Iowa carbon emissions rise outstripping U.S. average

Iowa-based emissions of the greenhouse gas most to blame for climate change grew at a much faster rate than the national average from 1990 to 2007, an environmental group said Thursday.

The report from Environment Iowa said Iowa's emissions of carbon dioxide climbed by 35 percent over the 17-year period, which includes the most recently released U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Over that same period, carbon dioxide emissions nationwide grew by only 19 percent, the report said.

“More pollution than ever before is not a record we want to set,” Environment Iowa Field Coordinator Julian Boggs said Thursday in Cedar Rapids outside the Kouba Building, which houses one of the state's largest active photovoltaic arrays on its rooftop on Third Street SE.

Boggs said that the reason for the rapid increase in Iowa's carbon dioxide emissions is its heavy reliance on coal for generating electricity. He urged U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to support the Clean energy Jobs and American Power Act that is the senate version of the climate change bill.

Cedar Rapids City Council member Tom Podzimek said the city is incorporating more sustainable design into its flood reconstruction projects in an effort to lower the city's emissions of carbon dioxide. He said the efforts include higher-density housing projects that protect green space, better public transportation and bike trails, and new downtown parking garage design that will allow electric outlets to be added easily for plug-in hybrid vehicles.