President Barack Obama was in Iowa for this Earth Day, visiting a former appliance maker that has converted to make parts for the state’s burgeoning wind energy industry.
The Des Moines (IA) Register reports that the president also used the stop at the Trinity Structural Towers in Newton, formerly a Maytag appliance factory, to unveil plans to allow off-shore wind-energy production:
“On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America,” Obama said during a stop at a plant that produces towers for wind-electric turbines.
Making his first trip to Iowa as president, Obama urged Congress to pass a bill this year that puts the nation on a path to reducing its carbon pollution by 80 percent by 2050.
Obama has proposed establishing a cap-and-trade system, where businesses would be granted a fixed number of credits for their emissions. Companies that use more than their share would pay more.
The plan includes reducing the number of credits over time.
It also includes spending $15 billion a year for 10 years to develop sectors of the renewable energy industry through research and development, job training and infrastructure.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee began discussing an energy bill Tuesday and is expected to vote on legislation next month.
“Today I am announcing that my administration is taking another historic step. Through the Department of Interior, we are establishing a program to authorize for the first time the leasing of federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources,” Obama said to about 200 in at Trinity Structural Towers in Newton.
“It’s a win-win. It’s good for the environment. It’s great for the economy,” he said.
The move is seen as a boon to the Iowa plant that currently employs 90 full-time workers with another 40 to be added this coming fall… and maybe more, depending on how successful this initiative is.
Iowa is second in the nation in wind energy production behind only Texas.
The amount of industrial fats and oils in the U.S. has grown by nearly one-fourth over the past couple of years, fueled mostly by the growth in popularity of biodiesel.
America’s first eco-sustainable city is taking its first steps toward sustainable energy.
Today’s Earth Day Celebration is brought to you in part by the book, “Green Hell” written by Steve Milloy. I’ve never met or spoken to the man, but I can presume that he is not a celebrator of Earth Day since his entire book is dedicated to stopping the “greens.” The premise of his book is to educate the public on how environmentalists are trying to control our lives and what we can do to stop them. He writes, “While it is beyond the scope of this book to debunk the scientific claims of global warmists, we’ll take a brief moment here to note the fatal flaw of global warming alarmism: there is no scientific evidence indicating that carbon dioxide, much less man made carbon dioxide emissions, control or even measurably impact global climate.”
solar energy into his business. “Our primary motivator was to produce wines in a way that honors this beautiful coastal area and respects the environment. Conergy’s solutions enable Eos to optimize power generation throughout the day, avoiding the hours of shading confronted by standard systems set to peak hour production,” he noted. “These efficiencies — coupled with the government incentives associated with this project — made the economics of installing these remarkable earth-friendly systems viable,” Hopmayer said.
Georgia has become the third state to pass a bill requiring suppliers to make available an unblended gasoline grade for marketers who want to make their own ethanol fuels. The measure awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue would require refiners to supply a straight-run gasoline for blending by July 1 this year. Refiners also would be barred from interfering with a jobber’s right to blend alcohol or claim federal tax credits on blended fuel, and would have to amend their supply contracts to delete any ban on blend sales.
The police department in Hoover, Alabama will soon be receiving wood-based ethanol to fuel their flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). A Livingston demonstration plant, Gulf Coast Energy, will be producing the ethanol.
Officials with 
Both houses of Congress have now introduced a bill that would give consumers more choices at the pump.
An increasing number of university professors, scientists, researchers, and industry trade organizations have registered their opposition to the controversial proposal because they say incomplete and unproven modeling is being used to penalize renewable fuels.