Decorah’s Sustainability Committee Releases Draft Sustainability Plan

The Winneshiek Energy District recognizes and applauds the process the city is going through to craft a comprehensive sustainability plan. We have been contributing to the energy portion of this plan and believe that this tool will help propel the community of Decorah toward a more sustainable future.  Decorah IA (December 17, 2019) – The City of Decorah has posted a DRAFT of the City  Sustainability Plan 2020 for public

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Repost: What are municipal utilities and why are they suddenly popular?

Repost: What are municipal utilities and why are they suddenly popular?

Can changing who delivers your electricity to you solve a slew of problems? SCOTTY HENDRICKS (A Decorah native!) 26 November 2019 Repost from Bigthink.com   Cities and movements across the country are considering running their own electric utilities. These operations, known as municipal utilities, are already widespread and have a respectable track record. Representatives of the campaigns to implement municipal control see this as a path to a green, democratic

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Members make it happen. Join us!

Members make it happen. Join us!

We are grateful to all of the member-donors who supported this year’s clean local energy work with a tax-deductible donation.  These individuals and businesses provide essential matching funds for the grants that support roughly half of our work. Membership dollars help WED pursue important projects that are unlikely to be covered by grant funding. With inclusiveness as one of our core values, locally raised membership dollars to allow for WED staff

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Decorah Bank and Trust: A key partner for Energy Efficiency

Decorah Bank and Trust: A key partner for Energy Efficiency

By: Briana Burke, Green Iowa AmeriCorps NE Iowa’s Energy-Efficiency Triad In 2017 an estimated 66.7% to 86% of energy production in the United States was wasted (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2017). In a time when we are facing a climate crisis, we are not only the single largest per-capita producers of greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, but well over half of our emissions end up in the atmosphere

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We’re Famous! Repost from energynews.us

We’re Famous! Repost from energynews.us

https://energynews.us/2019/11/21/midwest/in-iowa-grassroots-energy-districts-aim-to-spur-local-clean-energy-conversations/ In Iowa, grassroots energy districts aim to spur local clean energy conversations Karen Uhlenhuth, Energy News Network The concept is modeled on soil and water conservation districts that spread across the country in the 1930s. A decade ago, Craig Mosher was one of a half-dozen people trying to rethink energy in their small hometown of Decorah in northeast Iowa. “The general concern was climate change, but the specific concern

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Nine accomplishments from our 9th year

Nine accomplishments from our 9th year

Kristin Eggen, Communications Specialist Together with community partners and support from our members, we took some notable steps toward our shared goal of local, clean, efficient energy in Winneshiek County. Here are nine accomplishments from our ninth(!) year: Helped homeowners, businesses and farms invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in renewables and energy efficiency measures through our energy planning services Hosted Winneshiek Solar Fair connecting the public to local solar

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Luther Economics Professor Testifies Against Rate Increase

Luther Economics Professor Testifies Against Rate Increase

The growing energy cost burden impacts everyone from low-income households to small businesses to institutions and communities as a whole. This reality has been central to the Decorah Area Group’s intervention in the ongoing Alliant Energy rate increase docket at the Iowa Utilities Board. Luther College Professor of Economics Steve Holland wrote important testimony about these impacts, and we encourage you to read his piece. You can find all the

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Energy Burden in Rural America

Energy Burden in Rural America

Joel Zook, Energy Planner The ACEEE article shared in this newsletter shows that rural American households are one-third more likely to be energy burdened than the average US household. There are several ways to calculate “energy burden” and not one agreed-upon definition. ACEEE defines “Energy Burdened” households as those who spend 6% of their annual income energy bills (electricity and heating fuel). In last month’s newsletter, we highlighted the fact

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Resolved: Cities Want a Piece of the Clean Energy Future

Andy Johnson, Executive Director, Winneshiek Energy District Jim Martin-Schramm, Director of Luther College Center for Sustainable Communities At last count, a precedent-setting 55 [updated: 61] city councils and county boards of supervisors in Iowa have passed resolutions asking the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to deny most or all of Alliant Energy’s proposed increase to base electric (and gas) rates. IUB dockets aren’t generally on local government agendas, so what’s happening

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Alliant Rate Case Update

Alliant Rate Case Update

Alliant is still pushing a 15% increase. Here are the recent developments. Andy Johnson, Executive Director On October 3rd, intervenors including the Office of Consumer Advocate, large business, and environmental groups filed a “non-unanimous, partial settlement” proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board.   While the Decorah Area Group (DAG) testimony was certainly part of the body of evidence and pressure on the company to settle, DAG believes the settlement terms

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