By:David Grebe
How much are you willing to pay for clean power?
That was the question Ames residents tried to answer Wednesday night during a town meeting on energy sponsored by The Tribune and Alliant Energy.
"Here in Iowa we've got tremendous opportunity for wind production," said resident Eric Hurley.
Hurley also said he doesn't think burning coal is the answer.
But there are problems with every source of power. While Iowa's wind potential is great, it isn't a reliable source. Coal is a cheap source of power - and where Iowa gets most of its electricity - but has pollution problems.
All together, about 50 members of the public had to come up with a solution for an emerging power problem: there just isn't enough power to meet growth estimates in Iowa.
To solve the problem, they worked on a computer simulation known as "Energy ED," that gives consumers choices about how Iowa could meet its power needs. Those choices are importation, conservation, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectric and natural gas.
"The generation that's in the state today is probably not going to cut it," said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technical Council, where the "Energy ED" was developed. "Energy ED" is an electrical-supply simulator that resembles "Sim City," a computer game that allows players to create and run cities.
Today's power generation - including power in Ames - is also mostly made up of older coal plants. Those plants produce more pollution, but they're also cheap.
Participants divided into groups to come up with a plan to meet Iowa's power needs.
When Ames resident Holly Fuchs said she'd pay extra for cleaner power, one Iowa State University student remarked he could barely pay his tuition.
There was another vexing question:
"Is coal more of a polluter than nuclear?" asked ISU sophomore Lorenzo Subido, an electrical engineering student. Not everyone agreed on an answer. Nuclear energy doesn't cause air pollution, but handling nuclear waste is a political and environmental problem the nation hasn't solved.
In the end, the group came up with a compromise plan that met Iowa's power needs, if not everyone's preferences.
In that plan: more wind, biomass, gas, cleaner coal and solar energy. There was less power from older coal and nuclear power plants. There was also an emphasis on conservation.
The plan raised an average monthly bill from $85 to $101 per month.
Not everyone was completely satisfied with the exercise. Some said it focused too much on the production side of the issue.
