Iowa Global Warming

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A window of opportunity is opening for solar power in the Midwest. The Environmental Law & Policy Center is working to ensure that we seize this opportunity promote solar power development that creates new jobs, spurs economic growth and helps to solve our global warming pollution problems.

Why the time is right to ramp up solar power in the Midwest:

• The economic outlook for solar power is the best it’s been in many years. Solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices have come down to historic lows and recent federal energy legislation and the economic stimulus package are making solar projects more affordable.

• Solar power can bring good returns on investment by meeting our needs during times of peak electrical demand. When we use higher than average amounts of energy, utilities need to buy power on the open market at very expensive rates. Peak demand happens during daylight hours and especially in the summer. Solar power matches up well with pricey peak demand times.

• Former industrial sites in the Midwest can be revitalized as solar power plants. These sites can house 10 – 20 MW projects, large enough to make economic sense and small enough to fit onto the grid. Locating solar plants on older industrial sites gives them unobstructed sunlight and low-cost access to the electrical grid.  The new 10 MW solar plant South Side of Chicago is a perfect example.

• In the current economic downturn, there are plenty of skilled workers looking for “green jobs” like installing solar systems.  Federal and state job creation grants, subsidies, credits and training programs for green jobs are all making it easier to hire workers. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is (re-) training new skilled solar installers at facilities in Illinois, Indiana and other states.

• State and federal policies are working to support solar power. For example, Illinois added a provision to the state’s renewable energy standard that will drive a market for 700-750 megawatts of solar power in the state by 2015.  Midwestern states are streamlining rules for connecting solar to the grid and creating net metering standards that will help solar generators get a good price for the power they generate. Expanding net metering policies to cover larger projects will boost 

solar even more.

People might think solar power only makes sense in places like Arizona and Nevada. But there are some good solar sites here in the Midwest. We’ve got better solar intensity here than both Germany and Japan, the world’s largest solar markets.

What we’re doing:

The right policies can extend this window of opportunity into the future. The Environmental Law & Policy Center and our colleagues are advocating for an earlier ramp up of solar power in Illinois’ renewable energy standard.  We are working on feed-in tariff models in Michigan and with colleagues in Iowa to improve the state’s net metering policies.  As Wisconsin considers boosting its Renewable Energy standard in 2010, there may also be opportunities to include solar provisions.  We have an opportunity to gain solar policy improvements as the unusually low prices and federal economic stimulus incentives drive significant solar development.

Watch ELPC’s Webinar on Solar Power in the Midwest

Watch ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner talk about Midwestern solar power at the nation’s largest urban solar plant in Chicago.

Long before he became president, Barack Obama had a hankering for the TGV and other fast trains. “I am always jealous about European trains,” he told an audience during a visit to Strasbourg last spring. “And I said to myself: why can’t we have high-speed rail?”

Well, maybe America can, although the full flowering of the rail renaissance is unlikely to get under way while Obama is still in the White House. With an initial infusion of $8bn, set aside under the spring’s economic stimulus plan, the Obama administration is embarking on the most ambitious expansion of passenger rail in 50 years, with the construction or upgrade of up to 10 routes from California through the midwest to Florida.

Apart from California, none of the other routes envisaged would meet international standards for high-speed trains. But rail advocates say Obama has still taken an important first step towards the transformation of US rail.

Read the rest of the article here.

Washington, D.C. — The Senate’s chief architect of climate legislation accused MidAmerican Energy of trying to block reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

“Where I see you going is for the status quo,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told MidAmerican’s chief executive, William Fehrman, at a hearing Thursday. “The problem for you is that the status quo is about to change.”

Boxer leads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is taking the lead in developing the Senate’s version of legislation that would require utilities, refiners and other companies to reduce carbon emissions. MidAmerican said it is following up on Boxer’s request to “work with us,” and is trying to schedule a meeting with her.

MidAmerican has been leading opposition among coal-dependent Midwest utilities to a cap-and-trade approach approved by the House that would set limits on emissions and require power companies to buy allowances, or credits, for emissions that can’t be eliminated through changing fuels, efficiency or other means.

Read the rest of the story here.

Many Midwestern businesses and elected officials have come out in support of comprehensive climate legislation, but some utility companies and others claim that capping global warming pollution will be too expensive in states that rely heavily on coal for their electricity. 

In a Quad-City Times article, ELPC’s Andrew Snow says Iowa will see a significant positive gain from the bill and that worries over cost increases are “… the kind of thing we’ve been hearing since automakers told us they couldn’t put in seat belts,” Snow said. “I think the costs will be minor if not completely mitigated.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Columbus, Ohio is eyeing the $11 Billion earmarked for passenger rail in the stimulus bill and busy planning a line that would connect Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland as soon as 2010. Columbus is currently the largest city in the country without passenger rail.

The service, which will simplify the travel process and greatly reduce travel time and costs, is also expected to bring millions to the tourism industry. Stu Nicholson, with the Ohio Rail Development Commission, estimates that the new line could bring “about 800 million dollars a year” through increases in tourism alone.

Infrastructure improvements like this are sure-fire ways to create jobs and give a leg-up to the midwestern economy. The mayor of Columbus, Michael Coleman, added, “Those cities that don’t focus in on alternative forms of transportation are those cities that will fall behind.”

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