Photo by Don Tormey/Iowa Office of Energy IndependenceIowa has instituted one of the country’s most aggressive energy efficiency and renewable energy campaigns. The goal of the Energy Excellent Buildings Task Force, under Green Government Executive Order Six, will be to reduce the use of electricity, natural gas, fuel, oil, and water in all state office buildings by at least 15% overall in the next five years – taking into account growth in the state workforce and/or changes in building operations.  By 2015, state agencies are to begin purchasing 10% of their electricity from renewable sources and reduce overall energy consumption by 15%.

In order to help accomplish such high goals, the state of Iowa has developed the Iowa Power Fund and The Iowa Office of Energy Independence, which authors the annual Energy Independence Plan.

The Iowa Power Fund has issued more than $37 million in contracts, dating back to 2008. The most recent contract was awarded on May 3, 2010, to the city of Dubuque, IA, for $1.4 million, which will assist in the advancement of the Smarter Sustainable Dubuque Initiative. The Initiative is a multi-partner project including IBM and Interstate Power and Light, to manage the consumption of energy in the community. Combined with leveraged funds of nearly $9.7 million, the total capital project investment will be more than $11 million.

The Smarter Sustainable Dubuque Initiative is engaging residents and businesses who, through advanced technology, will be able to actively participate in managing their consumption of resources like water, energy, and natural gas.

The Energy Independence Plan has developed some strategies to help meet their goals as well. Some of them include ensuring that all Iowans have access to the upfront capital necessary for investments in energy efficiency; to enforce the current building energy code statewide; to establish community leadership capacity in the delivery of energy efficiency programs; and to develop an energy training and capacity building system, along with many others.

In order to meet the goals that the state agencies set, the state of Iowa has to be very aggressive. They are working with public and private entities to accomplish this by:

• Current installation of 3,670MW of wind turbine capacity –  879MW in 2009;
• Iowa Utility Board estimates 17% to 20% of all electricity generated in Iowa comes from wind;
• 52 million MW hours of electricity were generated by wind in 2008;
• Iowa is ranked second in the nation in most installed wind capacity;
• Iowa is one of a handful of states that has attracted numerous wind manufacturers;
• Iowa was the third in the United States for most new wind capacity in 2009;
• There are currently 2,300 jobs committed to wind in Iowa, and 78 wind installations in the state;
• Number one ethanol and biodiesel producing state; and
• Governor Culver is chair of both the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition and Governors’ Biofuels Coalition

Iowa Office of Energy Independence
Des Moines, IA
energy.iowa.gov