Garland Land has been appointed to the Public Utilities Advisory Board for a term through July 1, 2018.

Land replaces Robert Joe Miller, who had been chair of the volunteer board. He has significant experience in public and community health including serving as executive director of the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems.

Two Missouri communities - Butler and Columbia - are among 52 communities that are quarterfinalists in Georgetown University Energy Prize and have a chance to win the $5 million prize.

The prize challenges small- to mid-size towns, cities and counties to rethink their energy use and implement creative strategies to increase efficiency.

Several groups are organizing a community meeting to discuss high levels of sulfur dioxide in the Kansas City area.

The Aug. 13th meeting will be held at 7 pm at The Don Bosco Community Center, 580 Campbell St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106.

The Independence City Council  2014-15 city budget which includes the Independence Power & Light operations and other municipal-owned utilities.

The May 27 study session presentation by IPL director Leon Daggett highlighted several key developments: plans to switch Missouri City and Blue Valley from coal, plans for more renewable energy and plans to create a "green" administrative office space on the campus of the Medical Center of Independence.

Some industrial electrical users in Independence  may get a significant rate reductions.

The Independence City Council is approved a rate reduction - the first in several years - to help retain and attract large industrial users.

Indy Energy member Roger Hershey provided an extensive memo sharing thoughts on the operations and responsibilities of the Independence Power & Light and the Public Utilities Advisory Board.

The city of Independence has completed swapping out 11,400 old mercury vapor and sodium vapor streetlights for LEDs which use one-third of the energy and last roughly 20 years.

Jason White, one of the organizers of Indy Energy, asks why Independence Power & Light rates are higher that other area utilities in a column in The Examiner.

White writes:

"IPL, our city-owned-and-operated power company, is well managed and well served by a good workforce. But our residential electric rate is now the highest in the region based on the city's own comparisons with KCP&L and BPU while our commercial electric rates have been higher than KCP&L for several years."

The city of Columbia, Mo. - a municipal-owned utility - has issued its annual renewable energy report.

The report, required by city ordinances, provides a detailed look at how the public utility is diversifying its energy supply.

Wind energy and transmission lines are the subject of a lengthy Sunday Kansas City Star article.

The story looks at plans to build a $2 billion high-voltage transmission lines to carry Kansas wind-generated electricity to Eastern states which requires approval of the Missouri Public Service Commission.

The city of Kansas City, Mo. is joining a 10-city effort to significantly boost energy efficiency in city buildings, a move that could over time lower the energy bills of Kansas City businesses by as much as $55 million annually and cut the equivalent amount of energy generated by 29,000 homes annually.

Kansas City will be participating in the new City Energy Project, an initiative from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market Transformation that is designed to create healthier, more prosperous American cities by targeting their largest source of energy use and climate pollution: buildings. The following cities will be joining Kansas City as the project's first participants: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is highly critical of proposed rules involving coal-fired power plants, based on published reports.

IBEW believes the rules will hamper job growth and U.S. energy independence and raise electricity prices.