June 15, 2007
Dozens of Iowa city leaders will converge on Des Moines today to find out how
Des Moines saved $150,000 by switching to new stoplights, and how people in an
"eco-village" in Fairfield grow their own food year-round.
Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie will preside over a two-day Energy Futures
Conference, something of a prelude to a 10-city eco-efficiency tour planned by
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Cownie said he expects the event to be attended by representatives of between
25 and 100 Iowa cities. The officials will work on plans for a "sustainability
curriculum" for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and plans for
things cities, businessess and homeowners can do to save energy.
"We want to look at how we can change so city governments can lead by example,"
Cownie said Thursday.
For example, Des Moines saved $150,000 by switching to more energy-efficient
stoplights, and also converted to hybrid cars for some of its fleet. The parks
department installed native grasses in many parks, saving on mowing expenses
and using the grasses to help cut runoff pollution.
The city also wants to join with residents, Trees Forever and neighborhood
groups to plant 100,000 trees, which help sweep heat-trapping carbon from the
atmosphere.
Cownie spoke to 300 mayors and civic leaders in Washington, D.C., last week,
urging them to take on the global warming issue locally. "Mayors can take the
lead in providing energy security for the nation, because, in the end, homeland
security is really hometown security," he said.
Lonnie Gamble, a professor in the Maharishi University of Management's
Sustainable Living program, will attend the Des Moines event to talk about
efforts he has made to power his house with solar panels and wind. He'll also
discuss how producing energy with wind turbines helps local economies.
Gamble has appliances, high-speed Internet and other technology that operate on
energy supplied by alternative sources, rather than by coal or nuclear power,
Iowa's top power sources.
Gamble hasn't paid an electric bill in 15 years - his house isn't connected to
electric lines. He catches rainwater off his roof to store for future use and
pays $50 a year for gas to heat his 500-square-foot house. He grows food
year-round in a greenhouse.
"We have regular washing machines and dishwashers, and all of it runs on solar
panels and wind power," he said. "I'm coming over there to tell people it's
possible."
Gamble has helped create Abundance Ecovillage, a five- house subdivision in
Fairfield where houses are powered by solar and wind on site, rain water is the
only water used, cold air is pumped up from underground tunnels to cool houses,
and residents plant edible landscaping and eat from their gardens every day.
"It's not like we suffer. Our showers are just as hot, and our beers are just
as cold," Gamble said.
Reporter Perry Beeman can be reached at (515) 284-8538 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Visiting leaders to hear how D.M. saves energy varUsername = "[EMAIL
PROTECTED];[EMAIL PROTECTED]";document.write("BY PERRY BEEMAN AND MELISSA
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