Iowa gets $16 million for green energy projects

DES MOINES -- U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday announced the state of Iowa is receiving $16 million in federal stimulus dollars to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Iowa was one of the first states to receive dollars from an energy program for states funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program encourages states to invest in energy savings, increase the use of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Money given to Iowa from the program is expected to eventually total $40.5 million.

Chu, a physicist and Nobel Prize winner, emphasized the role that finding energy efficiencies must play in reducing emissions and lessening the impact of global climate change.

"There is no controversy that the temperature of the earth has been warming up," Chu said. "There's essentially no controversy, real serious controversy, at all that what we've seen in the last 50 years is predominately caused by human activity."

To highlight the impact energy efficiencies can make, Chu pointed to refrigerators found today in the U.S. that use on average four times less energy than those in 1975, even though refrigerators have gotten bigger since then.

Commercial buildings and homes also can see huge energy savings with energy efficient measures, he said.

Homes built with lighter-colored roofs, proper windows and overhangs can see heating and cooling costs reduced by more than 50 percent, Chu said.

"It's incredible what you can do, but if you start to design buildings in the proper way, you can really save a lot," Chu said.

Gov. Chet Culver said the money will be used to expand the efforts of the Iowa Power Fund and the state's Office of Energy Independence.

The Iowa Power Fund, created in 2007, has helped Iowa invest in and attract research and development in renewable energy and energy efficiency, Culver said.

Iowa's 2,056 windmills have nearly 2,900 megawatts of wind energy capacity, Culver said, making the state second only to Texas in wind generation.

Culver said the power fund also has helped leverage federal dollars.

"This makes Iowa's energy projects more competitive and accelerates Iowa's leadership in the new energy economy," Culver said.

The federal money will go to the public and private sectors, with a large part going to energy efficiency projects. Dollars also will go to demonstrate renewable energy technologies in Iowa.

"This money will really help us achieve our very, very ambitious goals when it comes to energy efficiency," Culver said.

On the Web -

More information about how the federal energy dollars will be spent can be found at the Iowa Office of Energy Independence's Web site at www.energy.iowa.gov