Sixty-four percent of Iowa's energy production now comes from wind - a new record for the state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Green-energy advocates call it a big step along the road to fossil-fuel independence.
Iowa has been a wind-energy leader for decades, but the Iowa Environmental Council Staff Attorney Michael Schmidt said the IEC has a goal of becoming fossil-fuel independent by 2035.
"The energy mix in Iowa has shifted from being dominated more by coal with some natural gas," said Schmidt, "to being dominated by wind with a much smaller fraction of coal and natural gas."
The IEC contends that wind is the least expensive source of energy generation, even without considering tax credits or subsidies, and says it is dramatically lower than the costs of coal - especially when accounting for factors such as human health and crop damage from fossil fuel-based energy production.
Large utility companies such as MidAmerican Energy have entered the renewable-energy marketplace but have not moved completely away from fossil-fuel backups.
Alternative-energy producers have faced stiff challenges in Iowa because the land has traditionally been so valuable for agriculture production.
To even install wind turbines, the land has to have what is known as a low corn suitability ratio, which means the acreage will be more valuable to wind farmers than it is to corn farmers.
Source: publicnewsservice.org
Categories: Iowa, Crops, Corn, Energy