SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (WMTV) – The City of Sun Prairie is now the first municipality in Wisconsin to achieve 100% renewable energy for all city operations.

While sustainability experts say the change is good for the environment, it may also be better for your wallet.

From traffic lights to street lights, all city-powered infrastructure is now powered by energy that comes from natural resources.

“We are moving away from fossil fuels,” City of Sun Prairie Sustainability Manager Rose Daily said. “So from using oil and coal to power our electricity, to now using natural resources that we can tap into.”

Solar panels are not cheap upfront. Daily said the cost of the city’s most recent solar panel purchase was more than $800,000, though it was mainly funded by grants.

However, Daily said the high price tag comes with a high reward.

“Since we are consuming a lot of energy that we are now producing ourselves through our rooftop and ground mounted solar arrays, we paid for that investment upfront, and now we have significantly lower electricity bills,” Daily said.

According to Daily, since the solar panels and other renewable energy infrastructure were implemented in 2024, the city’s electricity bill dropped by $40,000.

Those lower energy bills for the city could mean lower taxes for residents, according to Daily.

Sam Dunaiski, Executive Director of Madison-based nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin, said Wisconsin is an ideal area for renewable energy, and said he hopes to promote its use throughout the Badger state.

“Wisconsin does not have a lot of the energy resources that historically we Americans have used,” Dunaiski said. “We don’t have coal mines, we don’t have gas deposits, we don’t have petrol fields or anything like that, so we spend billions and billions of our rate payer dollars each year sending money out of the state, out of the country to bring those fuels in so we can power our electricity.”

Dunaiski said he hopes to see a sustainability model like Sun Prairie’s across the state.

“[Renewable energy] investments will add jobs to our economy, it will make our air and our water cleaner and healthier, and it will also mitigate effects of climate change as well.”

Daily said the City of Sun Prairie has also seen more homes and businesses using renewable energy, too. She said they consistently issued over 40 solar permits a year since 2020.

The City of Sun Prairie said their next goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

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It wasn’t a campaign rally or an election pit stop, but once again, Wisconsinites packed an arena to see a politician speak Friday night.

It was Bernie Sanders, who was in Kenosha as part of his national Fighting Oligarchy tour. Around 3,500 people came to see the Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential primary candidate.

Another 500 were turned away after the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s basketball stadium reached capacity.

To begin his remarks, Sanders pulled two contrasting scenes from his memory.

One was something he saw in a Vermont town during Memorial Day celebrations.

“Every year, they have a kid from the high school reciting the Gettysburg Address,” he explained.

“And that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth,” Sanders quoted the speech.

The other scene was from President Donald Trump’s January inauguration.

“Standing right behind Trump as he took his oath office were the three wealthiest men in America,” Sanders recalled.

The crowd booed as he named them — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

“They want to dismember the federal government and cut programs that lower-income and working people desperately need,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sanders said, people are struggling to pay for rent, child care and prescription drugs.

“They worry about what happens when the car breaks down. You need to put $1,000 to get the car going. If you don’t have the $1,000, you can’t get to work. If you can’t get to work, you lose your job. If you lose your job, what the hell happens to your family?” he said.

“We have got to come up with the ideas and the agenda that working people all over this country support,” he said.

He listed some — publicly funding elections, raising the minimum wage to $17 an hour, and universal Medicare for All.

“Despair is not an option,” Sanders said.

He compared fighting billionaire influence to American colonists “taking on the entire British empire, the most powerful force on Earth.”

“From the bottom of my heart, I am convinced that they can be beaten,” he said to a long standing ovation.

Sanders thanked his audience for an “unbelievable turnout” and encouraged Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, to hold a town hall meeting in the same arena at a later date.

Steil called Sanders’ appearance part of a “fear mongering tour” and, in a statement, said Wisconsinites want “secure borders, control of spending, and boys out of girls’ sports.”

Supporters and Sanders reflect on present moment

Ellen Dux and Julian Kudick drove from Milwaukee to see Sanders.

“He had the right way the whole time, and the Democrats kind of failed us in that regard,” Kudick said.

“He’s obviously doing (the tour) for the people. He’s not doing it for a position of power. He genuinely feels this way,” Dux said.

Rita and Joe Bomher came up to the rally from Chicago.

“Don’t let them divide us between religion, abortion, LGBT — that doesn’t matter,” Rita Bomher said. “Skin color doesn’t matter.”

“We just got to come together on these main issues and stop these guys from robbing us of this American Dream that we keep talking about that’s not working for anybody,” Joe Bomher said.

After the event, Sanders told WPR the rally’s 4,000-person turnout was “mind-boggling” and “very gratifying.”

He said his task is going to “marginal districts” like Wisconsin’s 1st district, arguing to people what’s “at stake,” and hoping constituents pressure their congresspeople to oppose the Trump administration’s actions.

Sanders headed to Altoona in Eau Claire County on Saturday and to Warren, Michigan later the same day. He spoke in Nebraska and Iowa as part of this tour last month.