Luke Frederick, GIA Audit Coordinator On April 15, the Winneshiek Energy District was joined by a collection of eager volunteers to plant tree saplings. Every year, the Winneshiek Energy District, in collaboration with Kevin and Leslie Sand, hosts a tree planting event for residents in the Decorah area. By signing up, a resident can qualify for several species of free trees and the team will plant the trees for them.
by Paul Cutting, Energy Planner Winneshiek Energy District is excited to partner with six Winneshiek County organizations and the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa to bring public-facing electric vehicle charging to downtown Calmar, Northeast Iowa Community College’s Calmar campus, Winneshiek Medical Center, the new Sunflower Child Development and Discovery Center, downtown Decorah at the Chamber of Commerce, and Seed Savers Exchange. The roughly $45,000 project is being funded, in part,
by Andy Johnson, Executive Director The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released its AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023. It is represents the best science in the world, and it is sobering. Good coverage including enlightening graphics can be found at The Conversation, World Resources Institute, CNBC, and elsewhere. There’s no sugar-coating the conclusions: “Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting
In partnership with Winneshiek Energy District members, Kevin and Leslie Sand, our Green Iowa Americorps team created the Tiny Trees Initiative to make Decorah a little greener and help reduce the energy bills of Decorah residents through natural shade. A large shade tree should be planted 20 feet or more from the house to maximize the shade benefit and ensure the safety of your home (source). If you think you
Rural Solar Prosperity Under Attack In Iowa; Farm Solar Ban Proposed Recent years have witnessed a significant rise of anti-solar activism around Iowa (and the Midwest), and the sentiment is spreading to the Legislature. Efforts are afoot that would effectively ban commercial and utility-scale solar throughout the state, and kill a new rural industry, job-creator, and prosperity engine before it even gets off the ground. SSB 1077 would ban solar from
By Andy Johnson and Warren McKenna Click here to read the pdf version with footnoted sources Here we go again. Grid operators and utilities are issuing dire warnings about looming blackouts this winter, and often linking the threat to the closure of coal plants. The narrative serves utilities like MidAmerican Energy well, whose parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy is one of the dirtiest utilities in the nation. MidAmerican would love
Andy Johnson, Executive Director We wrote back in June about how the clean grid of the future can indeed be an increasingly reliable and resilient grid. It was an effort to counter the narrative that reliability will only come through continued reliance on aging (and in fact, increasingly unreliable) coal plants. That narrative continues to be promoted by MidAmerican Energy, whose parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy ranks nationally in the bottom five of the
Andy Johnson, Executive Director It is abundantly clear that we need more large-scale solar (and storage) to complement the high penetration of large-scale wind in Iowa and promote a cleaner and more reliable grid. Yet the siting of utility solar projects has become increasingly difficult, thanks to a vocal minority of anti-renewable advocates that appear to be increasingly politically motivated and often funded by fossil fuel interests. The University of Iowa’s Hubbell Environmental
Paul Cutting, Energy Planner Prolonged power outages in the wake of natural disasters show the value of solar with backup battery capabilities. Following Hurricane Ian back in September, many areas were left without power for weeks, and as Decorah residents witnessed last December following a freak early winter storm, the power can go out for extended periods of time. Utilizing a stationary backup battery like the 13kW Tesla Powerwall, while