{"id":3763,"date":"2013-03-13T18:04:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T18:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=3763"},"modified":"2013-03-13T18:04:06","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T18:04:06","slug":"30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/03\/13\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa’s Clean Tech Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>People who haven\u2019t been following the renewable energy industry will be forgiven for their reaction when they\u2019re told that Iowa is among the most advanced, opportunistic state<\/a> in the cleantech economy.\u00a0 \u201cIowa?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that corn country?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, yes.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also wind country.\u00a0 And like few other states, Iowans have turned their constant breeze into a powerful economic force.<\/p>\n

This is the last in a trio of posts highlighting the findings from EDF\u2019s reports<\/a> on the cleantech economies of Ohio, Colorado and Iowa (here is my last post on Ohio<\/a>).\u00a0 Today, I\u2019ll focus on Iowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite its size, Iowa produces the second most wind power in the U.S.<\/a> (Texas is #1 and California is #3) and is one of only two states that receives over 20% of its electricity from wind power.\u00a0 More impressive has been the state\u2019s ability to capture the economic — not just the environmental — benefit of that ranking.\u00a0 According to the American Wind Energy Association<\/a>, Iowa has attracted more major wind industry manufacturers than any other state.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great example of supply meeting demand.<\/p>\n

Politically, wind power has been supported by both parties for three decades.\u00a0 It was the first state to pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard<\/a>, under republican Governor Terry Branstad in 1983.\u00a0 In 2005, democratic Governor Tom Vilsack signed a tax credit for renewable energy production.\u00a0 And in 2007 democratic Governor Chet Culver created the Iowa Power Fund<\/a> to invest in local renewable energy research and development projects.\u00a0 This level of across-the-aisle cooperation is unique among states and has given Iowa a considerable advantage in competing against larger and richer states.<\/p>\n

This long commitment has also enabled Iowa to \u201cgrow out\u201d its wind industry supply chain<\/a>; it\u2019s one of the few states that can manufacture all major parts of a wind turbine.\u00a0 From design and manufacturing to installation and maintenance, Iowa companies (and their employees) are maximizing the economic impact of every dollar invested in wind.<\/p>\n

Iowa community colleges and universities<\/a> have also played a key role in training the wind industry workforce. Iowa\u2019s community colleges are aggressively training wind energy technicians and analysts, and nearly all fifteen Iowa colleges\u2019 have wind training courses.<\/p>\n

The results are impressive: In a state of 3 million people, there are more than 6,000 wind industry employees and more than 200 companies paying more than $70 million in annual wages. \u00a0Property taxes from wind installations generate nearly $20 million and lease payments to landowners amount to $13 million every year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People who haven\u2019t been following the renewable energy industry will be forgiven for their reaction when they\u2019re told that Iowa is among the most advanced, opportunistic state in the cleantech economy.\u00a0 \u201cIowa?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that corn country?\u201d Well, yes.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also wind country.\u00a0 And like few other states, Iowans have turned their constant breeze into …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[40290,40288,40289,38438],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renewable-energy","tag-cleantech","tag-iowa","tag-renewable-portfolio-standard","tag-rps"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa's Clean Tech Growth - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/03\/13\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa's Clean Tech Growth - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People who haven\u2019t been following the renewable energy industry will be forgiven for their reaction when they\u2019re told that Iowa is among the most advanced, opportunistic state in the cleantech economy.\u00a0 \u201cIowa?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that corn country?\u201d Well, yes.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also wind country.\u00a0 And like few other states, Iowans have turned their constant breeze into ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/03\/13\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-13T18:04:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2013\/03\/Jackie-Roberts-Photo1-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jackie Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jackie Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jackie Roberts\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/61f4ec33e25c67514cbeeb50f70b2956\"},\"headline\":\"30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa’s Clean Tech Growth\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-13T18:04:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":424,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/Jackie-Roberts-Photo1-199x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cleantech\",\"Iowa\",\"Renewable Portfolio Standard\",\"RPS\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Renewable Energy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13\\\/30-years-of-forward-thinking-leaders-has-spurred-iowas-clean-tech-growth\\\/\",\"name\":\"30 Years Of Forward-Thinking Leaders Has Spurred Iowa's Clean Tech Growth - 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