The upcoming sessions of the 2007 Colorado General Assembly and the 110th Congress both need to give strong boosts to alternative and renewable energy sources.
The looming threat of global climate change is the main reason action is imperative. But Colorado also stands to gain economically from a new focus on environmentally friendly energy sources.
Happily, many of the new jobs that renewable energy can generate in Colorado would go to our economically depressed eastern counties. The wind-swept plains are already benefiting from a 2004 law approved by Colorado voters that requires the state’s largest utilities to generate 10 percent of electrical power from renewable sources by 2015. Xcel Energy expects to reach that level as early as 2007, and wind may produce 20 percent of Xcel’s total electrical output by 2025 or sooner.
Already 10 windpower sites with a total capacity of 1,066 megawatts are operating, being built or are planned in five eastern counties: Logan, Weld, Prowers, Bent and Baca. Next year, Xcel plans to open a $60 million solar photovoltaic plant – the nation’s largest – in the San Luis Valley.
But while producing electricity from wind or the sun is getting easier, building transmission lines to bring renewable energy to urban markets is another matter. Getting approval for siting and building new transmission lines means working with multiple local jurisdictions, landowners and other governmental agencies, and can take as long as five years before the first lines are strung.
Bill Ritter made renewable energy one of the cornerstones of his gubernatorial campaign, and when he takes office in January he should slash the red tape that now delays new transmission lines.
Biofuel production also deserves strong support at the state and federal levels. Colorado has several ethanol and biodiesel plants with more on the way. Besides offering environmentally friendly fuels, such plants create new jobs in rural areas.
The U.S. Department of Energy operates the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden – an awesome intellectual resource that has been neglected by a Bush administration that has catered to the oil and gas industries. The new Congress should sharply increase NREL funding to advance its research efforts in such areas as wind, solar and bio-energy.
Congress and the state legislature should also encourage advanced “clean coal” operations such as Xcel’s proposed 300- to 350-megawatt plant near Brush. These new units operate without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Finally, lawmakers should boost incentives for energy conservation. The energy we save by more efficient cars, homes and appliances is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly of all.
