According to the AWEA report, Iowa added 879 megawatts of generational capacity in 2009, an impressive gain in an otherwise stagnant economy. Today, Iowa ranks second in the nation in total generation with 3,670 MW from 2,534 turbines. The national leader in overall production continues to be Texas.

Iowa leads the nation in wind energy jobs and, because of the state’s position, hosts nine international companies manufacturing for the wind industry, with more than 200 manufacturers in the wind power supply chain, employing more than 2,300 Iowans. Additionally, five community colleges and all three Regents institutions have formed the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development (IAWIND), a consortium focused on growing the industry and creating further career opportunities.

With these funds, the Iowa Department of Education will partner with the UNI, Stanford University School Redesign Network, and UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).

The grant partners will work together to define emerging attributes of effective teaching and integrating those attributes into both teacher preparation programs and continued professional development for beginning and experienced teachers.

A key innovation related to the work will be helping teachers use technology to create a compilation of examples of professional work and student performance. The electronic portfolio will allow administrators to evaluate both beginning and experienced teachers to improve effective teaching practices.

“The long-term effect a teacher has on students cannot be determined with one test one time a year,” said Iowa Department of Education Director Judy Jeffrey. “In Iowa, we know that a portfolio of teacher work over time is a better indicator of a teacher’s true impact on students. This grant will allow Iowa to partner with state and national experts to develop a truly effective, integrated approach to identifying and nurturing the qualities of effective teaching.”

Distinct components of the work of the grant include the use of innovation and technology in Iowa’s classroom and UNI’s educator preparation program. UNI teacher preparation students will be able to gain even more hands-on learning experiences by joining various classrooms of rural high-needs schools in Iowa through online technology such as video conferencing. The intention is to broaden this effort and make it available to all accredited teacher preparation programs in the state.

Also included will be opportunities for professional development for prekindergarden-12th grade administrators to improve retention of beginning and experienced teachers.

This is a five-year grant that will establish Iowa in the United States as one of the models of best practices in teaching and educator preparation.

The funding is being awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as part of an effort to expand enrollment and create jobs for Head Start teachers.

The funding will be divided among three entities. The Community Action Agency of Siouxland will receive $186,382. The Upper Des Moines Opportunity will get $117,436. West Central Community Action is to get $530,013.

In announcing the funding, Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin said in a statement Thursday there is no better investment that can be made than providing a strong foundation that will help children succeed in school and in life.

(Image from Huffington Post)

A new AmeriCorps group is working to make Eastern Iowa a little greener.

The 56 members of Green Iowa AmeriCorps, the first of its kind in the nation, are based in Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls. Their mission is to assess energy needs and provide energy education and service.

Green Iowa AmeriCorps workers Stephanie Meyer of Swisher and Jared Musil of Ely weed a plot of potatoes Monday at the AmeriCorps-built community garden on Third Street SE in Cedar Rapids. The garden is built on the former site of the historical Vavra House, lost to the 2008 flood.

Part of the group’s outreach is a community garden, created in two vacant lots in the flooded New Bohemia neighborhood in Cedar Rapids.

Where floodwaters washed away a historical home — the Vavra House, 1019 Third St. SE, owned by Michael Richards and his wife, Liza Duquilla — the 19 Cedar Rapids-based members of Green Iowa AmeriCorps have literally built a garden from the ground up.

Tim Reynolds, a group leader, said five members hand-loaded 12 truckloads of limestone foundation stones from four houses demolished to make way for an office building in the 1800 block of First Avenue SE. Those stones formed the raised beds in which seeds for the garden were planted.

“We use anything we can find,” said Reynolds, 25, who lived in Newton before moving to Cedar Rapids for the program. “We’re trying to teach people there are other options besides sending it to the landfill.”

Fencing donated from a flooded home, a metal bed frame and wooden doors that were discarded all find a use in the garden, sandwiched between two buildings that are being reconstructed. Seeds, plants and wood for more beds were donated.

Members also focus on weatherization of homes in older neighborhoods and flooded areas of Cedar Rapids. Reynolds said the goal is to improve 100 flooded homes with caulking, weatherstripping and other energy efficiencies.

The team can insulate homes, provide compact fluorescent light bulbs and help find funding for energy-efficient refrigerators and washing machines for homeowners. Those efforts are supported by a grant from the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.

Green Iowa AmeriCorps receives federal funding, with a matching grant of $150,000 from the Iowa Power Fund. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources manages the funding, while the Community Corrections Improvement Association oversees the Cedar Rapids team.

“There’s not a road map out there for this type of startup,” said Jane Mild, supervisor of the DNR’s Office of Volunteer Service. “They’re doing an absolutely terrific job.”

Green Iowa is one of five AmeriCorps groups under the Community Corrections Improvement Association’s umbrella.

Most members are just out of high school or in college and spend three to 11 months with Green Iowa AmeriCorps. Members receive living stipends of $3,176 to $12,000, depending on the length of their stints. Upon completion, they also receive education awards of $1,250 to $4,725. Kirkwood Community College student Derek McNerney, 19, said he joined to help Iowans recover from last year’s floods. Digging a trench for another garden bed this week, McNerney said the work has been rewarding.

Neighbors in need can visit the garden and pick cucumbers, zucchini and other ripe produce.

“It’s pretty enjoyable, once you see the look on someone’s face,” McNerney said.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Construction on two Iowa Army National Guard facilities and an undersized Iowa Air National Guard building are expected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved more than $10 million for the three Iowa facilities last week. Confirmation from the full Senate could come by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The construction will include work on a 35-year-old Armed Forces Reserve Center in Davenport, the Security Forces Facility in Des Moines and a building that houses administrative staff for the National Guard in Johnston.

Separately, the Senate committee approved more than $77 million to replace facilities in Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine and move units to other centers.

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CEO Fritz Henderson said the swift trip through Chapter 11 showed that GM can move fast, and added that GM will work hard to repay trust, not to mention the money committed to the struggling company by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

“Today marks a new beginning for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers,” said Henderson.

This comes on the heels of Energy Secretary Chu throwing the Obama Administration support behind efforts to spur E-85 development:

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in Des Moines Monday that all cars built in the United States ought to be able to run on E85, the ethanol-blended fuel.

But Chu said the idea could face resistance from carmakers, despite the federal government’s financial stake in the beleaguered auto industry.

In fact, manufacturers said that they are already promoting ethanol-friendly vehicles and that the government has no place in design decisions.

Chu suggested that it would cost the industry little to enable all new cars to run on E85, the blend of 85 percent of ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
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Iowa is the nation’s leading producer of ethanol. The secretary was in Iowa to award the state a share of its federal stimulus money.

As the auto industry restructures Iowa has much to gain from a vehicle fleet that is fueled by E-85.

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