Ag and Environment

Otter Tail AG Enterprises will put its 55-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant in Fergus Falls, Minn., up for auction on Feb. 16, Bloomberg reported. At auction, the $62.54 million opening bid will come from Omaha-based Green Plains …

President Barack Obama will back new tax incentives and government financing to make buildings more energy efficient as a way to cut energy costs and encourage job growth, Bloomberg reported.  

Obama wants Congress to …

The Center on Sustainable Communities (COSC) and Greater Des Moines Partnership’s sustainability lunch and learn, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed to Monday, Feb. 28. 

The topic will be an introduction to LEED certification. Registration …

The Greater Des Moines Partnership, Center on Sustainable Communities and Metro Waste Authority are looking for applications to honor local organizations and leaders for sustainability efforts for the Environmental Impact Awards.

Applications will be accepted …

Metro Waste Authority (MWA) operating revenues totaled $22.5 million for the year ended June 30, a less than 1 percent increase from 2009. Expenses for the fiscal year totaled $16.9 million, a half-percent decrease from …

QA Graphics’ Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard (EEED) was named a top green building product earlier this week for Environmental Design + Construction and Sustainability Facility magazines’ 2010 Readers Choice Awards.

The EEED is an educational …

Food Policy, Social Justice, Hunger and Sustainability will be the focus of the fifth annual Innovation and Leadership Conference at Drake University on Friday. The conference, which is open to the public, will feature a …

Iowans are seeing increases in precipitation and temperature along with a longer and warmer growing season and better survival and spread of agricultural pests, according to a report authored by 11 researchers at Iowa’s three …

Des Moines joins eight other cities as beta communities for the STAR Community Index sustainability-rating system.

The communities will collaborate with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability to try to design performance management software that …