Questions about Baker's ability to serve on the PUC
Conventional wisdom in energy policy circles says that Governor John Hickenlooper will re-appoint current Public Utilities Commissioner Matt Baker to another four-year term on the PUC. His State Senate confirmation will be a mere formality, but it shouldn’t be. Serious questions linger about his lack of honesty regarding energy costs and his ability to be […]
30 percent higher average electric rates in states with RPS
The average residential electric rate in states with a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is nearly 30 percent higher than states without an RPS. An RPS is a state based policy that requires electric power “providers to supply a specified minimum amount of customer load with electricity from eligible renewable energy sources,” such as wind or […]
Stupid is as stupid does
Colorado MoveOn member Kyle Elston sent the following email asking Colorado’s anti-fossil fuel, kool-aid drinking community to electronically sign a petition telling Routt County Commissioners to put a moratorium on “all future oil and gas exploration permits until” — you’ve probably guessed it already — more stringent rules and regulations are in place. Read the […]
More bad news Abound
With prices tanking along with sales, First Solar, the world’s largest manufacturer of thin-filmed solar panels, “slashed its profit and sales forecast today and said it will fire about 100 employees, most of them at a Santa Clara, California, research center, the Tempe, Arizona-based company said today in a filing,” Bloomberg reports. In addition, First Solar […]
Media acts like eco Chicken Littles
Has any media outlet bothered to ask if the EPA’s theory on groundwater contamination in Wyoming and hydraulic fracturing is even right? The Independence Institute’s Energy Policy Blog can’t be accused (at least not accurately) of being in the tank for the oil and gas industry. We’ve been on opposite sides of several of the […]
Dispelling the Myth of "Clean" Green Energy
By Michael Sandoval Clean Water Action’s Gary Wockner plays the card in his Denver Post guest editorial that is usually intended to end any debate between advocates of renewable energy technology and those in favor of continuing the exploration of fossil fuel resources–“What are the environmental impacts?” Typically, readers are treated to some sort of […]
Is Colorado "addicted" to economic activity?
Part two of a series responding to a Denver Post guest column titled “Is Colorado addicted to oil?” from Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action. Gary Wockner’s editorial is long on conjecture and short on facts. It’s little more than 20 questions, which could be answered if Wockner bothered to do a modicum of research. […]
Pat Stryker and the West Wing
White House visitor logs reveal that a “Pat Stryker” had a meeting in the West Wing in October 2009 according to the Sunlight Foundation. So far Sunlight has been unable to confirm if the meeting was with the Pat Stryker, Abound Solar investor, billionaire heiress, and Obama bundler. Although, it’s hard to believe that another […]
Problems Abound?
Update: Eric Wesoff of GreenTechSolar corrected something we quoted him on regarding Abound Solar’s $400 million DOE loan guarantee. “Abound has drawn down much of its $400 million DOE loan guarantee only $70 million of its $400 million loan guarantee in order to fund its factory buildout.” Eric Wesoff of GreenTechSolar is curious about what is going […]
NREL: Energy Sec Chu’s laughable statement on renewables
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu toured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden on Friday. Fresh from his Thursday testimony on the Solyndra scandal before the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Chu continued to touted the cost effectiveness of renewables despite millions of taxpayer dollars lost on failed investments. The NREL […]
Help restore sanity to energy policy…vote NO
The Economist is running an unscientific poll on whether or not government should continue to subsidize renewable energy. Wouldn’t it be fun to see free market energy policy trump solar subsidies? On the “con” side, which happens to be the side of science and reason, is Robert L. Bradley, Jr. of the Institute for Energy […]
Congressman Coffman addresses "Rare Earths"
Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) announced today that he created a Congressional caucus to address the growing problem of China’s control over rare earth elements and “re-establishing domestic supply chain” of the must-have minerals. In a press release, Coffman explained: With the establishment of this caucus, I am confident we will be able to build awareness […]
