Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
Colorado coal miners steamed over Clean Air-Clean Jobs
Not everybody is happy about to Colorado Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, which “requires Xcel to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80 percent from several Front Range coal plants by the end of 2017, most likely sooner.”
GRAND JUNCTION — Legislation aimed at cleaning up Denvers air and turning Colorado into a model state for clean energy and jobs is feared as a job killer for the Western Slope’s coal country.
Sign-waving coal miners stole the show from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Monday night as they rallied outside the old Mesa County Courthouse. They gathered before the commissions first hearing on Xcel Energys plan to close or retrofit some of its Front Range coal-fired plants. The changes are being made to comply with the Colorado Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act.
Of course, the Western Slope natural gas folks are excited about it.
Read more: Coal miners rally in Grand Junction against clean-energy plans – The Denver Post.
Dear Sierra Club, why are you so fickle?
Sierra Club released its Cool Schools on Monday.
Yesterday, the Sierra Club released its “cool schools” ranking of the most eco-awesome colleges and universities in the country. Last year the University of Colorado at Boulder ranked #1. This year, #13.
CU wasn’t the only one on a roller coaster ride. According to a blog on the Chronicle of Higher Eductaion’s website:
Last year, the University of Colorado at Boulder ranked No. 1, while Green Mountain College was 35th. This year, CU is at 13th and Green Mountain is tops.
Dickinson College went from 19th in 2009 to No. 2, and Stanford University zoomed up from 26th to 5th. Yale University went from 14th to 26th, and Emory University fell 10 notches to 42nd.
You might assume from such fluctuations that sustainability programs went haywire in the past year. But little changed, it seems, other than Sierra‘s ranking methodology. Energy issues were given more weight in this year’s survey, Sierra editors say, but that answer probably won’t satisfy the longtime critics of these green ratings.
And the new emphasis on energy sources are what hurt CU. Dave Newport, director of CU’s Environmental Center, told the Camera that the university is at the whims of Xcel Energy, which still relies heavily on coal.
Read more about CU’s slip in Sierra’s green rankings at DailyCamera.com.
Bill McKibben surprises Valmont coal plant protesters (and people are arrested, too)
Diana Best chants "renewable now" with about a dozen others protesters at the Valmont coal plant in Boulder on Tuesday. (Mark Leffingwell)
A small group of protesters gathered at the Valmont power plant east of Boulder on Tuesday to protest the burning of coal for electricity.
The group was surprised when eco-hero Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org and an award-winning environmental journalist) dropped by. Later the police dropped by, too, which shouldn’t have come as a suprise.
In all, five people were arrested for second-degree trespassing. Those were the folks who actually climbed over Xcel’s fence (it’s rimmed with barbed wire) and unfurled a banner on the side of a coal pile that was waiting to be incenerated. The sign read “Renewables Now” and was accompanied by a pair of fake wind turbines.
Xcel didn’t find this all that amusing. In fact, spokesman Mark Stutz called the move stupid. Read more about the protest and watch a video at DailyCamera.com.
What’s in your windpower? Xcel Windsource is more than just wind.
Xcel Energy's Ponnequin Wind Farm
Are you powered with 100 percent wind? (Are you sure?)
If you get your wind power through Xcel Energy in Colorado by subscribing to the company’s popular Windsource program, you’re getting mostly wind, but you’re also getting some of your electricity from hydroelectric (about 7 percent), solar (about 2 percent) and biomass (about 1 percent).
This, of course, doesn’t bother many renewable energy supporters, but it does beg the question: should Xcel change that program’s name? Tireless Xcel watchdog Leslie Glustrom thinks they should — not just because the program is more than wind, but also because the program’s past missteps may have tarnished the brand. (Glustrom has filed a request with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission asking that the name be reconsidered.) Read more
Mobile home owners miss out on solar
Maria Downing and Nick Tamm are trying to get solar panels for the awning for their mobile home in Boulder.
A couple of mobile home owners in Boulder (who actually live in a super-retrofitted 1958 trailer that doesn’t look anything like a trailer at all) have gotten shut down by Xcel Energy in their quest to power their mini-house with solar.
Apparently, solar can only be put on permanent structures, and mobile homes, by definition, aren’t permanent. On the surface, that doesn’t sound unreasonable, but for Maria Downing and Nick Tamm, the issue is that their mobile home is their permanent home. And they don’t plan on moving.
(Also, their neighborhood is zoned only for mobile homes, and they have a 99-year lease on their land, so there’s no reason to think they’ll be forced to leave anytime soon to make way for some other, glitzier development.)
Downing and Tamm are frustrated about their own situation — but they’re also frustrated about the larger implications. Is solar only for the rich, who may be the people who are least at risk for rising utility bills? What about lower-income folks in Boulder who’s money is going, in part, to subsidize the solar panels put on wealthier people’s homes?
Read more about the solar mobile home shutout at DailyCamera.com.
Was building Boulder’s smart grid a smart idea?
In March 2008, it all sounded great. Xcel Energy announced that Boulder would be home to the very first smart grid in the country, and people loved it. City council members thought the idea was stupendous; environmentalists said it would help the average person conserve electricity — or at least spread out their electricity use so that peak loads could be diminished (and, therefore, so could peak-load plants that are most often run off of coal and natural gas).
The costs of Xcel Energy's SmartGridCity project in Boulder are far higher than originally projected.
But two years later, the smart grid doesn’t look as shiny as it once did. For one thing, costs have skyrocketed. At first, Xcel thought that it would cost the company about $15.3 million to actually build the grid, not including the cost of running and maintaining it. By May 2009, Xcel realized it was going to be far more, perhaps $27.9 million. Now, Xcel is guessing that total capital expenditures — we’re talking digging ditches for fiber cable and installing smart meters in people’s homes — will cost $42.1 million. Read more
Wanna share a solar array? Help is on its way.
Alan Polacek of Custom Solar examines installed solar panels on the roof of a home in south Boulder | Paul Aiken
Got a shady roof? Don’t even own your roof (condo owners, that means you)? Live in a cold and dark canyon? Are you a little short on south-facing roof real estate?
All of these predicaments make it hard to take advantage of solar power. And in Colorado, if you can’t put PV panels on your own property — then you can’t have PV panels at all. (So, quit coveting thy neighbor’s sunny roof.)
That’s right. It’s actually illegal for you (as of now) to go in 50-50 with a neighbor on a solar array that won’t be installed on your property. If you put up solar panels next door, you can’t take advantage of the rebates and incentives offered by your utility (which is probably Xcel Energy if you live in Boulder County). But here’s the real kicker: you also can’t take advantage of net-metering, which means that the electricity you produce won’t show up as a credit on your bill.
A state lawmaker from Boulder is trying to change that. Read more
Smart Grid news you can use (finally)
You’ve probably heard about the smart grid — and Xcel Energy’s bid to make Boulder the country’s first SmartGridCity.
But have you wondered what that really means for you? Like, when will you finally be able to tap into the power of the grid? (And, will it make you smarter?)
Well Xcel finally announced Thursday that their customer Web portal is up and running. Meaning, you can check your home energy use online. And if you’re one of the folks with a smart meter (and 24,000 of the houses in Boulder have one of these thingamabobs) then you can see your electricity use updated every 15 minutes. Read more
Creepy clowns against climate change?
Members of WildEarth Guardians dress as clowns and wear Gov. Bill Ritter masks during a protest outside the state Capitol on Wednesday | Denver Post
Front Range environmentalists gathered in Denver yesterday to tell the governor to quit “clowning around” when it comes to climate change.
The state’s air quality commission will take public comment tonight on Xcel Energy’s request to renew its air permit for the Cherokee coal plant in Denver. Earlier this year, Xcel also sought to renew its air permit for the Valmont coal plant in Boulder.
The clown-protesters — wearing wigs and Ritter masks — said that the state shouldn’t issue any permits until coal plants are forced to deal with their carbon dioxide emissions, but the state says it has no authority to do that.
Read more about the protest at DenverPost.com.
Xcel Energy finishes building Boulder’s smart grid
A Web portal created by the company GridPoint will be accessible later this year for Xcel Energy customers in Boulder.
Xcel Energy has finished building all the infrastructure and launching all the software necessary to give Boulder the first functioning smart grid in the world.
From today’s Denver Post:
How smart is Xcel Energy’s $100 million SmartGridCity that will ultimately enable Boulder residents to keep track of their energy use day to day?
It’s so smart that it knew there was a power outage in one neighborhood 34 minutes before the first resident called the utility.
It’s so smart that the number of customer-voltage complaints — about either surges or drops — went from 70 in 2007 to zero so far this year.
It’s so smart that it identified a transformer that was overloaded and needed to be replaced — before it got fried.
In the past, the utility knew to replace transformers when they blew and lights went out.
“It is a completely new way of managing our system,” said Randy Huston, who oversees Xcel’s SmartGridCity.
Read the full story at DenverPost.com, or learn more about Boulder’s smart grid after the jump. Read more
