Homers

REAP RECORD:

The recently adjourned Iowa Legislature broke through years of underfunding a commitment to the Resource Enhancement and Protection program by approving a record $25 million for the 25th year of its existence. When REAP was created to help protect the state's natural and cultural resources, lawmakers set $20 million as the funding level. However, only once until this year did they appropriate that much.

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BIOMASS EXPANSION:

The University of Iowa continues to advance its goal of getting 40 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. The UI planted 15 acres of giant miscanthus, a perennial grass, in southwest Iowa City last week, after planting a pilot field of 16 acres in Muscatine County last year. The overall goal is to harvest than 2,500 acres by 2016 and build on other types of biomass that are combined with coal in the UI's generation plant. The project also will yield information that could be useful to municipalities and other institutions.

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UP ON THE ROOF:

the Cedar Rapids Public Library, the federal courthouse and the city's Central Fire Station incorporated cistern systems in their new facilities to catch rain runoff as well as demonstrate how individuals can help reduce flooding. Two of the three systems also use the captured water to irrigate greenery on their sites.

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