Energy sources from the atom to industrial hemp were promoted in Nebraska City Friday at a Nebraska Energy Office hearing.

Neil Moseman, who Gov. Dave Heineman appointed in May to head the energy office, said the hearing was the last of eight held across the state in advance of revisions to the state’s 1992 policy.

Moseman said wind power is part of the impetus behind creating a new energy plan. The state is currently listed as the sixth best in the nation for wind potential, but it ranked around 23 in actual production.

In an effort to promote wind energy, he said, the state Legislature made Nebraskans eligible for federal wind tax credits in 2007. The tax credits are not available for public utilities, so the Legislature gave private companies authority to build wind turbines and sell the electricity to public power districts.

Moseman said he expects to announce today at the Nebraska Wind Energy Conference in Kearney that the state will include wind turbines on its energy assistance loan program.

Gary Thompson of Beatrice, a member of the Nebraska Public Power District Board, said the distance between the state’s best wind resources and electric transmission lines has also slowed development of wind farms.

Midwest Wind Energy is among companies to answer Omaha Public Power District’s requests for proposals to build wind generators for up to 80 megawatts of electricity. Company representatives said earlier they selected southwestern Otoe County for the proposed wind farm because of its proximity to the OPPD electric transmission line.

Tom Richards, the government affairs director for OPPD, said Friday that OPPD is interested in renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.

Geothermal

Bill Moore, who uses geothermal energy at his Nebraska City home, asked the state to include geothermal in its energy plan. “Nebraska is lagging way behind on offering anything for geothermal,” he said.

Joe Francis of the state Department of Environmental Quality said geothermal is not mentioned in the 1992 energy policy, but holds tremendous potential.

Home efficiency

Dale Haverty, Otoe County commissioner, said a home’s energy index should be disclosed when it’s sold and there should be local zoning ordinances to place minimums on energy efficiency for new homes.

Ethanol

Al Gunther, a retired economics professor from Dunbar, advised the state to “move rapidly away from production of corn ethanol.” He suggested production of biofuels from switchgrass, sweet potatoes or wheat stubble.

He said switchgrass would provide the environment with relief from the high inputs of water and nitrogen used to grow corn.

Milford Hanna, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln industrial agriculture researcher, said switchgrass also needs high inputs to work as a fuel source.

“You have to have high density and high yields to make it work and to get that you need high nitrogen and high water inputs,” he said.

Hanna said he prefers gasification of plant products as a fuel source over biodiesel.

Bryan Mellage of Auburn said moving plant products from the field to the production facility is key in net energy formulas.

Nuclear

Cooper Nuclear Station at Brownville was mentioned as an excellent employer for rural Nebraska and a long-term solution to the state’s energy needs.

State policymakers were urged to replace the phrase of renewable energy with “emission free energy” when they set energy goals.

Hemp

Marvin Havlat of Seward County offered a plea in support of industrial hemp.

He said it has been an agricultural crop for 10,000 years and is well-suited to the soils, moisture and climate of Nebraska.

He said the hemp, like corn, is a source for biofuels, but it requires less fertilizer and water. He said corn production on the state’s marginal lands is environmentally disastrous.

“We will be known as the generation that poisoned the Ogallala Aquifer,” he said.

Hemp is used to produce butanol, a fuel that can be burned in car engines and can be shipped by pipeline.

Havlat said its byproducts can be used to make products ranging from plastics to plywood. He said its superior quality fiber makes it a better source for paper manufacturing than wood.

Havlat said he believes hemp’s ease of growth and its constructive materials could energize the Nebraska economy, but he said the crop faces stiff political obstacles because of its association with illegal drugs.

Havlat said, however, that the hemp grown in Nebraska will never be sought-after as a drug.

He said preventing its cultivation to this point has not stopped the drug trade over the border with Mexico, but has deprived Nebraska a solution to its energy needs.