Iowa City recognized for solar panel initiative - KCRG
Iowa City recognized for solar panel initiative
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa City has been given a Gold Designation for the city’s implementation of solar panels. The grading comes from Solsmart and is the second-highest designation from the group.
SolSmart is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy and grades communities on different criteria for their designations, from bronze to platinum.
Iowa City’s recognition comes thanks to the city’s Climate Action Division, which has been installing Solar Panels for businesses and government buildings over the last three years.
The $100,000 initiative has since expanded to installing solar panels for businesses, nonprofits and housing.
Sarah Gardner with the climate action office says they are particularly proud of the designation because it was a group effort.
“Everybody who works in city hall had some hand in moving it forward,” Sarah Gardner, Climate Action Coordinator for the Climate Action division, said. ”One of the things that makes us so proud of this designation is it’s really the culmination of many years of work across different departments.”
Solsmart graded Iowa City’s solar network on the areas of:
- Planning and zoning
- Permitting and inspection
- Government operations
- Community engagement
- Market development.
“It really looks comprehensively at everything we’ve been doing to advance solar adoption in the city,” Gardner said.
The Iowa City Climate Action Division is planning to have net-zero climate emissions in the city by 2050.
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: solar
Declining costs and government encouragement have resulted in a rapid increase in solar energy production in the United States over the past 10 years, although solar’s share remains small: 1.6 percent of all electricity generation in 2018. That rapid growth is projected to continue.