A congressional request to eliminate funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden is an ill-conceived notion that would decimate the nation’s premiere renewable energy research facility.
It also would punch a hole in Colorado’s still-recovering economy, and save relatively little in the way of federal spending.
This idea, supported by Rep. Doug Lamborn, deserves to die on the vine.
Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, and eight other congressmen signed a letter saying federal programs that fund NREL ought to be cut because they “have failed to live up to their supposed potential.”
That’s not the case where NREL is concerned. The laboratory, which employs 2,300 people and has an annual budget of about $350 million, has made significant contributions to the development of renewable energy technologies.
These advances have helped launch private ventures. For instance, a particularly thin and efficient solar film developed at NREL was spun off into a small Arvada company called PrimeStar Solar.
In April, General Electric announced it would acquire PrimeStar and mass produce its panels at a new manufacturing plant. In a news release, GE said the solar facility will be larger than any U.S. solar panel manufacturing plant currently in operation and will employ 400 people.
That certainly sounds like a success to us. And it’s not the only one.
NREL has developed a high-efficiency windmill blade that has been adopted by the industry. And it has created a highly energy-efficient office building that costs about the same to build as a conventional building. It draws visitors (on a weekly basis) who are contemplating replicating it.
Furthermore, NREL is an economic engine for Colorado. As of August 2010, the federal laboratory had 329 contracts totaling $414 million with Colorado companies, according to a study by the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business.
The laboratory employs 2,300 people directly, and when the ripple through the state’s economy is accounted for, the study estimates NREL’s presence in the state is responsible for 5,500 jobs.
Some of those jobs might even be in Lamborn’s district, which does not include the lab. In total, the lab has an economic impact of $714 million on Colorado’s economy, according to the study.
It’s hard for us to imagine why Lamborn would favor discontinuing federal funding for programs that support NREL since the lab has such a positive impact on the state’s economy and renewable energy development.
Our nation must become less dependent upon fossil fuels, and NREL has proven to be a local economic engine that is successful at devising advances that have spurred that change-over to clean energy technologies.
We would hope Colorado’s lawmakers would support the facility for the state’s economic good and the nation’s energy future.
