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DUBUQUE TELEGRAPH HERALD – Sunday, January 12th, 2003
Alliant, Media Bringing Energy Issues to Iowa Public
Town hall meetings: Series brings citizens, environmentalists and power company together
By Matt Kittle
If you have ever moaned about the high cost of a heat bill or lamented the lack of renewable fuel in an energy provider's game plan, well here's your chance to walk a mile in a utilities shoes.
Alliant Energy and several Iowa media outlets, including the Telegraph Herald, are sponsoring a series of town hall meetings around the state. A total of seven communities will host the meetings, beginning Monday, Jan. 27, in Dubuque.
The two-hour town hall meetings will bring average citizens, environmental groups and “power people” together to talk about Iowa's energy issues. But the forums will go beyond standard dialogue.
Through the use of Energy ED, a simulated exercise, participants will be able to plot a 15-year forecast of electrical energy use in Iowa.
“It does a pretty good job of showing the impacts of the different alternatives of energy sources,” said Alliant spokesman Chris Schoenherr of the computer program.
The Energy ED simulator uses actual electrical energy consumption, generation and transmission figures for Iowa to set an accurate baseline. Participants will use that data and their own judgment to:
* Estimate the state's future demand for electricity.
* Set goals for controlling emissions that could harm the environment.
* Ensure energy reliability
* Estimate how much residential users will be willing to pay to accomplish it all.
There are some tough decisions to be made to keep the lights on and the environment healthy through 2018.
“Some people will say, ‘We should put a plant or a transmission line over here.’ Now that transmission line might be 500 feet from your house. Do you still feel the same way?” Schoenherr said.
“I think the consensus is we need more infrastructure, but where the rubber hits the road is where you put it,” the Alliant spokesman said.
Energy ED allows citizens to make efficiency, conservation and transmission choices, and to decide which resources they might need to generate future electricity. Do you power your state with coal, clean coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar or biomass sources? And what are the advantages and repercussions of each decision?
“As you make those choices, you see the direct effect on your energy bill and on emissions,” said Deborah Jackson Still, of Blue Spark, LLC, the Wisconsin-based “creative production house” that is responsible for marketing the Energy ED software and developing additional applications.
While energy decisions are generally complicated, operating Energy ED isn't. Still said participants will find the simulator “extremely user-friendly.”
The computer program was first used during a similar forum sponsored by We the People/Wisconsin, a consortium of Wisconsin media organizations established to bring citizens together to discuss the issues of the day. Still’s husband, Tom Still, former president of the organization and former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, helped develop the Energy ED simulator with the assistance of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The software was first rolled out in the fall of 2001 to connect Wisconsin citizens with the state’s energy issues. Still said the Madison forum drew 350 participants.
The experience changed some minds and opened some eyes to the energy-supply process, Still said.
“Some people come in with agendas or preconceived notions about resources. This allows them to test those theories,” she said. “But there isn’t any right or wrong answer. It’s not a Sim City game you can win or lose.”
Seeing the success of the event, Alliant Energy, a participant in the Wisconsin town hall meeting, decided to bring the project to Iowa as a sponsor.
Schoenherr said the town hall meetings will not only assist citizens in examining energy issues - the discussions will help guide Alliant’s decision making process.
“We need public cooperation to do whatever we need to do to provide safe, reliable energy to the state,” the spokesman said. “The more input we have, the better job we are going to do.”
News You Can Use:
What: Powering Iowa project - a series of town hall meetings in seven Iowa communities to discuss the state's energy issue. The forums will include the use of the Energy Ed software exercise.
Who: The town hall meetings are sponsored by Alliant Energy and several Iowa media outlets, including the Telegraph Herald.
When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 27.
Where: The University of Dubuque's Hadley Auditorium.
To register: Call 800/419-0279 or log onto bluesparkgadgets.com.
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