By Briana Burke, Green Iowa Americorps Member Every year, the American food system uses about the same amount of energy as the entire country of France- that’s a lot of energy! Although our Green Iowa Americorps team has taken a COVID hiatus from home energy efficiency, their work helping Food Hub and local farmers still relates back to energy issues in our community. Food Hub is a part of the
By Jim Martin-Schramm The director of Luther College’s Center for Sustainable Communities, Jim Martin-Schramm, presented “Solar to Storage” during the Winneshiek Energy District’s Online Lunch Webinar on Tuesday, May 19. Jim spoke about Luther’s latest renewable energy project, which will involve the installation of another large solar array and energy storage system in the field near the intersection of US-52 and Pole Line Road. This will be the third solar
By Joel Zook, Energy Planner These truly are unprecedented times. With the partial shutdown of our economy that is now slowly crawling back, it’s hard to know what the “new normal” will look like. We do know however, that there are good opportunities to invest in our local economy through energy efficiency and renewable energy. Those investments will help create a more robust and resilient economy. Money that we can
What’s At Stake The end of net metering and local solar prosperity may sound sensationalist, but that appears to be the goal of a new petition filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by the New England Ratepayers Association (NERA). The NERA appears to be a front group for major electric utilities and anti-renewable energy groups. Ownership matters. When farms, homes, businesses, and institutions invest in solar energy, they
The Decorah City Council is currently being pressured by Alliant into signing a long-term electric franchise contract. The issue at stake is, who will own and reap the prosperity benefits from the clean energy future – our community, or Alliant shareholders? The Council has passed – and Alliant has rejected – a draft franchise contract that would meet all of Alliant’s terms except for the binding contract length. Council wants