MGE Announces Goal of Net-Zero Carbon Electricity by 2050

“We believe it is important to articulate a long-term goal that is both visionary and based on the
best climate science available,” CEO says.

Madison, Wis., May 14, 2019—Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) today set a new goal of net-zero carbon electricity for its customers by 2050, said Jeff Keebler, MGE Chairman, President and CEO.

“In creating an energy future for our customers and shareholders, we need ambitious and crucial reductions in carbon emissions that align with the work of the scientific community, specifically the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its assessment of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050,” Keebler said.

MGE already has been on a path to reduce carbon, having reduced carbon dioxide emissions 23% since 2005 and targeting carbon reductions of at least 80% by 2050 from 2005 levels.

“Since introducing our carbon reduction targets, we have always said that if we can go further faster by working with our customers, we will. We believe it is important to articulate a long-term goal that is both visionary and based on the best climate science available. Our net-zero carbon goal is aggressive, and it will require technologies not yet commercially available or cost-effective, but it is where we need to be,” Keebler said.

MGE’s mission continues to be safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity for all customers. Through the application of science and investment in the technologies of today and tomorrow, the company will continue to fulfill its mission.

Climate Science Partnership
MGE also announced it will be working with scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences to help evaluate the company’s net-zero carbon goal in the context of the analyses done by the IPCC. The university will provide expert input and perspective to ensure MGE’s goal is consistent with the IPCC assessment.

In 2015, the company announced its Energy 2030 framework, which was informed by community input and laid out its foundational objectives for building your community energy company for the future:

• Provide customers with options they want today and in the future,
• Help customers use energy efficiently and control future costs for all customers,
• Transition MGE to a more environmentally sustainable energy supply,
• Provide a dynamic electric grid that can integrate all energy technologies to serve customers, and
• Ensure that new and changing technology serves all customers equitably.

“These remain our objectives as we continue to build customer and shareholder value on our path to deep decarbonization,” Keebler said. “As your community energy company, MGE has a history of engaging our customers and communities. We actively continue work to deepen that engagement to achieve our goals. Our net-zero carbon goal is a reflection of our commitment not only to long-term sustainability, rooted in the latest climate science, but also a reflection of our commitment to our customers and communities.”

Key strategies for deep decarbonization include reducing the carbon intensity in electricity generation through adding significant new renewable energy resources and reducing the use of fossil fuels; continued work to help customers with energy efficiency; and electrification, including transportation.

“We are excited about our path, our progress and our ultimate vision. To us, this is what it means to lead and to serve,” said Keebler.

About MGE
MGE generates and distributes electricity to 153,000 customers in Dane County, Wis., and purchases and distributes natural gas to 161,000 customers in seven south-central and western Wisconsin counties. MGE’s parent company is MGE Energy, Inc. The company’s roots in the Madison area date back more than 150 years.

Contact
Steve Schultz
Corporate Communications Manager
608-252-7219 | sbschultz@mge.com

Thysse Groundbreaking Scheduled

For Immediate Release
Brooke Barney
Thysse
608.249.6951

Rendering of Thysse’s new headquarters, a 95,500 square-foot building being developed by Newcomb Construction, OPN Architects and Thysse Design. Rendering by Thysse Design

OREGON, WI, May 7, 2019— Thysse, a third-generation design, printing and manufacturing company, will break ground on its new location at 1:00 pm, June 4, 2019. The groundbreaking ceremony will feature staff and family members, government and local business leaders, the general contractor, and architect team.

“Thysse was originally recruited to move to the Village of Oregon’s Business Park in 2012,” Jason Thysse shared. “We moved here with 13 employees and we plan to move into the new building with over 100 employees. Our company has grown exponentially in the seven years we have been here. We wanted to exhaust all efforts to stay in Oregon and the Village Staff, Board and Chamber of Commerce helped make that happen.”

The new, two-story, 95,500 square foot project will be the third expansion for the company within the last seven years. The move will bring all employees back under one roof from their current two locations, with room to grow. Newcomb Construction will be creating the building using their tilt-up concrete process. 100 insulated wall panels will be fabricated onsite using Lycon concrete from just two blocks away.

Highlights of the new building include:
• Two-story lobby with prominent out-of-doors views
• Large employee breakroom with fireplace lounge and sliding glass partition to walk-out patio
• Second floor gathering room with balcony and open bridge to gallery space
• Lots of natural light, LED lighting and in floor radiant heating to provide comfortable office environment

The building is projected to be completed by July 2020.

###

About Thysse
Thysse is a third-generation, innovative company in Oregon, WI, specializing in visual communication. We are
a design, printing and manufacturing company that hires architects, and we have the imagination and tools
to customize projects, whatever they may be. We think about how your story is being told through your
direct mail, your catalog, your fleet vehicles, your apparel, the sign outside your door, and the design of the
lobby inside your door. We call it where you go with your brand. For more information about Thysse, please
visit www.thysse.com.

Attic Angel Takes Other Senior Facilities Under Its Wing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information: MaryAnn.Drescher@atticangel.org or 608-662-8907

Attic Angel Takes Other Senior Facilities Under Its Wing

Attic Angel Association – the umbrella organization that owns and oversees Attic Angel Place and Attic Angel Prairie Point senior living – has broadened its wingspan to include another corporation: Attic Angel Management Services.

Attic Angel’s expertise and success come from a long and pioneering history of serving seniors since its first nursing home opened in 1953. The new management services corporation provides consulting and management services to other long-term care providers in and around Madison. The relationship will result in greater efficiencies and quality of services to other organizations while sharing the expenses of overhead costs, according to President/CEO Mary Ann Drescher.

The first facility to sign on is Faith Living Center, a 20-unit Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF) in Sun Prairie. Attic Angel will provide oversight for regulatory compliance while assisting with shared services such as finance, marketing and human resources.

Scientific Survey Research Firm Merges with Civic Engagement Technology Company

NRC and Polco merger offers local governments the best in performance management research and civic engagement services.

Digital engagement platform Polco and survey research firm National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) are pleased to announce their merger. Together, NRC and Polco offer the best in civic engagement through resident surveys and communication technology to local governments and other public sector entities.

“Community leaders need good data, both to make immediate decisions and to measure performance over time. We are bringing together two companies, under one roof, that have each defined public engagement,” said CEO Nick Mastronardi. “It’s time to expand the ways organizations communicate with their stakeholders and serve their needs.”

NRC and Polco have combined at a pivotal time. Shoehorning tech platforms into civic applications they were not designed for has led to increased polarization and fractured communications. “Now, more than ever, local government officials must understand residents’ needs,” said Tom Miller, current Polco Board Director and Founder of NRC. “City staff have become more tech savvy and reliant on data. They need better and more accessible information to succeed in creating the livable communities that residents deserve and expect.”

Mastronardi agrees that Polco and NRC’s joint services are essential for today’s decision-makers. “Well designed platforms, structured communications, and quality data can bring communities back together and also highlight new opportunities for cities to increase resident satisfaction and quality of life. There are a lot of thoughtful people who are busy and can’t always make it to a town hall or city council meeting. But now they can lend their voices in a civil, organized way.”

About National Research Center, Inc. (NRC)

Both companies share the mission to help communities move forward through resident input, which has motivated National Research Center over the last 25 years. NRC has become a thought-leader in the survey industry and the gold standard for public opinion research and evaluation methodology.

NRC staff are leading experts and experienced practitioners. They are authors of numerous articles and books, and public speakers who present research findings and facilitate trainings for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), and National League of Cities (NLC), to name a few.

Hundreds of public-sector organizations across the country use NRC surveys for performance measurement, budgeting, strategic planning, and decision-making. NRC’s nationwide, benchmark database holds hundreds of thousands of resident opinions – making it the largest of its kind.

NRC is also a long-standing Strategic Partner of ICMA, a charter member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Transparency Initiative, a Corporate Partner of the Alliance for Innovation (AFI), and has been named a Top Local Government Vendor by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL).

The firm will continue to provide clients with top-quality survey research, consulting, and benchmark comparisons. Now the merger creates new opportunities for NRC to produce actionable results in convenient and innovative ways.

About Polco

Polco represents the next generation of civic engagement and communication technology. The four-year-old technology company tripled in size over the last two years. They have worked with  cities in more than 23 states.

Polco’s online platform takes policy polling to the next level. Their unique verification capabilities  and key design features add reliability to results and foster civility. Polco produces organized data, dashboards, and maps in real-time for city officials. The platform is especially useful for clients with immediate decision-making needs, including local and state governments, special districts, schools and universities, and nonprofit organizations.

Polco also takes special measures to preserve respondent privacy. After verifying respondents, Polco only shares aggregated, de-identified results with city officials. Individual level data are never shared with the city or any third party.

This award-winning civic engagement platform has been profiled in numerous publications, including Governing Magazine. Polco is also the only technology firm ever to be named a Savings and Solutions Enterprise Partner for the National League of Cities (NLC).

Polco staff have strong backgrounds in city management, public policy, communications technology, data, and software engineering. The team itself has been a major component to Polco’s ingenuity and fast-growing success. “We are committed to continue working hard to put the best products, technologies, and services into the hands of city officials. We truly want to give them and their residents a great experience, and to empower communities to take next steps confidently,” Mastronardi expressed.

NRC and Polco: Merger for the Future of Civic Engagement

Moving ahead, National Research Center and Polco will continue to provide the staple services and features they are known for. Current surveys being conducted by NRC will remain unchanged, and clients will keep the same access to the Polco platform.

Now NRC and Polco are looking toward the future. Their combined R&D team is already working on digital reports, interactive dashboards, new uses of Polco’s online engagement tool, and other innovations.

Miller observed, “Both companies saw clearly the synergies of merging, as the world of survey research and resident engagement are melding. Rapid policy sounding and long-term performance trends are equally essential to the success of our public-sector clients.”

Polco and NRC plan for new and expanded services to make surveys and polls easier to administer, promote faster feedback, and produce deeper analytics. Cities, towns, and counties may also be able to host two-way communications more frequently.

As the technology and survey industries evolve, Polco and NRC promise to move forward with the needs of their public-sector and non-profit clients first in mind.

“Some of these changes are inevitable,” said Mastronardi. “We are committed to doing it the right way that’s best for cities and residents.”

---

For more information about Polco and National Research Center, Inc. (NRC), visit them online at www.polco.us and www.n-r-c.com.

Building Community in Wake of August Floods

Kickapoo River Valley was hit hard by the flooding that affected much of Southwest Wisconsin last August. Several commercial and residential buildings experienced significant damage necessitating demolition. The August flooding has taken a significant toll on the community. The incident spurred local resident and Mead & Hunt employee Scott Lind to action.

As an involved member of the community, Scott could see the emotional, environmental, and physical toll the flooding had on the area surrounding the Kickapoo Valley River. With the help of fellow employee Mark Sauer, Scott was able to enact positive change in his community by creating a team of Mead & Hunt employees dedicated to removing flood debris from the Kickapoo River.

The project struck a chord for many within the company who were themselves affected by the flooding. Due to the high level of interest and dedication, the company provided time off for employees to participate as well as funding for the project. This funding allowed the Kickapoo Valley River to hire a local logging company to remove a large walk-in cooler from the center of the river, along with multiple log jams and other debris.

This cleanup project is vital to the community as the local topography makes farming and transportation difficult, so visitors to the area represent a large source of income. Kayaking, canoeing and tubing in the Kickapoo River is a significant driver of tourists to the area. Keeping the river as beautiful as possible is therefore critical from an environmental, social and financial perspective.

Mead & Hunt believes in empowering employees to enact positive change within their own communities where they see need. For the Kickapoo Valley River community, seeing people come together to rise above the effects of the flooding to actively move forward is a vital morale boost, and also has the potential to drive sorely-needed revenue to the area.

Mead & Hunt is an employee-owned consulting firm and remains strong on ENR’s Top 500 design firm list with a national ranking of 119th in 2019. The firm employs over 750 employees from 30+ offices located across the nation and was named by CE News one of the top 10 engineering companies to work for in the nation.

XXX

Media Contacts:

• Kathy Schumann, Employee Communications, schumann@meadhunt.com 608-443-0374
• Chloe McKenzie, Corporate Communications, mckenzie@meadhunt.com 608-443-0389