Mission

ELPC's Clean Energy Program seeks to improve environmental quality and public health by reducing both the pollution from coal plants and the environmental, public health and safety risks from nuclear plants. Achieving that goal requires increasing the use of less-polluting energy efficiency and renewable resources to meet energy needs in the electricity services marketplace of the Midwest/Great Lakes states. Learn how you can make a difference.

 

Polar Bear Now Protected Species

May 14, 2008 - The polar bear has been declared a threatened species by the Interior Department due to the dramatic loss of Artic ice over the last 30 years. Interior Secretary Kempthorne said that projected losses in sea ice meant that the polar bear was expected to be endangered in coming years. Curiously, Kempthorne then warned that the announcement should not be used to address global warming. Visit globalwarmingsolutions.org to find what you can do to help solve global warming.

 

Iowa Governor Signs Energy Efficiency Bill

May 7, 2008 - Governor Chet Culver signed a bill designed to boost the state's energy efficiency in a number of ways. Highlights of the bill include a new energy efficiency commission that will develop stricter standards for building construction, and a requirement that the state's electric utilities develop efficiency goals and formally report on progress toward achieving them. ELPC and our partners are leading the Iowa Global Warming Solutions Campaign, which will be working to implement renewable energy, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution reduction policies in Iowa.

 

Electric utility restructuring and competitive economic pressures provide a new opportunity for public interest advocates to influence the industry that has the most substantial environmental impacts in the Midwest. In many cases, in addition to stressing their environmental superiority, we also focus on the economic and reliability benefits to be gained by the increased use of energy efficiency and renewable resources.

ELPC’s overall goal is to accomplish a transition from the region’s current resource portfolio, currently comprised almost exclusively of nuclear and older coal-burning plants, towards a more diverse, more sustainable and less polluting portfolio including wind energy, biomass and energy efficiency.