Country can breathe sigh of relief. We’re still stuck with him…
By William Yeatman and Amy Oliver Cooke As Coloradans we thought we might have to apologize to the rest of the country if President Barack Obama nominated former one-term Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to head the Energy Department. If the President wanted to make electricity costs skyrocket and the eco-left community happy, Ritter was his […]
Cadmium in CO: useful and highly toxic
Cadmium 101 By Syndi Nettles Anderson, guest writer for the Independence Institute Energy Policy Center Earlier this week Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado reported that before thin-filmed cadmium-telluride solar panel manufacturer Abound Solar declared bankruptcy it was the subject of a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) investigation after an anonymous tip raised […]
Natural gas double price of coal in Colorado
According to the most recent Form 10-K that Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest investor owned utility (IOU), filed with the Security and Exchange Commission dated December 31, 2011, electricity generation from natural gas was more than double the price of electricity generated from coal in Colorado. A table on page 18 of the report shows that […]
Audit confirms our findings: mismanagement in state energy office
A 2011 Independence Institute paper was the first to suggest that the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) needed a serious dose of transparency due to its inability to clarify how it spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Colorado’s State Auditor validated our findings in a recently released audit. Colorado’s Office of the State Auditor blasted […]
2012 snapshot of New Energy Economy’s cost to ratepayers
The numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty. Four of the largest cost driving pieces of legislation enabling Colorado’s New Energy Economy cost Xcel Energy ratepayers nearly half a billion dollars in 2012 alone. Adding insult to injury, some of the electricity produced wasn’t needed in the first place according to a just released report […]
2012 snapshot of New Energy Economy's cost to ratepayers
The numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty. Four of the largest cost driving pieces of legislation enabling Colorado’s New Energy Economy cost Xcel Energy ratepayers nearly half a billion dollars in 2012 alone. Adding insult to injury, some of the electricity produced wasn’t needed in the first place according to a just released report […]
NY Governor scared of his eco-left flank
For the last four years, the state of New York has imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing supposedly to give Governor Andrew Cuomo time to study the process before making a decision on whether or not to lift it. Four years seems like a long time to study a process that has been around for […]
Fossil fuel use protects us from climate-related risks
This editorial from Brian T. Schwartz originally appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on December 15, 2012. Many people will uncritically blame fossil fuel use for recent warm weather. But they are blind to how fossil fuels have reduced climate-related deaths since the 1920s. Since then, climate-related death rates have decreased by 98 percent, explains […]
Hate fuels Boulder fracking debate
“The function of the Human Relations Commission is to foster mutual respect and understanding and to create an atmosphere conducive to the promotion of amicable relations among all members of the city’s community.” Boulder Human Relations Office For a community with an “Office of Human Rights” and is home to a university with a multi-million […]
Colorado: Xcel’s cash cow
Last week Minnesota-based Xcel Energy announced that it beat market expectations with third quarter earnings increasing an impressive 18 percent. Colorado’s largest investor owned utility cited hot weather, rate hikes, and lower costs as reasons for its strong 3Q performance. Colorado (PSCo) outperformed all other Xcel subsidiaries with a 24 percent increase for the third […]
Colorado: Xcel's cash cow
Last week Minnesota-based Xcel Energy announced that it beat market expectations with third quarter earnings increasing an impressive 18 percent. Colorado’s largest investor owned utility cited hot weather, rate hikes, and lower costs as reasons for its strong 3Q performance. Colorado (PSCo) outperformed all other Xcel subsidiaries with a 24 percent increase for the third […]
No such thing as a free lunch or free energy
The Independence Institute’s Todd Shepherd, along with this blog, have spent two years covering, and ultimately exposing, what is now the Abound Solar scandal. Understandably, much of the focus is now on Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck’s criminal investigation as well as a Congressional Oversight Committee inquiry into the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer. Recently […]
