Iowa City Green Drinks

06/05/2026

June meet-up at Trumpet Blossom!

05/31/2026

Register today!

05/26/2026

From Idea to Impact: RMI’s E-Bike Calculator
In 2022, as gas prices surged and cities like Denver began rolling out e-bike rebate programs, RMI’s Bryn Grunwald noticed something missing. Policymakers were eager to expand access to e-bikes, but they lacked clear, credible data on what those programs could deliver — for both household savings and emissions reductions.

Without that data, it was difficult to design effective programs or make the case for investment. So, she started building.

RMI program staff spend most of their time on established projects supported by designated funding. But early-stage ideas like this require flexible support. With that backing, Bryn began developing the model in spare moments at work. Driven by her own excitement, she continued building it on her own time at home.

Her early analysis examined everyday travel — quick errands, school drop-offs, short commutes — and explored how e-bikes could realistically replace them.

RMI’s e-bike calculator quantifies the environmental and economic benefits of replacing short-distance vehicle trips with e-bike trips.

05/20/2026

Group-buy solar is back!
5/26: In-Person Solar Power Hour: Tuesday, 5:30pm at Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City. Co-hosted by the City of Iowa City
or
6/10: Virtual Solar Power Hour: Wednesday, 2:00pm, online via Zoom.
Sign up for an informational session to learn more at: https://www.growsolar.org/eci/

05/07/2026

Our May meet-up will be at Island Vybz! Portion sizes are large so consider bringing your own take-home container to cut down on single-use plastic. See you there!

04/25/2026

Pizza boxes can be composted

Did you know that pizza boxes and shredded paper can be composted via your yellow-top composting cart at the curb? Paper towels, paper clamshell containers, and coffee filters are also accepted via this program. More info: www.icgov.org/curbside

04/15/2026

France will double state support to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) a year through to 2030 to help its switch to electricity from oil and gas and their derivative ​fuels.

Measures including boosting the use of ​electric vehicles and modernising home heating are meant to help wean France ⁠off imported energy to avoid disruptions like those caused by the Iran war, which has ​stopped oil and gas cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz and destroyed Gulf energy infrastructure.

"Today 60% ​of our energy consumption comes from these imported fossil fuels, though our domestically produced power is three times cheaper," Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a televised address.

"As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to ​pay the price of other people's wars, which unfortunately will continue and will impoverish us," ​he added.

France aims to replace 85 Terawatt-hours worth of gas, or 20% of its annual import bill, with domestic power by 2030.

To achieve this, it will install an extra million heat pumps a year to ​2030, and block new ​gas boilers for heating ⁠in newly constructed buildings from next year.

By 2050, 2 million units of social housing will be off gas heating, Lecornu said.

The goal was also ​for two out of three new vehicles to be electric by ​2030 in ⁠France, with the rollout of a social leasing programme on 100,000 EVs for low-income drivers and those who drive long distances on a daily basis for work.

Up to 100,000 euros per vehicle will ⁠also be ​available for electric utility vehicles and trucks, said Lecornu, ​who rejected the idea of lowering fuel taxes, which he said were costly to state coffers and only benefited oil-exporting ​countries.

France will double state support to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) a year through to 2030 to help its switch to electricity from oil and gas and their derivative ​fuels, its Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.

04/02/2026

Join us for our April meet-up! We'll start at Pat and Fran's Irish pub in Coralville at 5:30pm and then make our way to the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts at 7pm for the event "Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter with Chris Helzer", hosted by the Bur Oak Land Trust.

Free tickets to the event are available here: https://buroaklandtrust-bloom.kindful.com/e/hidden-prairie

03/05/2026

Our March meet-up will be a special event featuring a screening of The Extraordinary Caterpillar, an amazing and hopeful documentary about nature's tiniest superheroes.

We will be meeting at RSFIC (Resilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City) at 5:30pm with the screening to begin at 6pm. There will be small bites from Oasis. If you want to pitch in funds for additional Oasis items, send me a note and your order, or feel free to bring your own food!

Overflow parking across the street at Crowded Closet.

02/22/2026

April 9

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18EH7gmwGG/?mibextid=wwXIfr