New Energy Future In the News

Colorado's Climate Action Plan calls for cutting global warming pollution by 20 percent by 2020. According to a report by the Colorado Energy Forum, the state will need 4,900 megawatts of new generation by 2025. While renewable energy in Colorado is playing a growing role, conventional coal still supplies almost 80 percent of the state's electricity, the source of almost half the state's global warming pollution.

Connecting Colorado's Renewable Resources to the Markets (a recent report by the governor's Energy Office) makes the answer as clear as Colorado's skies: We need to harvest the abundance of our 300 days of sunny skies. By using a very small percentage of our best solar resources, not only will we meet Colorado's demand, we will become a net exporter of clean, homegrown, renewable energy.

Colorado ranks fourth in the nation in solar resources. Several bills in this legislative session will put an "Open for Business" sign on these resources.

House Bill 1164 helps level the field for developers of central-station solar plants. At the same time, several new bills are needed to support homegrown energy that produces electricity and hot water from wind and sun at our homes, farms and ranches so that ordinary Coloradans can contribute to and benefit from the new energy economy.

With the ability to store power for six hours or more, concentrating solar plants - a type of central-station facility - can generate electricity at night and displace coal or natural gas during peak evening hours. We could produce half Colorado's current peak demand by using only 2 percent of the best solar resources in just the San Luis Valley.

With the right policies, by 2020 Colorado could generate enough electricity from central solar to meet our demand, and still sell power to Southwestern markets. These plants will bring an economic boost to rural Southern Colorado. Analysis for an Arizona-based concentrating solar plant the size of a medium coal plant estimated the project would bring in between $2 billion and $4 billion in private investment and create more than 250 permanent, high-paying jobs. Colorado could expect similar results.

As Colorado builds our new energy economy, we should not forget Gov. Bill Ritter's appeal for ordinary Coloradans to reduce global-warming pollution. Mining Colorado's sunny skies could mean that by 2020 we would have more than half a million solar roofs supplying renewable, pollution-free power allowing Coloradans to join the fight while benefiting from the New Energy Economy. Reaching these numbers requires that we act now to build Colorado's solar market.

We can jump-start this market by making sure that all Coloradans have access to rebates, by making sure that all new homes have solar or are at least solar-ready, by providing fair compensation for the power these homes create, and by making solar financing more affordable.

In addition to generating clean electricity, solar power can reduce the state's demand for natural gas. Solar domestic hot-water heaters are an efficient and effective means for homeowners to harness the sun's energy to displace natural gas used for water heating.

There is strong public support for meeting the goals set out in the Colorado Climate Action Plan. Polls show that three-quarters of Coloradans view global warming as a problem, and the same number support cutting the state's emissions. Colorado legislators and regulators should take advantage of this public support to make sure that Colorado meets its energy challenge by developing our solar resources.

There is an answer to Colorado's energy challenge. Our abundant solar, wind and other renewable energy resources will allow us to meet growing demand for energy while cutting global warming pollution. Developing these resources will also make Colorado an exporter of clean, renewable energy to growing markets throughout the West while increasing our energy security and building the state's economy.

Beth Hart is the president of the board of directors of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. Keith Hay is with Environment Colorado.