The Green Economy & Iowa

Ask most anyone around the country, and Iowa is known for one thing: food production. We are the breadbasket of the globe. Our contribution to the worldwide community is an important but unglamorous one. Our state gets lumped in as a flyover state, confused with others such as Idaho and Ohio, and is assumed by outsiders to be a place where every resident seemingly lives on a farm.

Despite our humble agricultural facade, the state of Iowa is progressing in ways that is earning it recognition nationwide. Recently, I attended a learning session for work where the speaker from Innovative Kinetics discussed alternative energy solutions such as wind power, solar power, and electric vehicles. Anyone who has driven along I-80 in western Iowa or through parts of northern Iowa knows that this state has a large presence of wind turbines.

Very large. In fact, second in the nation.

The only other state that produces more wind energy is Texas. These turbines have become a symbol of the state by dotting our landscape and providing jobs in the burgeoning green economy. Wind turbines work well in Iowa because we have an abundance of two key resources: wind, and land. Northwest Iowa is among the windiest places in the nation. For land, wind turbines work best when turbulence is kept to a minimum. Open land with minimal structures and vegetation is the most beneficial to attaining optimum performance, and Iowa's sparse landscape is the perfect match.

Another source of pride is that our state is among the first in the nation to construct an electric vehicle recharging station. This charging station has been installed in the town of Elk Horn, off Interstate 80 in western Iowa, and known by many for its Danish windmill and museum. Across the state the University of Iowa has approved funding of a solar charging station that will be the largest of its kind in Iowa. The solar array will have the capability to charge 47 vehicles and would be able to return power to the grid off peak hours.

Not only are we involved in wind turbines and solar arrays, but Iowa is also participating in the construction of a new high-speed rail network that will link Iowa City and Dubuque to Chicago. The route could eventually connect Iowa City to Omaha, with a stop in Des Moines. While Iowa and Illinois jointly applied for $256 million to develop the Iowa City & Dubuque routes, the state of Iowa received only $18 million in the first round of funding. A second round of funding in 2011 will provide Iowa another opportunity to receive some of the remaining $2.5 billion set aside for high speed rail.

All this says that Iowa is very serious about cultivating a new image for itself in the 21st century. After a farm crisis and economic stagnation in the 1980s and 1990s, Iowa has had some trouble defining what it is that we are about. With our foray into the green economy, we have a new tool to market Iowa as a place that not only feeds the world, but as a place with forward-thinking leaders and ideas that will help make our corner of the world a better place.