Imagine not wondering what the price of gasoline may be from one week to the next – with Gov. Chet Culver’s new goal for Iowa, this may become a possibility. Culver recently made the goal of Iowa energy independence by 2025.

Many have praised his ambitious efforts, while others remain skeptical of whether the goal can be achieved at all.

“It’s probably technically feasible, but there are a lot of questions of whether it is economically feasible,” said Floyd Barwig, director of the Iowa Energy Center, 2521 Elwood Drive #124. “It can be done, but at a price.”

Currently, Culver is asking the Iowa Legislature for $100 million to spend over the next three years to promote alternative energy research in Iowa. This research would help create jobs and eventually lead to technology to lessen dependence on energy sources outside of Iowa.

However, complete energy independence is questionable.

“The issue is that you’re talking about replacing the entire energy infrastructure of the state,” Barwig said. “In 18 years, you would have to switch out the entire electricity system.”

Another issue of Iowa becoming an energy-independent state is that Iowa is too small, said Robert Anex, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and associate director of the office of biorenewables program.

“We wouldn’t want to be independent for a small state,” Anex said.

“We will always use coal, petroleum and crude oil.”

According to the Energy Information Administration’s Web site, www.eia.doe.gov, Iowa has no crude oil, natural gas reserves or coal mines. Iowa, therefore, must import all three energy resources. In 2004, Iowa used 86.5 million barrels of petroleum, 226.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and in 2005 used 24.2 million short tons of coal.

To achieve energy independence, all of this would have to be replaced by some other form of energy over the next 18 years.

Shannon Textor, director of market development at the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and Iowa Corn Growers Association, said this could be possible through ethanol.

“It will be crucial for Iowans to fill up with E85 for us to reach energy independence,” she said. “We’ve already seen a commitment to buying flexible fuel vehicles that can burn E85. With one out of every 10 Iowans buying an flexible fuel vehicle in the past year, E85 sales have grown over 295 percent since 2005, with over 1 million gallons of E85 sold in 2006.”

Relying on new renewable energy could be problematic however, because many of the issues surrounding biorenewables have not been solved yet, Barwig said.

“With wind energy, the issue is seasonal,” he said. “The wind in Iowa basically follows the school year, and during the summer it isn’t a very reliable source. Unfortunately, the summer is when we use the most electricity and storing very, very large amounts of energy is very difficult.”

Another obstacle of complete energy independence is that some of the technology needed is not produced in Iowa and does not respond to Iowa’s goals.

“How would you get everyone in Iowa to buy a Toyota Prius, and what about the people who want something else?” Anex said. “The national rate of vehicle efficiency is not something that responds to just Iowa.”

Anex said car makers are looking at the whole country and beyond when they are designing their vehicles, not just at Iowa.

“The goal should be energy security, which is easier to achieve than independence,” said Robert Brown, director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technology.

Energy security would include independence from unstable foreign sources, developing new technologies, improving current technologies such as wind power, and building partnerships with other states, Anex said.

“The United States as a whole could maybe become energy independent, but Iowa alone shouldn’t,” he said. “We don’t want to do it alone, we want to build partnerships with other states and universities.”

Pursuing research about renewable energy and efficiency at the same time is important, Barwig said.

“I think it’s promising that it is all going on at once,” he said. “Looking at a lot of things at once will help us find the right answer to help the state.”

Energy security could help the state by creating new jobs for people.

“Self-sufficiency can result in more jobs and more money flowing through the state,” Anex said. “We would be able to save more than that monetary term; we can save some of the small communities in Iowa, we can save rural Iowa, and if we get to the right place, we can save the environment. That’s what makes energy sufficiency so appealing.”