miscanthus

UI announces it will be coal-free by 2025

UI Power Plant will increase its use of biomass and other renewable energy sources to meet its goal

By: Wendy Moorehead | 2017.02.20 | 08:33 am

The University of Iowa will divest fully from coal as a campus energy source by 2025. UI officials, led by President Harreld, announced the goal, which will come from the university increasing its use of biomass and other renewable energy sources.

a man with a hardhat squats by a mix of coal and straw-like Miscanthus

Seeing benefit of biomass

Farmers, lawmakers tour miscanthus sites, Power Plant to learn about campus energy project

By: Richard Lewis and Clarity Guerra | 2015.08.27 | 08:08 am

The University of Iowa hosted a show-and-tell of sorts Aug. 25, introducing federal and state lawmakers, farmers, and others to a new, locally grown crop the UI plans to use to produce energy on campus.

Glory to the grass

UI wins governor's award for initiative to use grass type as renewable energy source

By: Richard C. Lewis | 2015.07.09 | 03:11 pm

The University of Iowa has been recognized by the Iowa governor’s office for an initiative to use a locally available grass as a renewable energy source. The UI’s use of the grass, called Giant Miscanthus, is part of its goal of achieving 40 percent renewable energy consumption by 2020.

UI to establish dedicated energy crops in eastern Iowa

A big step forward in energy sustainability

By: Wendy Moorehead | 2015.02.11 | 03:26 pm

The University of Iowa will soon be growing its own crop dedicated entirely to creating energy. The plant—a sterile hybrid grass called Miscanthus—will be harvested and used to supply power, steam, and chilled water to the main campus.

A harvester gathers miscanthus from a field

Biomass Magazine Pioneering perennials in Iowa soil

External Media | 2015.02.02 | 10:45 am

University of Iowa biofuels are energizing Iowa’s future.

KGAN UI grows closer to energy goal

External Media | 2014.05.08 | 10:04 am

On Wednesday, the UI Office of Sustainability took one small step closer to its goal of sourcing 40 percent of its energy from renewable sources by planting 15 acres of biomass fuel: a plant called miscanthus.

Iowa Public Radio UI renewable energy efforts extend to miscanthus

External Media | 2014.05.07 | 07:00 am

UI principal engineer Ferman Milster says he expects to see a commodities market develop for biomass, like the miscanthus that the UI is planning to start burning for steam.

The Daily Iowan UI keeps sights on sustainability

External Media | 2014.02.04 | 10:39 am

The University of Iowa is approaching its 2020 sustainability goals, one acre at a time, planting 16 acres of miscanthus, a plant used for fuel, in 2013 with plans to increase to 2,500 acres by 2015.

UI enters era of biomass expansion

Locally sourced wood chips newest addition to UI biomass fuel portfolio

By: Wendy Moorehead | 2013.08.29 | 09:56 am

The University of Iowa will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its award-winning oat hulls project later this fall, and what better way to mark the occasion than to introduce a new source of alternative energy?