CGRER's Bolkcom hits the road for Green Bike Tour in Slovenia

Sun June 06 2010
Posted Jun 7, 2010
7,180

CGRER's Bolkcom hits the road for Green Bike Tour in Slovenia From June 5 to 11, State Senator and CGRER Outreach and Community Education Director Joe Bolkcom will try to conserve his own energy while learning about energy efficiency in Europe, as he bikes with colleagues across Slovenia in this year’s Green Bike Tour. Climate change is real, says Bolkcom, "People everywhere are responding." It's time for Bolkcom to pump up his tires and get back out on the road - this time in beautiful Slovenia. There, he will learn and discuss alternative energy. Bolkcom, a veteran of previous bike events, including a 2002 tour in Northern Europe, joins four Iowans led by David Osterberg, executive director of the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project – in peddling to renewable energy sites and meetings with public officials and scholars in several Slovenian cities. The tour gives participants a chance to learn about world-leading innovation in Slovenia, while spreading the news about Iowa own advances in promoting wind and solar energy. “Iowa should be proud of the progress we have made especially in wind power, but Europe is still a leader and we want to learn about the progress being made in Slovenia, says Bolkcom. Bicyclists on the tour ride with solar panels that power laptops that help send word back to the United States about their tour. They begin at the University of Nova Gorica near the Slovenia western border with Italy, then head east to a solar plant at Ajdovscina. Other tour stops include a solar plant at Ljubljana, a hydro/solar plant at Mavrice and a pumped storage power plant at Avce. Visits also include meetings with the Slovenia Government Office for Climate Change and local government officials. Joining Bolkcom and Osterberg are: John Moreland of Des Moines, staff assistant for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, caseworker on agriculture, rural development and the environment; Edward Woolsey of Prole, Iowa; owner and CEO of a small renewable energy business, Green Prairie Wind Energy LLC; and Professor Mladen Franko of Ljubljana, Slovenia, vice president for education at the University of Nova Gorica (UNG) in Slovenia, and professor in the UNG School of Environmental Sciences. Click here or here for more information about the Green Bike Tour. And follow Bolkcom on his blog. http://www.cgrer.uiowa.edu/

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