Subject: Energy Technology

• Rich Tower, Poor Tower

  July 26, 2007

• Politicking on the Plateau

  August 22, 2007

• The Roan Plateau: A Guide for the Perplexed

  December 29, 2007

• Oil Shale Rush Is Déjà Vu All Over Again

  June 23, 2008

• More Blowhards on Carbon Offsets and the Wray Windmill

  August 4, 2008

• Memories of Colorado’s atomic age

  September 17, 2008

• Ken Salazar wants windmills in the ocean, but first he'll have to save the Interior Department

  April 2, 2009

• Bringing on the Heat

  October 4, 2001

• Wake-Up Call: Stimulate This

  The last time this state's economy went bust, Colorado fought its way back by constructing Denver International Airport. That's not going to be an option this time, Governor Bill Ritter said as he walked along DIA's Concourse B Thursday, off on a fast (less than 24-hour) trip to the East Coast to brief Democratic House members on the New Energy Economy -- right after they listened to Barack Obama describe his stimulus plan. Colorado Republicans have labeled Ritter's quick trip a "junket," bu

  February 9, 2009

• Presidential flashback, 1978: Jimmy Carter promotes solar energy in Denver

  Jimmy Carter as he looked during the era when he promoted solar energy in Denver. The hoopla yesterday over President Barack Obama's appearance in Denver, when he used the signing of a $787 billion economic-stimulus bill to hype solar energy, spurred memories in one reader, who recalled another chief executive, Jimmy Carter, promoting solar in Denver three decades ago. However, that visit may have been even more surreal than Obama's. Among Carter's stops while in the city was Rick's Cafe, a swi

  February 18, 2009

• Letters to the Editor

  December 18, 2003

• Wake-Up Call: Escape from Yucca Mountain

  A billion here, a billion there -- pretty soon we're talking real money. To be somewhat precise, $13.5 billion, which is what the federal government has spent in the more than two decades that it's proposed storing nuclear waste in an area known as Yucca Mountain, a volcanic ridge fewer than a hundred miles from Las Vegas. And for just as long, activists have fought the plan. But yesterday, new Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that the site is no longer an option. Instead, the feds will stor

  March 6, 2009

• For Colorado's largest power co-op, going green will mean taking down the King of Coal

  April 16, 2009

• Grease Monkey

  Marilyn Megenity went biodiesel, and her car came up smelling like...fries.

  June 5, 2003

• With help from the feds, a Denver scientist helps Second Life go nuclear

  September 18, 2008

• Partly Sunny

  CU students have twice won the Solar Decathlon. Can they make it a three-peat?

  November 1, 2007

• Power Outage

  Xcel Energy faces tough financial scrutiny as power companies nationwide feel the heat.

  January 24, 2002

• From the week of April 23, 2009

  April 23, 2009

• Denver Biodiesel Co-op Finds Sustainable Housing

  Homeless for a time, the DBC breathes easy in its new digs.

  September 27, 2007

• Pole Position

  Ruby Hill-area residents want to protect their views from eleven-story utility poles, but Xcel thinks it has the juice.

  July 26, 2007

• Sacrificial Slope

  June 7, 2007

• Sun Day

  October 5, 2006

• Auraria Campus Goes Green

  Students get solar-powered.

  May 17, 2007

• The Kitchen

  Looks aren't everything.

  August 17, 2006

• Spring Fever, Bird Flu

  Catching errant wildlife with the web.

  April 6, 2006

• Letters to the Editor

  From the week of November 10, 2005

  November 10, 2005

• Letters to the Editor

  From the week of November 3, 2005

  November 3, 2005

• A Mighty Wind

  The results of Xcel's wind-power program are still in the air.

  October 27, 2005

• Carbon Loading

  Xcel’s solution to rising energy prices includes a lot of coal. Is that a bad thing?

  October 27, 2005

• Duke of Oil

  He took on big energy companies and won. So why did the feds fire him?

  September 8, 2005

• Fuel for Love

  The order is in: Buy bio.

  August 11, 2005

• The Alternative Voter’s Guide

  The Legislative Council’s ballot-analysis booklet has inspired so many fights, it should be called the black-and-blue book. Here’s our cure.

  October 21, 2004

• Boulder Blahs

  The Kitchen puts the flat in the Flatirons.

  July 15, 2004

• Power to the People

  The answer could be blowing in the wind.

  December 11, 2003

• This Place Is a Dump!

  Rocky Flats was designed to produce plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs. But what it really produced was waste -- lots of hazardous waste.

  July 27, 2000

• Blowing Smoke

  Is Public Service coming clean about its clean-air campaign?

  February 5, 1998

• Socket to Me

  If Colorado deregulates electricity, Californians will be first in line for the state's cheap power--and Coloradans may get fried.

  December 11, 1997

• Dark Days on Black Mesa

  The Hopi want one of the largest coal mines in North America to stop using their groundwater. If springs and wells dry up, their ancient culture may disappear.

  May 8, 1997

• A sunny day for Secretary Solarczar, but a slog ahead?

  ​Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was back in Colorado today, August 4, touring a Longmont solar panel company as a way of pushing the Obama administration's vision of a clean energy economy. But that vision, which involves collecting abundant solar power from a procession of solar farms set up on public lands, might be a little soggy in spots. Not that the plant Salazar visited today isn't beacon of light in a bad economy. Abound Solar is hardly the biggest operator in the field, b

  August 4, 2009

• Denver gains another wind energy company

  Photo by Bodoklecksel​Denver's burgeoning alternative-energy industry will get a boost this September when formerly Portland, Orgeon-based wind energy company REpower USA Corp. moves its headquarters to Denver. The Denver Business Journal reports that the company, the U.S. subsidiary of German wind-power manufacturer REpower Systems AG, is one of the first to take advantage of the state's new Job Incentive Growth Fund and will relocate or hire 25 employees in the area. It could grow to tw

  August 17, 2009

• Green Means Go

  August 20, 2009

• Boulder: City of the future!

  The Boulder of tomorrow?​According to this report by the Denver Business Journal, it looks like Boulder is all set to become the wonderful world of tomorrow that we were all promised by cheap paperback novels and the old Buck Rogers TV series! Okay, so it doesn't mention flying cars or robot butlers, but it does say Boulder is set to become the first "smart grid" enabled city in the U.S. Soon, Boulderites will be enjoying higher efficiency, better reliability and the ability for "customers

  September 9, 2009

• Feds say global warming could force jets at DIA to produce MORE greenhouse gasses

  flickr.comA jet departs from DIA.​ It's all green all the time out at 8500 Pena Boulevard according to the PR chatter from officials at Denver International Airport. A video on the airport's website titled "DIA is Green" touts environmentally friendly efforts such as a solar power program, an ongoing wind energy study and an "underground fuel delivery system to reduce emissions during fueling." But could DIA's attempt to shrink its carbon footprint be hampered by global warming itself? T

  September 11, 2009

• Colorado's renewable energy market set to heat up with BLM geothermal leases

  A geothermal electric plant in Iceland​Wind energy has been a hot commodity in the state for ten years or more now, but a new source of energy -- geothermal -- is about to get a chance to make its mark in the near future. The Denver Business Journal is reporting that the BLM is set to offer leases specifically for geothermal development for the first time ever -- including a nearly 800-acre parcel in Chaffee county. Nationwide, sixty parcels totaling 22,647 acres will be offered. If you're

  September 14, 2009

• It's Not Easy Being Green

  October 1, 2009

• Larkburger now using 100 percent all-natural wind power

  Larkburgers, fries and shake made with renewable energy​ Larkburger is making a name for itself with such menu items as hand-cut fries seasoned with parmesan and truffle oil -- but Larkburger president Adam Baker hopes that with the switch to wind power for 100 percent of its energy use, the company will also become known for its eco-friendly philosophy. The fast gourmet burger joint that got its start in 2006 in Edwards and opened a second location in Boulder this spring (read Jason Shee

  October 13, 2009

• Solar-powered deliciousness coming to a Chipotle near you

  ​ Chipotle is going verde -- er, green. The Denver-based burrito chain plans to install solar panels in approximately 75 of its restaurants over the next year. Solar sites include Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and, of course, Denver. Chipotle says the restaurants were selected based on their electricity consumption, solar- power rebates from the local utility and access to sunlight. The intent is to reduce power consumption during peak hours of energy use, typically from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

  October 20, 2009

• Salazar moves forward -- and backward -- on oil shale leases

  ​For decades, energy companies and the federal government have tinkered with ways of trying to extract the vast hydrocarbon fuel reserves buried in rock in western Colorado and eastern Utah. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar still has lots of questions about the process -- whether the current oil shale technology will ever be commercially viable, how much water and energy will be required to squeeze the kerogen out of the ground, what kind of mess will be left behind. Today, Salazar a

  October 20, 2009

• SMA Solar to convert Denver into Sunny Island

  Sunny Island isn't much of a vacation spot.​You know the decision of a business to relocate is a big deal when the state's governor offers to serve as a de facto publicist, as Bill Ritter did yesterday during the announcement that the German firm SMA Solar Technology AG will be opening a plant in the Denver area that's expected to create 300 fulltime jobs. These workers will be making solar inverters that turn direct current from solar panels into alternating current: DC/AC, as opposed to

  October 27, 2009

• Fast-track this: Five untapped Colorado energy sources

  Thar she blows: The Penry-Huttner Geothermal Project.​The Department of the Interior just designated six renewable energy projects, including a 400-megawatt solar tower, as "fast-track" developments deserving of the highest priority. All six of the projects happen to be in California. Hard to believe that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar would ignore all the potential energy sources in his home state. We've got tons of excess energy around here, begging to be harnessed for productive use.

  November 6, 2009