Working Toward a Clean Energy Economy

Check out this guest commentary at the Denver Post from an outgoing member of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Although this PUC member is leaving, it's refreshing to see his passion for Colorado's clean energy economy. It's necessary that we start transitioning away as quickly as we can from fossil fuels and move towards clean and renewable sources of energy. The reason? Simply put, burning fossil fuels to provide transportation to move ourselves and our products as well as providing heating and cooling for our homes is unsustainable. With the rate of consumption and the amount of those consuming (6.9 billion so far) increasing exponentially, we will not have enough fossil fuels for future generations to use for their energy needs. But lack of sustainability is only half the problem. Don't forget about the pollutants that occur to our air, water, and land from the use of fossil fuels. Anybody remember watching the footage of the Olympics in Beijing? The haze that was clearly visible (and clearly felt in the lungs by the visiting athletes) was from coal-burning power plants and manufacturing plants. Of course, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has thankfully prevented us from becoming a Beijing (although before the EPA's creation we were certainly headed there). I could go on, but I think you get the picture - the use of fossil fuels are unsustainable.

I look forward to the cooperation that will occur between the utilities, the PUC, and the consumers in order to help the state of Colorado create a sustainable, clean energy economy, if not for ourselves, then for future generations.

NREL Software Visualizes Energy Use in Buildings

I truly love this stuff! A software development team at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) have created a free program called OpenStudio that allows you to explore the energy use in any building. The software program was developed for Windows, OSX, and Linux and enables you to add various "loads" such as lighting, HVAC systems, and other equipment that use energy throughout a building. The program integrates well with a few Google applications like SketchUp and there are various plug-ins that can do cool things like convert a photograph of a building into a 3D model. According to the developers there is great potential here to integrate with other Google apps. My only critique is that there isn't a robust GUI to make it user-friendly for the nontechnical, but I imagine that this will come in time. This is a gigantic first step in bringing energy modeling to the masses and helping to further educate each of us on how a building consumes energy.

Why Does Energy Efficiency’s Promise Remain Unfulfilled?

Recently, I have felt that energy efficiency techniques haven't been adopted by commercial and residential buildings as quickly as they should. I'm really a bit shocked when individuals and businesses don't want to save cold hard cash by reducing how much energy is consumed by their home or office. We all should know that of all the "clean" methods that provide the quickest return on investment (ROI), making a home or business use energy wisely is it. And while we wait for the cost of solar photovoltaic modules to come down in price, we should prepare our building by getting a professional energy audit and then incorporating energy efficiency measures. This process of changing light bulbs or adding insulation or caulking the holes isn't difficult and I wonder why more folks aren't thinking about doing it and really aren't interested in saving a buck.

So when I saw this article, "Why Does Energy Efficiency's Promise Remain Unfulfilled," I just had to read it. You should too, because it addresses the reasons why consumers aren't always motivated by what makes economic sense. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!

Bill Ritter: Natural Gas and America's Clean Energy Future

I was fairly disappointed when former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter opted out of running for a second term. He had done so much to further clean energy in the state of Colorado and I was worried that clean energy would begin to take a back seat with a new administration. Surely, in my mind, there was no other Colorado politician that could live up to the former governor's passion for clean energy. But after reading this article by Bill Ritter, I am beginning to think that being governor was just a stepping stone towards a bigger and more aggressive goal of establishing clean energy, not only in the state of Colorado but in all 50 states. After having negotiated with the left and the right, small business and big business, and environmentalists and pure capitalists, the former governor now has the skills to help the entire country implement smart and sensible clean energy policies. Plus, he can do this unencumbered by the politician's shackles. I'm happy for Bill Ritter and his new gig up at Colorado State University and I look forward to seeing some healthy changes to our national energy policy in the new future.

MIT Study: Companies Up Commitment to Sustainability

The MIT Sloan Management Review recently completed a study that determined more and more corporate leaders are committing to sustainability practices. I would imagine that any intelligent business leader is going to implement triple-bottom line practices throughout their enterprise. Putting policies in place that tend to the social, environmental, and economic stakeholders of your company will do several things for your company. For one, business sustainability practices will save you money. Two, these practices will lessen your company's impact on the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. And three, your reputation amongst your employees and the community will be enhanced. The end result? Your employees are happy and they produce more, you help save the planet and conserve resources, and you make lots of money. What's not to like about business sustainability? Oh and if you stay true to these sustainability principles your company will last for a long, long time.

Colorado Renewable Energy Rules Survive GOP Offensive

Kudos to Dems in the Colorado State Legislature for putting the kibosh on an attempt to roll back Colorado's clean energy mandates outlined in the Clean-Air Clean Jobs law. I understand the sensitivity towards the cost to the consumer, but rolling back good policy that will help Colorado clean the air and create jobs is a little short-sited. We all are going to have to take on additional cost if we want to help build a better and cleaner future for our children. Plus there are things that we can do today to help reduce our energy bills, namely weatherizing our home to make it more energy efficient.

Study: By 2030 World Can Run On Renewables

Headlines like this excite me to no end. Here are some scientists from Stanford and University of California who say that they have a detailed plan to power the planet with clean, renewable energy in just 20 years. Some of the highlights include implementing hydrogen fuels cells to generate electricity, using offshore and onshore wind turbines, implementing a smarter grid, accessing geothermal, and making sure we aren't wasting any energy in our buildings or transporting materials. This study (Part 1 and Part 2) published in  Energy Policy journal is comprehensive and stunning. Everything from the financial cost of implementing renewables globally by 2020 to the amount of mined rare earth materials is included. Converting from fossil fuels to renewable energy is completely doable, as long as we start thinking about building the future and not building a bridge to the past. I'm ready, are you?

Colorado State Republican Wants Renewable Energy Mandates Scaled Back

A couple of members of the Colorado State legislature want to scale back some of the Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act signed into law in 2010. I wrote a piece on the signing here. This law was developed and supported by a broad coalition including Xcel Energy, Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and environmental groups. This type of robust coalition is rare these days in this political climate. One of the state legislator's main reasons for wanting to scale back this law is "cost". The cost is of course an economic one. Changing over to renewable energies or to lower-emitting fossil fuels like natural gas is going to cost us all more money than if we were to just stay with coal. However, there will be other costs (that will eventually cost more money) to our health, to our environment, and to our society if we stay the course with coal-burning power plants. We must continue to move forward with our energy policies and any attempt to pull us back is short-sighted thinking.

Degrees in Sustainability: Risky or Worth It?

Even before reading this great article I'd have to say that a sustainability degree is about as noble as a science, engineering, or liberal arts degree (ahem, a shout out to all my English lit. sisters and brothers). As well, I think that type of degree is full of fiscal and common sense. I would hire a person in a second who has spent numerous semesters analyzing the economic, social, and environmental impacts of our daily actions. It doesn't matter what kind of business or organization you own or work for, there are sound methods for making that entity more sustainable and in turn more profitable. Sustainability makes sense in the short term and in the long run, and our society would be better off if there were more generations that were being educated in this manner. So, if you're reading this then I give two thumbs way up to a sustainability degree. Totally worth it!

MIT Charged Up about Its Energy Efficiency

The folks at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are showing the world how smart they really are by taking advantage of one of the simplest ways to reduce your carbon footprint and save money - energy efficiency. As we've revealed before here on Denver Sun Sponge, the quickest ROI isn't gained by installing solar panels, or adding solar thermal or a wind turbine, but is gained by implementing energy efficiency upgrades to a residential or commercial building. From this article in the Boston Herald, MIT hopes to reduce it's electricity use by 15% in three years, which, according to their projections, would help them save a cool $50 million in energy costs. Wow, $50 million sure could by a lot of physics textbooks.