Down in southeastern Iowa there is a power plant that burns switchgrass. Its pioneering biomass technology might be one way the state could avoid the kind of crisis that darkened California and illuminated energy issues nationwide last year.
Near Cedar Rapids, the nuclear power plant continues to feed into Iowa's grid.
Up Interstate 35 near the Minnesota border, new wind turbines grace the skyline. But guess who owns most of the wind generators in Iowa ... utility companies from other states, especially "warm" states such as Florida. Do they know something we don't? Meanwhile, Iowa legislators and utility companies discuss building another conventional power plant to meet the electricity needs of the future.
Any or all of these kinds of electrical power could be part of a strategy for powering Iowa now and in years to come. The choice before the state lies in how much of each source of power we should use. Does it make sense to pursue alternative sources? Or are the costs involved too high? How long can conventional sources of energy be sustained and what are the environmental costs that must be carried? How about peak availability or energy storage, transmission lines and expected demand? And what will any of this do to your bill at the end of the month?
A town hall meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Scheman Building in the Iowa State Center to present many options and allow the public to help shape Iowa's energy future. "Powering Iowa" is a project sponsored by Alliant Energy across the state with various partners in the communities that will host these meetings. In Ames, the town hall meeting is co-sponsored by The Tribune.
The town hall meetings use a unique simulator that estimates how much electricity Iowa will need to add over the next 15 years to keep up with rising demands. The simulator's name is "Energy ED." It was developed in Wisconsin with help from the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering for a public involvement project there called "We the People/Wisconsin" which was led primarily by a group of newspapers.
The simulator doesn't make value judgments for people, it simply calculates the consequences - how much cost, how much pollution. It doesn't favor one type of energy production over another and it doesn't help build a rate hike argument for any utility.
What it does, according to Powering Iowa literature, is "give citizens a chance to decide, hypothetically, how much of each type of energy they would prefer to use.
"The simulator is a hands-on graphic tool that allows citizens to engage in a discussion of the choices they and public policymakers must make to ensure reliable, clean and affordable supplies of electricity. Using data collected from a variety of public and private sources, the simulator will give citizens a chance to see what it is like to make tough energy choices."
Plug in increased construction of wind turbines and find out how much that will affect your electric bill. Build more conventional coal plants and see what that does to air quality. Find out whether Iowa has the capability to develop hydroelectric power.
Participants will be able to design electric energy systems that use plants fueled by conventional coal, clean coal, natural gas or nuclear power; hydroelectric power, wind turbines, biomass plants or solar photovoltaic units.
The meeting is open to the public and could be a conversation starter for energy policy proposals pending in Iowa.
Other host sites are to be in Mason City, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Davenport/Clinton, Burlington and Ottumwa.
To register for the Ames meeting, call (800) 419-0279, or visit the Web site bluesparkgadgets.com. We invite you to come.
