Study: Energy Projects Could Bring 9,500 New Jobs To Iowa

A study shows Iowa could create 9,500 new jobs making equipment for sources of alternative energy.

BY PERRY BEEMAN AND DONNELLE ELLER
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS

October 10, 2007

Iowa's ethanol boom has produced fewer jobs than expected but could join with wind farms and other energy projects to create 9,500 jobs if proper incentives are offered, environmental groups reported Tuesday in Des Moines.

Sierra Club and Worldwatch Institute reported in "Destination Iowa" that ethanol created about 35 direct jobs per 50-million-gallons-a-year plant.

Such plants were expected to add as many as 1,000 jobs throughout the communities they were built in, but the report showed that a plant that size creates 133 jobs, including spinoff positions outside the plant.

"While it's clear that Iowa has reaped some economic benefits from corn-based ethanol, the current boom has also put stress on the state's environment and other sectors of the agricultural economy," said Andrew Snow, Sierra Club regional representative in Des Moines. "As the nation's leader in biofuels today, Iowa has a unique opportunity to have a positive impact on the direction that biofuels and the bioeconomy take."

The Sierra Club, along with the United Steelworkers, released a separate study Tuesday, showing that Iowa could create 9,581 jobs from manufacturers of wind turbines, solar panels and other equipment. The report says that Iowa could add as many as 457 companies making wind, solar, geothermal and biomass equipment, if the nation added 18,500 megawatts of renewable energy annually for a decade.

That's the amount of energy needed to "stabilize carbon emissions" in the United States, the groups said. Across the nation, nearly 220,000 jobs could be created with increased use of renewable energy, according to the Sierra Club and Steelworkers report.

"Why order wind turbines from Denmark to put up in Dubuque?" Snow said. "Turbines from Tama and solar panels from Pella make sense for both the environment and Iowa's economy."

The Des Moines Register, Oct. 10, 2007