A Green Economy 
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Iowa is establishing a new kind of leadership—the leadership of a New Green Economy. For Iowa, this is a sensible move that builds on our strengths and will provide us with a prosperous life both now and in the future.
How has Iowa achieved this leadership position? Truly, this has happened because of the well-educated, thoughtful, collaborative people who live and work here. Iowa’s leaders across government, business, and education have forged a unique system that successfully links policy, research, demonstration, and deployment. As a state, we continue to focus on aligning policies and resources to ensure that technology in the laboratory advances to testing in the field and, ultimately, to commercial viability in the marketplace.
Our success in developing wind energy and biofuels industries in Iowa serves as a foundation from which we can continue to build Iowa’s leadership. Today, our state is home to nine wind turbine manufacturers and we generate 15% of our electricity from wind. Our biofuels industry delivered more than 2.2 billion gallons of ethanol and nearly 1 billion gallons of biodiesel in 2008, making Iowa a net exporter of transportation fuels. Iowa has 35 ethanol refineries with a production capacity of 3.3 billion gallons of ethanol each year, and production has more than doubled since 2006.
The good news is we are poised to do even more—and better. In 2007, Governor Chet Culver and the Iowa legislature created the Iowa Power Fund to accelerate research and development, knowledge transfer, and technological innovation, with the goal of improving Iowa’s economic competitiveness. With the support of the Iowa Power Fund, researchers at Iowa State University and Iowa’s most progressive companies have begun the important energy technology research and education needed for the New Green Economy. Projects at Iowa State include:
• Developing methods of creating more efficient gas and syngas burners to produce ethanol from synthesis gas. If successful, the resulting biomass gasification technology could be commercialized for thermal energy for combined heat and power generation, without compromising clean air standards.
• Supporting the 2008 Growing the Bioeconomy Conference to focus on the latest advances in biofeedstock production, bioprocessing, the use of biobased products, the interface between the bioeconomy and climate change, and the social dimensions of the bioeconomy.
• Increasing the conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells, while also keeping their manufacturing costs relatively low. This project would allow solar to become more cost competitive with other forms of energy and would help spur economic development in the solar energy sector.
• Increasing the use of distiller’s dried grains in livestock diets by studying strategies to overcome problems of insoluble fiber, antibiotic, and sulfur content that result from the ethanol production process, and which limit their use in feed.
• Fostering the mass production of wind turbines in Iowa through an Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Initiative with TPI Composites of Newton, Iowa, in partnership with Iowa State University and Sandia National Laboratory.
But while we certainly can claim a leadership position, we cannot be complacent. Many other states have active programs, investment pools, and talented researchers. For Iowa to retain and expand its leadership in the New Green Economy, our energy technology specialists—from researchers to engineers to policy makers—must continue working together to define and solve energy problems by inventing and improving products, processes, and systems.
Further, we must grow Iowa’s economic advantages by making the best use of our abundant energy resources. Through wise energy investments, we can retain existing employers and attract new industry that fits Iowa’s landscape. By building an economy based on conditions and resources that are unique to Iowa, we will ensure the creation of family-supporting jobs that fit the skills of Iowans, permanent jobs that can’t be outsourced because they can happen only here.
As we move rapidly toward delivering on the promise of the New Green Economy, our strategy must be to enhance our lead by building complementary relationships among a broad array of experts in science, engineering, economics, finance, management, political science, and the social sciences. Scientific research and technological expertise will be central to the future of our development, and Iowa will rely on its scientists and engineers to create, commercialize, and institutionalize sustainable technologies.
However, scientists and engineers cannot effect the needed change alone. Policy makers, technology experts, training and educational institutions, the business community—it will take everyone working together, as Iowans always have, to build the kinds of strong, cooperative coalitions that achieve great results. It is, after all, our people who can best lead our state to the next level in the New Green Economy.
I would like to know if Iowa, as a leader in the “New Green Economy” has invested any thought in developing hydroelectric power at the existing Lock & Dams on the Mississippi River (and other rivers in the state). There are 26 Lock & Dams on the Mississippi, and only 4 have been utilized to generate electricity. I have seen that the city of Quincy, IL has recently been granted a license to develop 50 MW of hydro power at three existing Lock & Dams on the Mississippi.
Hydroelectric power, in addition to wind, is also a renewable energy source (It rains, water runs downhill thru a turbine/generator, it exits the plant as water, evaporation occurs, it rains, etc. etc.) that has zero emissions. Furthermore, hydro plants have a higher efficiency (85 to 90%) than wind generators (40 to 50%), which means that it takes less materials to produce the same amount of electricity.
My old firm (I’m retired) is installing 400 MW at 4 Lock & Dams on the Ohio River. This would be the equivalent of 200 two MW wind generators, which no one wants in their backyard.
