Iowa Global Warming

Along with coming to Des Moines for our office opening, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), Howard Learner also wrote a guest column for the Des Moines Register yesterday, March 11. In it, he stressed the need for a green economy in Iowa.

Learner emphasized such goals as energy efficiency, wind power and passenger rail service for the state. He stressed that these goals will not have a positive effect just on the environment but on the economy as well. As the global economy becomes more centered on clean energy, working toward the goals he outlines will create jobs and allow Iowa to be more competitive in the global market.

To read Learner’s column in full, go here

Stay posted for details from Learner’s visit to Des Moines and our office opening.

The state of Iowa now produces more wind energy than any other in the nation except Texas, according to a report released yesterday by the American Wind Energy Association .

Iowa has more than doubled its installed generation capacity in the last year alone, going from 1,273 MW at the beginning of last year to 2,790 MW at the beginning of this year.

National employment numbers in the wind energy sector rose as well, up from 50,000 jobs last year to 85,000 this year.

“Because wind projects can be built quickly,” Says AWEA CEO Denise Bode, “positive legislation from Congress will have immediate and visible effects. Looking forward, it will also be important for the new Administration and Congress to put in place long-term, supportive renewable energy policies to make the new clean energy economy a reality.”

Read more about it here: (AWEA Newsroom)

Thomas Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author of the best-selling book “The World is Flat,” visited Des Moines yesterday to discuss his new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution.” An outspoken supporter of the green economy, Friedman defended the need for a national carbon tax, which he believes would encourage the development of new wind and solar markets by making them more competitive with dirty fuels like coal and oil. He compared the current situation of green technologies in America to a space mission, saying “All that thrust is innovation, but the booster rocket is cracked and leaking energy, and the pilots have been fighting over the flight plan.” Read more here (Des Moines Register) and check out his new book here (Amazon)