Editor Outpost
Colorado is NOT Arizona
His critics will never acknowledge it, but executive leadership like the kind provided by Colorado’s governor can make a critical difference in a state’s economic well-being, even in the depths of a severe recession. Think we’re overstating the case? Take a look at what recently took place in Arizona, a state never known for consistent legislative policy-making.
4Mar2010 | admin | 2 comments | Continued
Clean Energy Battered, Not Broken
A cascade of events have discouraged such folks – to the degree that many are taking a silver-lining perspective on the clouds gathering around attempts to transform the energy industry in Colorado and beyond.
2Feb2010 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
Balance Needed
These articles on oil shale project an image of an underdeveloped, overhyped industry inherently damaging to the environment– with no mitigation likely. They imply that those who object to the policies of the Obama administration are just trying to continue sweetheart deals worked out during the Bush era.
15Jan2010 | admin | 5 comments | Continued
COP-15: The Mice in Council
According to Aesop, long ago a group of mice held a supreme council to consider how to deal with the threat posed by the local Cat. After hours of debate they finally agreed that the best solution was to tie a bell around the Cat’s neck so they would have advance warning of its approach. Convinced that they had solved the problem, they began to return to their homes, when a wise old mouse said, “I have just one question — who’s going to tie the bell on the Cat?”
30Dec2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
First You Laugh, Then You Cry
Unlike America, China understands the direct connection between energy, manufacturing, and economic development. So, while they know they need to clean up, they are investing in clean energy that works. They know they need the large-scale power that comes from coal and nuclear and their new power plants are multiplying like rabbits.
9Dec2009 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
Smart Grid Funding: A Step, Not a Solution
Like early-childhood education, smart grids are a cause that nobody doesn’t like. But there are many related and necessary developments that must happen before the technology can fulfill its promise to reduce energy demand and lower consumers’ power bills. For one thing, displaying a home’s energy usage doesn’t mean much unless the residents are willing to act on that information.
9Nov2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
Salazar’s Juggling Act on Oil Shale
The Interior Secretary executed a nice pirouette last week, ordering an investigation of last-minute oil shale leases granted by the exiting Bush Administration earlier this year while, at the same time, instituting a second round of those leases in the Green River basin of Colorado and Utah.
28Oct2009 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
Natural Gas Production Sparks New Outcry
The natural gas industry in the West would seem to have enough problems already, with gas prices at record lows and a more restrictive set of regulations promulgated by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission having taken effect this year. But now, this supposedly green source of electricity is coming in for renewed, intense scrutiny for its environmental impacts.
19Oct2009 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
Struggling Solar Sector Seeks Sunshine
Despite the precipitous decline in the price of solar panels, the industry has not seen solar installations pick up in 2009, Jim Welch, CEO of Bella Energy and president of the Colorado Solar Industries Association, told The Denver Post. Welch expects 2010 to be better – but companies like Ascent are finding the road to profitability longer than expected.
12Oct2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
Carbon Capture Quest Continues
While there remains much debate about the wisdom of pouring funds into removing CO2 from existing and future coal plants, rather than devoting funds to renewable, inherently clean sources of energy like wind and solar, any realistic assessment of the electricity needs of the next half-century concludes that coal will continue to be a major source of power.
5Oct2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
Groundswell Demands Change on Energy Policy
These stories might be seen as the wacky protests of a fringe of enviro-hippies, except that major corporations including Nike, Levi Strauss & Co., Starbucks Corp. and utilities like PG&E Corp. are getting in on the act. PG&E last week became the second utility to recently leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the body’s policy of denying climate change caused by man-made sources of carbon.
28Sep2009 | admin | 0 comments | Continued
Weighing Uranium’s Benefits, Hazards
in Colorado
Like a wealthy yet unloved relation, the rich deposits of uranium that underlie the deserts of the Southwest continue to bring mixed blessings, and controversy, to the region. Weighing the issue once again, the Montrose County commission last week put off a vote that could help fuel a new uranium boom in southwestern Colorado.
14Sep2009 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
Gas Glut Threatens Clean Electricity Future
So what’s not to like about cheap energy? Plenty, if you’re a producer trying to make money off it. At $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet — the lowest price level since March 2002 — gas is simply uneconomical to produce and market. That’s not a good thing for an energy source on which some are counting to replace coal in the next 10 years as the No. 1 fossil fuel for generating electricity in this country.
9Sep2009 | admin | 1 comment | Continued
Coal ‘Elephant’ Stalks Policy Debate
What they didn’t talk about at the Fort Collins forum, at least according to news accounts, was eliminating carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. That’s a big omission: no amount of renewable-energy subsidies, replacement of gas-guzzlers with hybrid vehicles, or R&D on solar power technology is going to mitigate global climate change unless we do something about coal plants, existing and future.
31Aug2009 | admin | 2 comments | Continued-
Colorado is NOT Arizona
His critics will never acknowledge it, but executive leadership like the kind provided by Colorado’s governor can make a critical difference in a state’s economic well-being, even in the depths of a severe recession. Think we’re overstating the case? Take a look at what recently took place in Arizona, a state never known for consistent legislative policy-making.
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Thank you Govenor Ritter for helping place Colorado among the Nations leaders in Renewable energy! 
Thank you for the leadership. I was thrilled when we approved a 10% renewable energy standard, ecstatic when Xcel ...
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This doesn't take ...
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Projections of reserves and years of consumption are historically wrong. Reserve estimations are more important in pumping up stock ...