Sun Power May Beat Wind Power

JOE BOLKCOM • GUEST OPINION • JULY 6, 2010
Just days before the United States took to the pitch in a heated World Cup match against Slovenia, my colleagues and I enjoyed a friendly exchange on the small central European nation's soil, in the eighth annual Green Bike Tour.There we found that we could learn from Europe about much more than how to kick a checkered ball -- we could take note of its investments in efficient and renewable energy. And just as the solid performance of Americans turned the heads of soccer aficionados around the globe, the news of Iowa's progress in cleaner energy proved able to impress our Slovenian hosts.

Joined by veteran green bikers, David Osterberg, Ed Woolsey -- and John Moreland and our gracious Slovenian host, Professor Mladen Franko of the University of Nova Gorica -- we had a busy schedule with a series of meetings with government officials, energy experts, renewable energy producers, non-governmental organization leaders, students and university faculty. All in all, we learned a lot about Slovenia's energy efforts and of our own.

Iowa has quickly caught up with our continental neighbors since the 2002 European Green Bike Tour. At that time, Germany, Denmark and Holland were world leaders in renewable energy production and we lagged far behind. Those countries were generating about 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources and Iowa, a mere 4 percent.

Today we stand neck and neck with Europe -- Iowa now generates 20 percent of its power through wind.

But this doesn't mean that our state shouldn't aim for further improvement. Here is where we can learn from Slovenia.

After its European Union acceptance in 2004, Slovenia developed an action plan for renewable energy and reduction of its carbon emissions. Today it aims to achieve 25 percent renewable energy by 2025 while expanding other efforts in energy efficiency.

While Iowans focus largely upon wind for energy, Slovenians look to the sun. Right now, the country generates about 20 megawatts of solar electricity and has a goal of establishing 300 megawatts of solar power by 2020. As we pedaled through urban and rural parts of the country, we saw proof of this in the form of solar collectors (for electricity and hot water) on homes, businesses and public buildings.

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Slovenia pays for these investments through the use of a feed-in tariff, incentive payments to help consumers and businesses purchase renewable energy systems. And as demand for solar technology has increased, business booms at BISOL, a local manufacturer of photo voltaic systems -- now one of the fastest growing companies in the country.


Iowa can adopt a similar strategy.

We can create consumer and business demand with financial incentives for a new neighborhood based on renewable energy systems. In turn, this will bring new skilled job opportunities to install and maintain systems and then manufacture the technology right here in Iowa.

This is what we have done with our investments in large wind farms. Federal production tax credits have provided the financial incentives, bringing new jobs to install and service the large machines. We also have attracted five wind industry component manufactures to supply this demand and a few thousand well-paying manufacturing jobs. So far, Iowa's foray into the wind market has been a wide success.

With the right kind of state policy and financial incentives, there is no reason we can't create more well-paying jobs and address our need for more renewable solar energy.

And of course we cannot overlook the other major purpose of looking to green energy: protecting the environment and addressing a changing climate.

Just as a changing weather patterns bring more summer flooding to Iowa, Slovenians have witnessed both major flooding events and have had to endure 100-plus mile per hour winds -- phenomena they have never before seen. On top of that, the bark beetle, another newcomer, is ravaging the valuable forests that cover 60 percent of their land.

I had a lot of time to think about our energy future while I rode more than 300 kilometers through Slovenia's spectacular farm-dotted countryside. I came to one major conclusion: we need to keep improving our investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

As black crude continues to spew into the Gulf, we know that maintaining the status quo is no longer an option.

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Joe Bolkcom is a member of the Iowa Senate and the outreach and community education director for the University of Iowa's Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research.