Iowa Global Warming

The Global Wind Energy Council, a trade association based in Brussels, estimates that wind power capacity grew by 31 percent worldwide in 2009, with 37.5 additional gigawatts installed, bringing global wind power capacity to 157.9 gigawatts.

China accounted for a third of the new capacity, and the Chinese market experienced more than 100 percent growth.

According to the trade group, more than 500,000 people are now employed by the wind power industry around the world, and the market for wind turbine installations last year was worth about $63 billion. The primary markets today are in Asia, Europe and North America.

“The continued rapid growth of wind power despite the financial crisis and economic downturn is testament to the inherent attractiveness of the technology, which is clean, reliable and quick to install,” said Steve Sawyer, the secretary general of the council, in a statement issued late last week. “Wind power has become the power technology of choice a growing number of countries around the world.”

The market in the United States grew by 39 percent with nearly 10 gigawatts of new capacity installed in 2009. The total installed and grid-connected capacity in the United States is now about 35 gigawatts, according to the trade group’s assessment.

“The U.S. wind energy industry shattered all installation records in 2009, chalking up the Recovery Act as a historic success in creating jobs, avoiding carbon, and protecting consumers,” said Denise Bode, the chief executive of the American Wind Energy Association. But, she added, “U.S. wind turbine manufacturing is down compared to last year’s levels, and needs long-term policy certainty and market pull in order to grow.”

Some analysts, citing the global financial crisis, had predicted a drop in wind power development in the United States by up to 50 percent, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

China, meanwhile, doubled its capacity from 12.1 gigawatts in 2008 to 25.1 gigawatts by the end of last year.

Combined with new installations in India, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, Asia accounted for more than 14 gigawatts of new capacity in 2009.

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A shift toward greener energy sources will fuel U.S. “energy sprawl,” taking up as much land as Nebraska by 2030, reports the Nature Conservancy.

A report last year by the conservancy, a respected natural lands preservation group, has added fuel to the simmering debate over policy choices to deal with climate change. Among its more debated findings: Nuclear power takes up the least land for the amount of energy produced, and renewable fuels, like wind power or ethanol, take up the most.

Although the report has been out for months, it’s attracted little attention in Iowa, where state government’s emphasis on leadership in renewable energy hasn’t included much research on how it will impact the land.

One possible reason: Iowa has little natural wildlife habitat left, after conversion to row crops.

“If only they’d posted this report in the 1860s,” said Nathaniel Baer, energy program director for the Iowa Environmental Council.

Baer nevertheless praised the report’s support for energy-efficiency, proper siting of energy facilities and locating energy production close to end users.

Advocates for the biofuels industry have for years rankled at criticism of “indirect land impacts,” particularly claims that biofuels such as ethanol are causing deforestation in other countries.

The argument holds that taking existing grain production out of the human food chain and putting it into biofuels causes huge demand for cropland that will be satisfied by deforestation elsewhere.

Roughly half of Iowa’s corn production now goes toward ethanol, said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

Shaw said the biofuels argument “ignores what’s going on in the world today,” with higher grain prices allowing less-advanced agricultural markets to boost productivity with better seed genetics and agricultural practices, rather than taking up more land.

Productivity gains allowed the biofuels industry to develop in Iowa without causing a shortage of grain for the human food chain, Shaw said. After subtracting the amount of grain sold to ethanol refineries, Shaw said, Iowa produces as much grain for human food as it did in 1980 on less cropland and exports a similar amount of grain for human consumption.

The Nature Conservancy report didn’t look at biofuels’ indirect land impacts, either in the United States or other countries. It still found growing ethanol from corn has a land-use impact about 145 times greater than nuclear energy and biodiesel from soybeans has a land-use impact about 373 times higher than nuclear power.

Nuclear energy advocate Phil Wise of Keokuk said the report’s land-use findings about nuclear power are “not only accurate, but just common sense.”

“The most electricity for the least impact on the land is a nuclear power plant,” said the former state representative and member of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, who added that the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo would be the ideal place for the state’s second nuclear reactor.

Julian Boggs, field associate for Environment Iowa, counters that nuclear power, besides being dangerous and expensive, depends on uranium mining. That mining threatens the Grand Canyon and other natural areas, Boggs said.

Much of the debate around the report has been of its assumptions regarding how much land each form of energy requires.

The report indicates wind energy’s land-use impact is about 30 times that of nuclear, but bases that on 50 acres of land disturbed for every megawatt of wind-energy capacity installed.

The actual “footprint” of the wind turbines are only 2 percent to 5 percent of the total, according to the American Wind Energy Association, and the remaining land can still be used for livestock, row crops or habitat for many kinds of wildlife.

Rob McDonald, lead researcher on the report, said in a blog post that the Nature Conservancy is not against renewable-energy generation and that he understands land use is only one consideration policymakers should be considering in deciding on energy policy.

Full story here

The climate challenge just became a lot more challenging. We know that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are accelerating global warming. But intrepid research has revealed an additional sinister threat: methane. The warming of the Arctic is releasing vast quantities of methane that has been locked away for centuries in formerly frozen soil. Once released, methane traps 25 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide does. So it is more imperative than ever to slash greenhouse gases quickly, to slow the venting of methane.

The single boldest stroke must come from Congress. The House and Senate are debating legislation that would impose either a cap-and-trade system or a tax on carbon emissions. Certain politicians and CEOs are trying to talk Congress out of it. Our representatives should dismiss the detractors and pass legislation, before November. That deadline is crucial: nations will meet in December in Copenhagen to hammer out new international agreements to limit emissions. The U.S., shamefully, has never signed such a protocol, and leaders worldwide have said, plainly, that the Copenhagen talks will fail if the U.S. does not enact legislation to clean up its own backyard.

Read the rest of the article at Scientific American.

This is should be a good event, and attending is a great way to show support for rail service to Iowa! From the Governor’s office:

GOVERNOR’S TRAIN DAY SPECIAL WILL ROLL INTO DES MOINES SATURDAY
 
DES MOINES – Governor Chet Culver will mark National Train Day this Saturday by bringing the Governor’s Train Day Special from Valley Junction in West Des Moines into downtown Des Moines, where he will hold a public event with local leaders and transportation officials promoting the benefits of passenger rail to the state, and read a proclamation declaring National Train Day in Iowa.
 
“Restoring passenger rail service to some of Iowa’s largest cities has been one of my key priorities as governor,” said Governor Culver.  “I look forward to leading this special train into Des Moines on Saturday, and highlighting the economic benefits of passenger rail to our state.  I invite Iowans to come to downtown Des Moines Saturday and celebrate National Train Day in Iowa.”
 
National Train Day is designed to highlight the need for expanded passenger rail service across the country.  Iowa currently is served by two passenger trains – the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief – both of which serve southern Iowa.  Efforts have been taken in recent years to bring passenger rail service back to other portions of the state, with current proposals to bring service to Dubuque, the Quad Cities and Iowa City and longer term plans to bring service to other communities such as Des Moines and West Des Moines.
 
To help spur efforts, Governor Culver’s signature legislative accomplishment – the I-JOBS Initiative — includes $10 million for multi-modal transportation projects in Iowa, including $3 million for expanded passenger rail service in the state.  In addition, the Iowa Department of Transportation will be competing for federal passenger rail funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  All of these steps position Iowa to work with Illinois and Amtrak to bring new passenger rail lines to the state that connect more Iowa communities with Chicago.
 
The Governor’s Train Day Special is being provided thanks to the generous efforts of the Iowa Interstate Railroad, Ltd., and logistical support has been provided by the Greater Des Moines Partnership.  The Governor’s event will coincide with the Downtown Farmers Market, a popular summer event that features locally made goods and products.
 
Saturday, May 9, 2009
 
WHAT:                Governor Culver will celebrate National Train Day by leading the Governor’s Train Day Special for a special ceremony in Downtown Des Moines
 
WHERE:             Outside Des Moines Historic Depot
                             4th Street South of Court Avenue
                             Des Moines, IA
 
WHEN:                10:00am

Juliana Williams, the Sierra Student Coalition’s Midwest Organizer and a partner at the Iowa Global Warming Campaign’s office, made a great post about passenger rail service in the midwest last week at the blog “It’s Getting Hot in Here.” As Juliana says, “Rail has broad support, is a significant improvement in the ease of travel and will save countless vehicle miles traveled (well, you probably could count them, but it would keep you very busy).” We think she’s right “on track” with this stuff.

Read the post here

An article released in Time Magazine this past month took a look at global temperatures, and found some interesting results. Is the world warming? Or cooling? Turns out, that depends on the time scale…

Read the article here

Another Time Magazine piece you might find interesting: here

Let’s be honest: Trains are an easy sell. The public seems to be falling in love with trains again – and for good reason. They’re graceful, powerful, simple and nearly as American as Apple Pie itself. They’re an iconic aspect of our culture; rooted in our hearts by scenes of bittersweet goodbyes on the station platform and adventurous travels out west. Despite being overshadowed by jet planes and electric cars in recent decades, our fascination seems to remain endless, manifesting itself to this day with hobbyists and children alike. After years of being relinquished to our subconscious, however, I think its time we reconsidered them – as the face of a transportation revolution that could lift our ailing economy and forever improve our dated transportation sector.

Trains have come a long way since Leeland Stanford drove the Golden Spike in Salt Lake City one hundred and fifty years ago. They’re three times more efficient than cars, six times more efficient than airplanes, often the fastest and almost always the most hassle-free way to travel. And we’re working to bring them back in a big way. To get involved, just send me an email or give us a call!

Federal economic stimulus money could be used to build a Midwestern high-speed passenger rail system that would link Chicago to Minneapolis with stops at Milwaukee, Madison and even Green Bay, Gov. Jim Doyle told Milwaukee business leaders today.

Doyle made the comments while laying out to the Greater Milwaukee Committee some of his priorities for the billions in federal money likely to be approved by Congress to help revive the struggling economy. He said that the economic crisis presented an “opportunity to do some things that we’ve dreamed about doing for years.” A Midwest high-speed train system is one such project, he said.

“Imagine a high-speed train from Chicago to Milwaukee to Madison to the Twin Cities, with a spur that goes to Green Bay, and that connects up with other major population centers in the Midwest. We’ve sat around and talked about this for decades. But now we may well have the opportunity, somewhat depending on how this federal legislation is structured, to be able to make that kind of big-time investment,” Doyle said.

Asked in an interview after the meeting whether there was evidence enough travelers would use such a system, Doyle said he believes they will if it’s designed to save them the time and hassle of existing forms of transportation.

“If you could get from the Twin Cities to Chicago in equal the time it takes you to go to the airports and fight through everything and you can end up in downtown Twin Cities or downtown Chicago and it’s on a good, new high-speed comfortable train, then I think you’re going to see a lot of demand for it – particularly as it comes through Madison and Milwaukee,” Doyle said.

Read the full story here

Anjuli Kronheim, Des Moines Register Guest Column: Clean energy keeps jobs, wealth in Iowa

Iowa exports more than $12 billion a year for energy. That wealth has taken jobs and opportunity with it for decades. But we are now on the cusp of a new clean-energy era, one that generates power and green jobs here at home.

Already, our state is experiencing the economic benefits of cleaner energy. While other states are struggling to produce jobs, our six wind manufacturing plants have created 2,000 new, high-paying jobs in just the last two years. These businesses have been so successful that Iowa Lakes Community College, which trains wind technicians, is struggling to keep up with demand. We lead the nation on a percentage basis by generating 5.5 percent of our electricity through wind. However, we can and must do more to achieve the greenhouse-gas reductions recommended by the world’s best scientists to prevent the most devastating effects of global warming.

Read the full story here