Iowa Has 2025 Energy Vision

From the Gazette

Iowa's energy czar issued the state's first-ever plan Friday to achieve energy independence by 2025 using a mix of proposals that included setting emission standards for new cars sold in Iowa, expanded use of renewable fuels, increased energy efficiency and conservation efforts, and benchmarks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Gov. Chet Culver called the goals outlined in the plan "ambitious, yet attainable."

In issuing the legislatively mandated annual report, Roya Stanley, director of the newly created Iowa Office of Energy Independence, said it marks a "new era of state leadership in energy transformation" that establishes "bold and achievable" goals that build on Iowa's environmental and economic strengths.

"Preserving our links to the land and natural resources will be fundamentally important in this new era," Stanley wrote in the 36-page report. "We need to conserve our water, air and soil while developing our energy resources for the future."

According to report data, Iowa's energy bill topped a record $10.1 billion in 2004 and was "well over $11 billion" in 2006 due primarily to a heavy reliance on imported energy sources and price spikes for petroleum and natural gas. The plan, viewed by Stanley as "an adaptable tool," spells out options and strategies to be used to cut the state's consumption of energy, lower dependence on foreign energy sources, reduce use of fossil fuels and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.

To that end, the report recommends that Iowa join 16 states that have adopted or are considering adopting California-style emission standards for new passenger vehicles sold in Iowa, although it did not specify what those first-ever benchmarks would be. The plan also proposed to set standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 through multiple strategies.

Other recommendations call for incenting energy providers to increase the use and supply of renewable energy and to direct them to increase energy efficiency efforts. Other tools could include implementing and enforcing energy codes to improve efficiency of existing buildings and new construction and rewarding those that exceed the requirements.

The plan also calls for accelerating the infrastructure development and use of renewable fuels for all transportation in Iowa, including greenhouse gas criteria for air permits issued by the state Department of Natural Resources, setting energy efficiency standards and practices for public buildings and vehicles, require energy audits and efficiency retrofits for existing state-owned buildings, challenging Iowans to take individual responsibility to increase conservation and efficiency habits, and create ways for state employees to reduce their travel miles via telecommuting, ride share and public transit.

"It is our goal to make Iowa the national leader in energy efficiency, and sustainable energy," Culver said. "Since taking office in January 2007, we have made great strides toward this goal.

"We have announced plans for the nation's first cellulosic bio-refinery, we have made renewable fuels more accessible to Iowans by opening more E85 pumps across the state, and we have dramatically grown the wind energy industry throughout the state, by recruiting and attracting new turbine manufacturers, and wind energy producers to Iowa," he added.