Faith Communities Input Wanted
By Cheryl Miller, Johnson Clean Energy District
How would you like to generate solar energy to run your home or fuel your car? Would you like to store it away for a rainy day or sell to a power company? If you already have experience with solar, what would you like to see in the future? If you don’t know much about it, what would you like to find out?
In the past several years, the interest in solar energy has been exploding and for good reason: solar energy is becoming the most affordable form of electricity and could stabilize energy costs in the future; it is clean and renewable; with battery back-up it could improve self-reliance when energy grids go down; it could produce good-paying jobs and keep energy dollars circulating locally instead of going to out-of-state utilities.
The Johnson Clean Energy District, the City of Iowa City, the University of Iowa, and others are conducting a study to consider bringing more solar energy into the community in the next decade. The study will report on what it might take to power a third or half of all the buildings in the city limits.
What, for instance, would 100 megawatts of solar power look like in terms of solar panels on buildings or large fields of solar panels on the outskirts of town? What options – privately-owned or shared ownership – are of most interest and where would they best be located? What would it cost and how could it be paid for? How could residents, businesses, and churches benefit the most?
Community input is an essential part of this study. In mid-April, a survey will be sent out to Iowa City residents and businesses to find out what they would like to see (and not see) and what role the City should have, if any. We are very interested in the views of congregations in the community and are working with faith communities other non-profits to reach as many people as possible. Stay tuned, the survey will be distributed through Iowa Interfaith Power & Light in a couple of weeks through social media. Contact info@johnsoncleanenergydistrict.org if you have questions or interest.
As an inducement to participating, the Johnson Clean Energy District will provide packages of 10 LED bulbs to ten names drawn from among survey participants in May!