push ends, the administration’s next step in implementing the Affordable Care Act will be reaching out to small employers to help them set up health coverage for their employees.

Former GOP Gov. and national health secretary Tommy Thompson said he hopes to sell off four of his businesses within the next year and start an angel fund to help Wisconsin start-ups focusing on health care technology. Thompson made the comments in a presentation Thursday to about 50 entrepreneurial hopefuls at a Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting in
Wauwatosa.