Muscatine County Energy District reports several successful community engagement projects in winter/spring 2025.

Local Leader Lunch
Muscatine County Energy District held a Local Leader Lunch at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security on February 5, 2025, drawing 30 people from Muscatine and West Liberty. Elected officials and staff from cities, county, local utility, Community College, and community foundation attended. Bill Bedenbender, of Ed Morse Ford, showed off a bright blue Ford EV truck.
MCED Connects to the Community with Hybrid Water Heaters
The Muscatine County Energy District is offering $3,000 to residents to offset the up-front costs of hybrid water heaters. The District is collaborating with the City’s Community Development office, which will identify homeowners in targeted neighborhoods. The District hopes to provide new hybrid water heaters at no cost to three homeowners using rebates, donations, and community development funds. They also hope to motivate other residents to try heat pump water heaters.
Supporting STEM and Schools
The Muscatine County Energy District supported the local STEM team as they traveled to Ames, Iowa, where high school students competed for scholarships and recognition by presenting their original research projects in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The event is hosted by the University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

Congratulations to Muscatine junior Mohit Wani for his participation in the Iowa Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS). Mohit showcased that the random forest model effectively predicts short-term water quality changes, particularly for one-day forecasts, and demonstrates the potential of machine learning in environmental monitoring. Although accuracy diminishes over longer prediction periods, the findings suggest that with further refinement — such as incorporating additional variables or extended training data — the model could serve as a valuable tool for proactive water management and ecological preservation. Outstanding work, Mohit!!
Posted: May 7, 2025

