April 14th, 2006
Iowa is leading the way with its renewable power initiatives. When it comes to wind power, Iowa leads per capita with 836 megawatts of installed generation capacity. They are also actively promoting political/commercial incentives: they set a state goal of 5% renewable power by 2010 and they are working to increase the state's funding commitment to renewable power. One such program is their, Renewable Energy Tax Credit.
As far as conserving what they presently use for power and heat sources, Iowa investor-owned utilities are presently spending about $66 million per year on electric efficiency programs, and about $22 million per year on natural gas programs. The investor-owned utility programs are saving electricity equal to over 1,400,000 megawatt-hours per year. That is enough electricity to supply 140,000 households for a year. The investor-owned natural gas energy efficiency program is saving more than 6,000,000 Mcf of gas per year, enough gas for over 60,000 homes. Iowa Utilities