Ed Sealover from the Rocky Mountain News has the details on a proposed measure that could be on this November’s ballot. Proposed by Rep. Joe Miklosi, the measure would open up $2 billion in bond sales to fund energy-efficiency upgrades and renewable-energy system installation.
Ballot measure: $2B for energy projects
29 01 2009Comments : 1 Comment »
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GEO names Excellence Award winners
29 01 2009Governor Bill Ritter’s Energy Office today announced the winners of its 2nd Annual Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards in a ceremony at the capital. Many congratulations to this year’s winners:
- Individual: Dr. Chuck Kutscher, NREL
- Small Business: Coolerado Corp.
- Large Business: Ascent Solar
- Institution: Red Rocks Community College
- Non-Profit: Western Resource Advocates
More information here.
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Tags: Gov. Ritter Excellence Renewable Energy Awards
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Obama acts. Now WWRD?
27 01 2009(That’s “What Will Ritter Do?)
President Obama moved last week to let individual states set their own tougher auto-emission standards. Fourteen states have requested to do so, but so far Colorado has not joined the group. So WWRD?
The answer: Well, we’re not sure yet. Ritter has proposed a 20 percent cut in state-wide warming emissions by 2020, but no word yet on auto-emission-specific plans.
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Tags: auto emission standards, Bill Ritter
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Venture funding: Best to be green
27 01 2009Everyone knows that funding in the last several months has been hard to get, including from banks, VCs and angel investors. That’s the bad news, according to data on 2008 from the National Venture Capital Association. The good news is that clean-energy technologies have the best chance of getting funded – up 52 percent industry-wide in 2008. More details here.
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Tags: Greentech funding
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Public cooling on global warming?
23 01 2009Andy Revkin of the New York Times delves into a survey suggesting that Americans don’t care as much about doing something about climate change as they did a year ago. Has the economy killed off some of our momentum?
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Xcel selex NextEra
23 01 2009Because you can never have too many e’s and x’s in a partnership, Xcel announced this week it’s joining up with NextEra Energy Resources to develop a $300-million, 152-megawatt wind farm. The project will be located in northeastern Colorado and begin generating power by the end of the year, ultimately serving as many as 38,000 homes as the fifth-largest project in the state.
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Tags: NextEra Energy Resources, Xcel
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CSU is leading the way in clean energy…
23 01 2009…according to CSU. Todd Headley, director of technology transfer for the CSU Research Foundation, provides the details – including Solix Biofuels, AVA Solar and Envirofit (three pretty good case studies to cite).
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Tags: AVA Solar, Colorado State University, Envirofit, Solix Biofuels
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Green energy tax challenges
23 01 2009There are a lot of solar and wind companies in the country – and in Colorado – with a wary eye on the balance sheet during this economy. One of our 2009 renewable energy predictors, Jim Welch of Bella Energy, predicted a solar industry shakeout locally.
One of the ways to help many of these businesses through the downturn is with a smarter tax policy. The New York Times has a clear-headed examination.
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Tags: Bella Energy, green business tax policy, Jim Welch
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$370K in GEO grants awarded
23 01 2009In case you haven’t seen the announcement already, Gov. Ritter’s Energy Office (and office director/2009 predictor Tom Plant) announced $370,000 in grants yesterday, including to Hybrids Plus, a very cool company in Boulder.
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2009 Renewable Energy Predictions
21 01 2009By Gargi Chakrabarty
Energy Reporter, Rocky Mountain News
Solar energy has had a great run in the past couple of years, posting double digit growth figures. The local solar industry slowed down in October, after Xcel slashed a rebate citing higher federal subsidies.
I believe 2009 will be a mixed bag for solar energy: there will be more commercial projects, but residential solar installations might take a back seat in the early months. If the Obama administration gets serious about creating green jobs and offers more incentives, then the sector will rebound by summer.
As for wind energy, 2009 will see utility-scale projects since Xcel is out there seeking a lot of wind power. Retail wind projects have been lackluster for years, the on-again and off-again federal tax credit hasn’t inspired confidence among investors. The tax credit, called a production tax credit, has been extended only through December 2009. Unless there’s more stability to government policies, retail wind likely won’t grow much this year.
Ethanol’s outlook seems grim, especially if oil continues to sell below $50 a barrel. The on-going credit crunch is hurting new projects. I don’t expect any announcement of new ethanol distilleries in Colorado in the coming months, unless the credit markets ease up or oil trades up. Cellulosic ethanol is at a pivotal moment, with companies such as Range Fuel set to take off later this year.
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Tags: 2009 predictions, Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News
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