An article in yesterday’s Des Moines Register caught our eye, as it provides yet another piece of compelling evidence that clean energy remains popular, on a bipartisan level, at the local level.  The article is by “Iowa farm boy” Rob Hach, a self-described “registered Republican” who “believe[s] in voting for the best candidate and the one who understands that clean energy is helping to revitalize small towns across Iowa and bringing manufacturing back to America when so many other industries have fled town.”  Here are excerpts (bolding added for emphasis) from Rob Hach’s article:

Today my wife and I have 28 employees and four offices in four states at Anemometry Specialists. We work in the wind industry on turbines. We are proud to be among those who help make Iowa the No. 1 state in the country for wind jobs. Iowa also ranks second in electricity generation from wind.

[...]

And we were able to keep jobs in Iowa. The majority of the people I employ here in Alta are either farm kids or still working on the family farm in the evening. Today, the school district in Alta receives somewhere between 16 percent and 20 percent of its revenue from wind turbines. And almost 30 percent of the taxes paid into the county are off wind turbines.

Wind is an American success story in Iowa.

Hach adds that he’s “not reaping massive profits like the oil billionaires funding these ads with their billions in subsidies and tax breaks,” but is “living invoice to invoice, praying we have enough money to make payroll every two weeks,” participating in an industry which “supports the American farmer and is good for our national security because we still are too dependent on Middle East dictators for our energy needs.” The fact is, this “American success story” can happen in any state, not just Iowa, with smart policies at the state and federal level.  As long as we all listen to people like Rob Hach, not the “oil billionaires.”

Here are five recommended reads for today (5/16/12)

1. A study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds that “Power generated from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is much closer to competitiveness with conventional electricity generation than many policy-makers and commentators have realized,” and that “The shift in prices of solar technology carries major implications for policy and investment decision-makers, especially when it comes to the choice of generating technology and the design of tariff, fiscal and other support policies.”
2. DeSmogBlog reports: “FreedomWorks, the sister organization to theKoch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has launched a new website and advertising campaign to convince American voters that the Obama administration and the EPA are out to destroy American jobs.”
3. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, First Solar and SunPower are looking to benefit from Saudi Arabia’s $109 billion solar plan, which aims “to have 41,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2032.”
4. Renewable Energy World reports, “Seven months after a trade investigation was launched, American solar companies and Chinese solar manufacturers will finally get a clear picture of the challenges ahead…A determination on the second of the two tariffs is set to be made on May 16 and announced on May 17.”
5. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad writes in the Wall Street Journal, “Our state is receiving 20% of its electricity from wind farms at stable and dependable rates, and there are over 215 wind-related businesses operating in 55 counties across Iowa, providing jobs for more than 5,000 workers. This success has been replicated across the nation, with more than 470 factories in 43 states producing parts for the industry.”

Here are five recommended reads for today (5/15/12)

1. Energy Boom reports, “Twenty of the world’s leading off-grid clean energy entrepreneurs sent a letter [yesterday] to World Bank Group president Robert Zoellick requesting $500 million in financial commitments to help them deliver on the world’s energy access goals.”
2. According to CleanTechnica: “Yet another recent poll showed that Americans really support clean energy, across political affiliations… 76% of Americans (58% of Republicans, 83% of Independents, and 88% of Democrats) want to see ”a reduction in our reliance on nuclear power, natural gas and coal, and instead, launch a national initiative to boost renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
3. The New York Times reports, “A pioneering proposal to build a wind power transmission line on the ocean floor from southern Virginia to northern New Jersey cleared a hurdle on Monday when the Interior Department opened the way for the project’s sponsors to start work on an environmental impact statement.”
4. Eric Wesoff of Greentechsolar explains the “anatomy of the SolarWorld US-China Solar Trade Case.”
5. The Boston Globe reports: “Retail giant Walmart said it plans to install solar panels on top of about half of its roughly 50 Massachusetts stores as early as August as part of an expansion of solar power in the state… once the projects are done, they will be capable of generating a total of about 10.5 megawatts worth of energy, enough to power up to 2,600 homes.”