Alliant Energy International recently entered a partnership for ownership of a 479-megawatt hydro facility in Australia. This unit will provide generation, risk management, and ancillary services as we enter the Australian energy marketplace. Using the earth as a source of energy Alliant Energy has been very active in initiating the installation of geothermal heating and cooling systems. For example, at a major medical center in Iowa, Alliant Energy is creating an alternative heating system using geothermal technology. Our geothermal systems use pumps, which, in the winter, take heat from the ground and transfer it to the air to warm a building and, in the summer, transfer heat back to the ground to cool buildings.
Geothermal energy offers many advantages.
These include being clean, reliable, renewable, environmentally friendly, flexible and cost-effective. Turning waste into power We have also developed new energy sources out of longstanding environmental problems. It is now possible to convert garbage, tree trimmings and industrial waste paper into energy-and we do it. And we are doing research to find even more productive ways to use waste in the future. Alliant Energy was one of the first utilities in the nation to work in concert with the Department of Natural Resources to help solve landfill problems associated with disposing tires.