A new take on energy conservation in the heartland

Most people are familiar with the concept of renewable energy, but Iowa farmer and resource conservationist Andy Johnson wants to renew something else — a policy vehicle that will allow his county and potentially thousands of others to make community driven investments in energy savings and clean energy production. Specifically, Johnson and others are  working to apply the concept of soil and water conservation districts to energy, and they have created the nation’s first “Energy District” in rural Winneshiek County.  Johnson seized upon the idea after moving back to his family dairy and Christmas tree farm outside of Decorah in 2007.  “There were many conversations happening here about how to move the community forward as a whole around sustainable energy, and many entities had been doing important work already” he said. “The model of a replicable, locally led change agent entity, based on the soil and water conservation districts, was my contribution to that discussion.”  The Winneshiek Energy District, a standalone nonprofit organization where Johnson serves as executive director, was created in 2010. The organization concentrated during the early years on developing three key strategies to see if their work could have an impact. One was conducting high-quality comprehensive energy audits and plans for homes, farms and businesses, helping energy users understand the opportunities for energy savings and the steps to take to realize them. Johnson calculates that nearly 90% of businesses in Decorah that participated in energy audits,  followed through with the energy efficiency recommendations. That 90% conversion rate compares to only 10% of conversions from energy audits performed by many utility companies, says Johnson. In many cases, this has also led to an increase in investments in solar arrays by many of those same businesses.  A second strategy was an effort to create an energy marketplace in which multiple actors are in place to make both energy efficiency services and green energy production a profitable economic enterprise.