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Energy Matters

The Newsletter of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association (I-Renew)

Winter 2007-08 Edition

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Articles:

1. Office of Energy Independence is Open for Business
2. Laughlin Home serves as a model of energy efficiency
3. I-Renew Members meet to discuss policy
4. Report from the Governor’s Energy Summit
5. New book on global warming, energy by Iowa author
6. Scenes from the 2007 I-Renew Energy EXPO
7. Iowa Committee develops ambitious energy efficiency goals
8. Marshalltown coal plant under fire
9. Give the gift of I-Renew membership
10. I-Renews Briefs

1. Office of Energy Independence is Open for Business

Governor Chet Culver named Roya Stanley as Iowa’s new Director of the Office of Energy Independence. The Office of Energy Independence (OEI) is a new office created on May 23, 2007 when Governor Culver signed into law the $100 million Iowa Power Fund.

Roya Stanley has a strong record in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy that spans 25 years. More than 18 of these years were spent in Des Moines, where she worked for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa state energy office. As the Energy Bureau chief, she led the development of a state program which provided more than $150 million in energy efficiency project investments in Iowa public facilities resulting in reduced utility bills for tax payers. Stanley also collaborated with several Iowa organizations to develop the Iowa switchgrass initiative, laying the foundation for a cellulosic fuel of the future. In 2000, Stanley accepted a position with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colorado, where she led the laboratory’s efforts to provide research and development information to state and local officials and agricultural leaders across the country. Acting as a liaison, she provided timely dissemination of the most current information on renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and policy practices.

 “Iowa’s economy is at a turning point,” said Governor Culver. “Biofuels has been a terrific boon to our economy and without question has made us a leader in the renewable energy industry. We must now ask ourselves ‘what’s next?’ The Iowa Power Fund allows us to answer this by providing the tools to begin researching and developing new forms of renewable energy. A cleaner environment and the jobs of tomorrow are at stake, and I am honored that Roya has agreed to work with me and Lt. Governor Patty Judge to lead this effort.”

Soon after Stanley was appointed, the 18 – member Iowa Power Fund board was announced.

The OEI sponsored four public meetings across the state in October to gather input from the public for the Iowa Energy Independence Plan. The purpose of the Energy Independence Plan is to outline strategies for Iowa to achieve energy independence by year 2025. The plan is due December 14, 2007 and will be reviewed and updated annually.

Preliminary administrative rules for the Iowa Power Fund have been approved, as well as a pre-application form. The rules are not yet effective and still require public comment. Any interested person may submit comments on the proposed rules within the time frames set forth in the notice. All written comments must be received no later than the close of business (4:30 PM) on December 18, 2007.

DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE INCLUDE: 

    * Directs the Office of Energy Independence.

    * Coordinates the administration of the Iowa Power Fund.

    * Leads public education about renewable energy, renewable fuels, and energy efficiency.

    * Pursues new renewable energy funding from public and private sources.

    * Coordinates all existing state and Federal grants, programs, and policies having to do with renewable energy, renewable fuels, and energy efficiency.

    * Is advisor to both the Governor and the General Assembly on matters involving renewable energy, renewable fuels and energy efficiency policy and legislation.

    * Establishes performance measures for determining the effectiveness of renewable energy, renewable fuels, and energy efficiency.

    * Coordinates assistance from the Departments of Economic Development and Natural Resources and the Iowa Utilities Board regarding administration of grants and loans from the Iowa Power Fund.

    * Develops an Iowa energy independence plan.

    * Submits an annual report to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and the General Assembly concerning the activities of the Office of Energy Independence, the Iowa Power Fund, and other department and agencies concerning renewable energy, renewable fuels, and energy efficiency.

    * Reviews issues relative to the transport of bio-fuels and shall participate in multi-state efforts relating to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

    * Adopts the final administrative rules concerning the programs and functions of the Office of Energy Independence and the Iowa Power Fund.

 

MEMBERS OF THE IOWA POWER FUND BOARD

 

Fred Hubbell, Board Chair

Glenn Cannon, Waverly Light & Power

Peter Hemken, DuPont Company

Patricia Higby, University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy & Environmental Education

Carrie LaSeur, Plains Justice

Richard Leopold, Iowa Department of Natural Resources

John Norris, Iowa Utilities Board

Secretary Bill Northey, Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

Lucy Norton, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association

Michael Tramontina, Iowa Department of Economic Development

Thomas Wind, Wind Utility Consulting

 

Ex-Officio Members

MJ Dolan, IA Association of Community Colleges Trustees

Gregory Geoffroy, Iowa State University

Kent Henning, Grand View College

Senator Hubert Houser

Representative Nathan Reichert

Representative Chuck Soderberg

Senator Roger Stewart

 

Due Diligence Committee

Roya Stanley, Chair, Iowa Office of Energy Independence

Floyd Barwig, Iowa Energy Center

Franklin Codel, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Ted Crosbie, Monsanto

Vern Gebhart, Alliant Energy

Patricia Higby, Power Fund Board of Directors

Fred Hubbell, Power Fund Board of Directors

W. Curt Hunter, The University of Iowa

2. Laughlin Home serves as a model of energy efficiency

I-Renew members and friends toured Don Laughlin’s energy efficient house in Iowa City on November 17.  Don, a retired electrical engineer and I-Renew board member from 1991-2007, built the house with the help of his son, Roger Laughlin of West Branch, who served as the architect and general contractor. The house has 1380 square feet on the main floor, with a 400 square foot, 2-car garage, and a 1780 square foot walk-out basement.  Both the main floor and the basement have south-facing windows with 24 inch overhangs.  The photo shows the house from the south side. Don and his wife Lois have been living in the one story ranch house since April 2007.

The Laughlin house is super-insulated with passive-solar, and radiant in-floor solar hot water heating and solar domestic hot water.  The house was also constructed to be as air-tight as possible.  Air infiltration, the leaking of unconditioned outside air into the house (along with leaking of conditioned inside air to the outside), is the source of one of the largest heating/cooling burdens of most houses. Air-tight houses require active air-exchange. The Laughlin house achieves this with an Ariva, 80% efficient air-to-air heat exchanger. The house does not have a furnace, but does have two 40,000 BTU/ hr natural-gas fired hot water heaters which can be used as a back up for the solar hot water on cold cloudy days.  Don says that he used the gas hot water heater for a couple of weeks in February 2007, when the night time temperatures fell to as low as 9 degrees (F) below zero, and the daytime temperatures only reached the low teens (F).  The house is cooled by a 9,000 BTU mini split air conditioner (which has a wall mounted blower/evaporator and an outdoor condenser unit).

The house has more than the typical amount of insulation in the walls, ceiling, and foundation. Beneath the basement floor, there are 4 inches of extruded polystyrene insulation,(EXP), giving an R value of 20. The basement walls are a standard 8 inch thick poured concrete. On the outside of these walls are 6 inches of EXP, giving an R-value of 30. This arrangement puts the large thermal mass of the walls on the inside where it will come to approximately living-space temperature and help stabilize the temperature of the living space. The top edge of the insulation on the outside of the basement walls overlaps the band joist by half. EXP has also been fitted along the band joist on the inside, in the spaces between the floor joists, where they but against the band joist.  Here, expanding foam has been used to seal the EXP to prevent air exchange between the outside and the heated indoor space. This gives as complete a thermal barrier as possible all the way form the basement floor to the main-story walls. 

Structural insulated panels (SIPs) were used for the walls of the house instead of wood framing. SIPs are high performance building panels made by sandwiching a core of rigid foam plastic insulation between two structural skins of oriented strand board.  SIPs are built in a factory, and are custom designed for each home, arriving with pre-cut window and door openings.  In the construction of the Laughlin home, the SIPs were placed on 2 x 6 plates and butted together. All edges of the SIPs were caulked, sealing the house from air infiltration. Expanding foam was used to seal the window and door frames into the rough openings.

In conventionally built homes, the roof trusses rest on the outside walls of the house, restricting the thickness of attic insulation at the edges of the house. In the Laughlin house, the roof trusses were designed so that the main floor ceiling can be insulated to the same thickness all the way out to the outside edge of the house.  The ceiling was insulated in two layers.  It was first insulated with one inch of polyurethane foamed directly onto the sheet rock.  Foamed-in polyurethane is more expensive than other insulation types, but it also seals any holes between the ceiling and the attic, preventing air exchange between the living space and the unheated attic.  Blown-in fiberglass was used above the polystyrene as a more economical way to bring the R-value of the ceiling up to 60.

Because the Laughlin house is super-insulated and air tight, the heating and cooling needs are very small.  The energy loss through the floor, ceiling, walls, windows and doors, with an ambient temperature of -15 F has been calculated to be about 15,000 BTU/hour. The home is heated with 10 solar thermal panels (about 240 square feet). The panels are filled with propylene glycol antifreeze which is pumped through the panels to heat exchangers which run through a 1600 gallon water tank.  The water tank is a pre-cast cement tank, designed as a septic tank.  The tank was placed in the basement during the construction of the house.  Don sealed the inside of the tank with Thoroseal to prevent water leakage, and covered the outside of the tank with EXP to an R-value of 60 to prevent heat leakage. Don shared with the tour attendees a trick he’s figured out to prevent water evaporation. He has melted paraffin wax to float on the surface of the tank, which prevents evaporation. Don has maintained the tank at a temperature of 120 F without any backup heating during most of the 2007 heating season.  An electronic thermostat turns the pump on and off as heat from the sun becomes available.

The Laughlin house uses four thermal solar panels (94 square feet) for domestic hot water.  These are also filled with propylene glycol antifreeze and heat a 160 gallon tank to 160 F.

The Laughlin house has received a Five Stars Plus rating from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Star home program, the highest possible rating. The rate testing was done by Energy Rated Homes of Iowa, located in Marshalltown. They compared the Laughlin house with a conventional house of the same size and determined that the Laughlin house will prevent 17,000 lbs CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year. About 4% of the cost of the house is in the solar systems, and about 7% is in the super insulation.

- Kara Beauchamp, with information provided by Don Laughlin

3. I-Renew Members meet to discuss policy

A large and enthusiastic group of I-Renew members and allies met in Grinnell to discuss state and federal energy legislation at the end of August. The group, led by former I-Renew Board President Rich Dana, came up with a top 10 list of short-term state policy initiatives and some longer term state policy goals.  These goals were  presented at I-Renew’s Annual Meeting.

I-Renew will again participate in the Iowa Environmental Council’s Lobby Day on January 24, 2008  from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All members are invited to participate.

Members who are interested but unable to attend should contact the I-Renew office and ask to join I-Renew’s Policy Committee.

I-Renew State Legislative Initiatives:

 

1. Include renewable energy equipment in utility’s energy efficiency rebate programs. This equipment could include energy producing equipment such as PV panels and wind turbines and heat producing equipment such as solar hot water and corn and wood stoves.

2. Create Community Based Energy Development in Iowa, following Minnesota’s example.

3. Institute a fossil fuel carbon tax.

4. Make grid-interconnecting renewable energy generation simple, inexpensive, and standard.

5. Include Rural Electric Cooperatives and municipal utilities in Iowa’s net metering and interconnection laws.

6. Increase funding for the Iowa Energy Center’s Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program (AERLP).

7. Require Iowa Utilities to increase energy efficiency standard

8. Implement energy efficiency standards for all buildings in the state.

9.Make renewable energy training part of the certification process for the building trades.

10. Ensure money from the Iowa Power Fund to go to small and community scale renewable energy.

4. Report from the Governor’s Energy Summit

Greetings to the REAL clean energy folks.

I just went to Milwaukee to attend the Midwestern Governors Association, “Energy Security and Climate Change Summit”.  The group is made up of 10 Midwestern leaders-- 9 Governors and the Premier of Manitoba. At that meeting 6 of the Gov’s, including ours, and the Premier signed what is being called a “historic agreement”.

While the agreement covers several interesting topics (follow links below), what has everyone talking is the section that calls for a Carbon Cap and Trade. Those familiar with the topic know that regional Cap and Trade legislation has been passed in ten Northeastern states and six Western states. The big picture is that this agreement will push the US past the tipping point towards giving us a National Cap and Trade policy.

Cap and Trade establishes a “Cap” on total emissions of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. Credits are “established” for each ton of carbon emitted and then those credits are either given away to polluters or auctioned off to allow the marketplace to establish a value for those credits. So, if you want to build a coal-fired power plant, you need to first go to the pool and ask for some credits. If we have reached the “cap” then you must go to someone who has extra credits and buy them at the market price. The auction would raise a lot of money, which in a perfect world, could be used to do some very good things. Giving away credits to current polluters basically gives them something of value just for being past polluters. I like the former idea best. The Cap and Trade idea has been modeled on the current sulfur dioxide Cap and Trade program that has worked pretty well. The carbon Cap and Trade will be a little harder since we must now deal with mobile carbon sources, i.e. vehicles.

While I prefer the simple Fossil Carbon Tax to this Cap and Trade, friends working the issue in D.C. tell me that the word “Tax” has been so maligned that any program that can be labeled a tax faces quick death and that the Cap and Trade is something we might be able to pass over Big Fossil.  I agree with them.  And I think we should all tell our new Governor that he is doing a very good job and we really appreciate his willingness to lead on the issue that is increasingly becoming the most important issue of our generation.

More information available here:

http://www.midwesterngovernors.org/

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/regional_cap-and-trade_programs.html

-Ed Woolsey, I-Renew Board Member

5. New book on global warming, energy by Iowa author

Over dependence on fossil fuels threatens the health of our environment, economy and security. A new book, One week to save the Earth, written by I-Renew Board Member Marc Franke, explains the background of these threats and details simple actions you can take in just 7 days to reduce these threats.

 Mountain-top mining for coal destroys lush hardwood forests and covers streams under a deep layer of broken rock.  Over $300 billion leaves our economy every year to purchase imported oil from places like Russia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.  Climate change due to CO2 emissions threatens us with severe droughts in some areas and powerful rains and flash flooding in others.  There are many compelling reasons to reduce our use of coal, oil, and natural gas.  Each of us can begin to reduce our use of fossil fuels with simple actions anyone can take in a single week.  One week to save the Earth has a variety of simple, easy to do steps for that first seven days.

What about after those simple actions? Will it be enough? No. These simple steps are a place to begin. To reduce the threats to our health, economy and security we will need to do more. We will need to act as a complete society.  The last third of the book is about engaging society for the much larger culture changes needed to face our energy challenges. We can do it. A tidal wave of change is made of many small drops. One of the ideas in the books is to use your gifts to help influence the people you know. If you have a society membership, a magazine subscription or a book you have found helpful, consider that as a gift to a friend. We need to engage a large enough segment of our society that our leaders will follow through on programs to help us make the changes.

This is where we are. To face our challenges, we must engage society one-on-one. The forces of status quo are quite powerful. Our big oil companies don’t want to stop selling us imported oil and the coal companies don’t want us to use less coal. Even our railroads get their largest, single source of revenue from transporting coal. To change direction, we must engage many regular people.  It is for this purpose that I have written this book.

The book is about the size of a single issue of National Geographic. I hope you find the book easy-to-read, informative, useful and inspiring. It is available on Amazon.com (ISBN# 978-0979902406). You can visit my web site for additional information and read excerpts from the book.

Marc Franke is an analyst, strategic planner and engineer with a lifelong interest in sustainability and renewable energy. He is available to speak on energy, policy and culture change. His email address is marc@itsgood4.us . Visit his website at www.itsgood4.us

6. Scenes from the 2007 I-Renew Energy EXPO

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR 16TH ANNUAL I-RENEW ENERGY EXPO

Over 50 presentations on renewable energy, green building, energy efficiency, alternative transportation and/ or global warming

Nearly 70 exhibitors related to our 2007 EXPO theme: “Harvesting Clean Energy”

Networking opportunities with likeminded renewable-energy- supporting Iowans

Opportunity to meet the newly appointed Director of Iowa’s Office of Energy Independence Roya Stanley

Chance to hear two great keynote speakers: Author Greg Pahl spoke on Community Based Renewable Energy and Kate Schwennsen from ISU on energy saving building design

Surprises at this past EXPO:

A demonstration of a working solar hot water unit

The opportunity to take a test-drive of the new ZENN electric car

The chance to be a judge in the Solar Oven Cooking Contest

Add yours here!

What to expect in 2008? Make sure you find out!  

Join us on September 13 & 14, 2008 in Cedar Falls at the Center for Energy &

Environmental Education (CEEE) at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI).

7. Iowa Committee develops ambitious energy efficiency goals

The Interim Energy Efficiency Study Committee met over the fall to develop energy efficiency policy recommendations to the Iowa State Legislature. State Senator Rob Hogg served as Chair of the committee. State House Representative Nathan Reichert served as Co-Chair.

Committee members approved the following recommendations, in recognition of the essential impact of energy efficiency improvements in achieving energy independence, job stimulation and economic growth, and environmental improvement for the benefit of future generations:

1.     Establish a statewide energy efficiency goal of a 1.5 percent per capita reduction in energy usage per year over a 10-year period, which, if achieved, would save Iowans $9 billion over the 10-year period. The percentage reduction would be initially phased in over a three-year period. In the utility sector, the goal would be applicable to all utilities, utilities would be given flexibility in meeting the goal, incentives would be available for achieving the goal, and remedies applicable if the goal was not met.

18.  Facilitate easier implementation of energy efficiency programs from a customer standpoint, including maintaining a list of available contractors to assist in home energy audit recommendation implementation.

8. Marshalltown coal plant under fire

The Cedar Rapids-based public interest environmental law center Plains Justice submitted testimony to the Iowa Utilities Board opposing the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Marshalltown, Iowa, on behalf of a coalition of Iowa organizations, including I-Renew. The joint intervenors oppose the plant’s global warming pollution and air and water quality damage. Before the plant can be built, the Iowa Utilities Board must determine whether Alliant Energy’s proposal meets the criteria for what is commonly referred to as a ‘Certificate of Need’.

Dr. James Hansen, noted climate scientist and international voice for global warming solutions, grew up in Denison, Iowa and is testifying for the first time in such a case. Hansen and experts Dr. Neil Harl, Professor Emeritus of Agriculture and Economics at Iowa State University; Tom Sanzillo, former First Deputy Comptroller for the State of New York; and Dr. Kristen Welker-Hood, Director of Environmental and Health Programs for Physicians for Social Responsibility, have filed testimony and will appear at the IUB public hearing in January as witnesses for the coalition. Plains Justice attorneys Carrie La Seur of Mount Vernon and Jana Linderman of Cedar Rapids are representing Community Energy Solutions, Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Renewable Energy Association and the Iowa chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

“If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal trains will be death trains – no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria, loaded with uncountable irreplaceable species,” said Dr. Hansen, who is testifying as a private citizen.  “It is important in this proceeding for the decision makers to realize that the least cost technology to the firm generating the electricity is not the least cost for society,” Dr. Harl notes.

Dr. Welker-Hood testifies that “emissions from the operation of [the Marshalltown plant] would negate more than 90 percent of the CO2 reductions that would be achieved in New York State under draft regulations for implementing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.” Expert witness Sanzillo concludes bluntly that the plant is “unnecessary.”

The massive new plant is proposed for the east side of Marshalltown, adjacent to a smaller existing coal plant.  Damage inflicted by the plant may include “diminution of the value of the state’s existing renewable energy generation facilities, damage to the development of new renewable energy generation facilities, displacement of renewable energy from the grid, increases in retail electricity rates, damage to air and water quality, increased fuel costs due to inefficient ethanol refining processes, civil rights violations of minority communities targeted by the highly polluting coal industry, damage to Iowa’s ecosystem and agricultural economy from the increasing impacts of global warming, violation of state energy policy, and future damage to electricity consumers who will pay the eventual cost of carbon regulation,” according to the petition drafted by Plains Justice.

The 660 MW coal plant proposed by Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy would emit approximately 6,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.  Alliant projects a 40% increase in emissions in the next 7 years, making them one of the worst global warming offenders in the Midwest.  The Iowa Utility Association, of which Alliant is a member, recently commissioned a study that demonstrated that capacity for nearly 1,000 MW of cost-effective energy efficiency potential is available in their service territory in the next ten years at half the cost of Alliant’s proposed coal plant.  Kansas and Florida regulators rejected similar large coal plant proposals in 2007 because of global warming impacts.

Sally Wilson, a biology professor at Marshalltown Community College and member of Community Energy Solutions, opposes the plant as a private citizen. “We deserve clean air and water as much as any other town in Iowa,” says Wilson.  “There’s no reason for Iowa to be building more coal plants.  It is critical that we protect our environment for the health of our community and its members. We are dependent on clean air and water,” says Wilson. “It makes no sense to build a coal plant when much better alternatives are now available.”

The Iowa Utilities Board will hold public hearings starting January 14th in Marshalltown.

“The single most important action needed to decrease the present large planetary imbalance driving climate change is curtailment of CO2 emissions from coal burning,” said Dr. Hansen.  “Because of the danger of passing the ice sheet tipping point, even the emissions from one Iowa coal plant, with emissions of 6,000,000 tons of CO2 per year, could be important as ‘the straw on the camel’s back’.”

The full text of the Plains Justice petition and the direct testimony of the joint intervenors’ four expert witnesses are available at:

 http://plainsjustice.org/direct-testimony-for-coalition-against-the-proposed-sutherland-coal-plant/ .

9. Give the gift of I-Renew membership

The Iowa Renewable Energy Association’s (I-Renew) Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers are again planning an ambitious work plan for 2008.

We plan to again host a Residential Wind and Residential Solar Workshop this year, as well as a Solar Domestic Hot Water workshop in Des Moines. We will again offer tours of energy efficient and/or renewable powered facilities and remember to Join us on September 13 & 14, 2008 in Cedar Falls at the Center for Energy & Environmental Education building on the University of Northern Iowa’s campus! We take calls everyday from people with questions about renewable energy.  We still participate in policy discussions affecting small producers and we provide the Iowa Renewable Energy Sourcebook to all of our members! In January, we will have the first of our monthly I-Renew movie nights.

I-Renew has created an option to join or renew your membership on-line through our website! By joining I-Renew, you receive a subscription to our quarterly newsletter Energy Matters, a copy of the latest edition of the Iowa Renewable Energy Sourcebook, discounts to our workshops and tours, an I-Renew T-shirt or tote bag, and the chance to get more involved with I-Renew by voting on programmatic and administrative committee decisions (don’t let that scare you away- it is optional!). Simply fill out the membership form & return it to I-Renew or join on-line at http://www.irenew.org/join.html. We can handle the rest. Consider spreading the holiday cheer by giving the gift of I-Renew membership to friends & family. Simply specify on the form that you are signing up for a gift membership. Please call us at (319) 643-3160 if you have any questions! 

10. I-Renews Briefs

Newton lands new wind turbine blade factory

TPI Composites of Warren, R.I., will establish a 500-employee factory in Newton, which will produce blades for General Electric Energy’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbines. TPI has begun construction on a 316,000-square-foot wind turbine blade factory. TPI chief executive Steven Lockard says the company’s facility on 33 acres near a new biodiesel plant in Newton will make turbine blades up to 150 feet long and weighing up to 20,000 pounds. Newton and state officials have been aggressively recruiting TPI, a maker of large-scale products for the wind energy, transportation and defense industries.

The newly formed Climate Change Advisory Council meets

The Climate Change Advisory Council will hold their next meeting on Monday, December 17th in the Rogalski Center at St. Ambrose University in Davenport starting at 9:00 AM. The committee will be voting on what greenhouse gas reduction target to model and what baseline year to model against. They previously voted to reduce greenhouse gases by  80% by 2050 based on 1990 levels. This level is regarded as the minimum level acceptable by the Iowa Environmental Council and other Iowa environmental groups.

I-Renew Movie Night!

Join us Friday, January 11 at 6:30 at Solon Public Library in Solon, IA. This will be the first of our monthly movie night events. More information will be posted to our website and sent out to our members! Call the I-Renew office if you would like to be involved.  

Iowa Environmental Council Lobby Day January 24

Join I-Renew at the Iowa Environmental Council’s Lobby Day. The event provides an opportunity for I-Renew members to educate the media, legislators and the general public about the importance of renewable energy.  JOIN US!

Hanson appointed to Iowa Utilities Board

Darrell Hanson, chairman of the Iowa Environmental Protection

Commission, was named by Gov. Chet Culver to fill a vacancy on the Iowa Utilities Board. He said the job appealed to him “because it’s where two of my interests intersect. One is the environment and conservation and the other is economic development, and I believe the two can work together.” Culver named Hanson, a Republican, to replace Curt Stamp, who resigned from the Utilities Board two months ago. Hanson’s resume includes 16 years in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1979 through 1994.

 

irenew@irenew.org
(319) 643-3160
IRENEW
PO Box 3405
Iowa City, IA
52244-3405

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