Iowa City Tackles Climate Change

Part of the skyline of downtown Iowa City. In winter this is part of the “heat island” with temperatures 2-3 °F warmer than the countryside.

Iowa City staff and council have been alert to the City’s carbon emissions for a decade, conducting studies and evolving goals. Their latest goal is to reduce citywide carbon emissions 45% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. A report released last November, titled “Accelerating Iowa City’s Climate Actions,” offered 38 pages of specific methods by which the City can achieve this goal.

These goals are to involve all the citizenry, their homes, offices, and lifestyles, not just City employees and facilities. And the City cannot accomplish much of this via regulation because state law forbids energy regulations stricter than state law requires, which aren’t very rigorous. So the methods shall be mainly cooperation, education, and incentives.

This is not mission impossible, in fact it is already happening. MidAmerican Energy supplies much of the electricity to Iowa City, and has been steadily converting over to wind power; expecting to supply the city with 100% renewables by 2021. Therefore, the City intends to promote and perhaps subsidize electrification, especially replacing natural gas.

By their numbers, the 2030 goal can be met in small increments, reducing carbon emissions by 2 – 2.5% per year. On average, this has already been happening for a decade, mainly driven by MidAmerican’s wind projects.

The Acceleration report devotes a dozen pages to five sectors: Buildings, Transportation, Waste, Adaption, and Sustainable Lifestyles. You really should go online and see where you fit into these goals – whether you live in Iowa City or not.

Planting 10,000 trees around town is included as a minor component, but could be a useful one because trees also provide shade, habitat, and other amenities besides sequestering carbon. I bring this to Bur Oak Land Trust’s attention because I think I know how to efficiently grow a “carbon forest” on larger properties outside of town. I will get back to you soon with a specific proposal for a practice planting.

Other cities, a bit less progressive or less favorably situated, will be watching the experiment unfold. Iowa City already has many of the right ingredients, including a well-educated populace, a power company already deeply into wind energy, considerable wealth, an environmental conscience, good community spirit, etc., which should make it a bit easier to market the lifestyle modifications necessary to reach net zero by 2050.