U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told an audience at the State Historical Building this morning that the fight for energy independence is far from over, and Iowa’s work on biofuels is part of the solution.

Moniz said oil and gas production is up in this country, and energy efficiency programs continue to grow. “People may say, ‘Maybe this isn’t a big issue anymore.’ ” he said. “We disagree with that. It is a collective security. The insecurity in Europe directly affects what we can do. We are still a major oil importer. We remain very focused on reducing our energy dependence.”

Much of that work will mean advances in three areas, said Moniz, who presided over a federal meeting intended to gather comments from the public on energy issues as part of long-term planning at the energy department. Those three areas are:

• Improving vehicles’ fuel efficiency.
• Developing better electric vehicles.
• Developing alternative liquid fuels, like various kinds of ethanol, a major product in Iowa.

Among the other panelists were Gov. Terry Branstad and Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie.

Branstad noted that the state’s relatively cheap power has helped Iowa land developments by Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

Cownie noted that 17 percent of the millennials living downtown say they don’t own a car. For its part, the city government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent before 2020, 50 percent by 2030 and to have net carbon emissions of zero by 2050. “It is only going to happen if we are going to have energy efficiency and renewables on the grid across the country,” Cownie said.