Colorado's Clean Energy Choices
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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION What is Clean Energy and Why Is It 1 Good for Colorado GREEN POWER IS CLEAN POWER 4 Wind Power, Solar Power, Hydroelectric Power, Biomass Power, Concentrating Solar Power and Geothermal Energy CLEAN ENERGY AT HOME 14 Climate Responsive and Solar Architecture, Building America: Colorado, Solar Water Heating, and Geothermal Heat Pumps SELF GENERATION FOR FARMERS AND RANCHERS 20 Stand-Alone PV and Small Wind Turbines NEW TRANSPORTATION 24 OPTIONS Clean Cities, Renewable Fuels, and New Cars CHOOSING WISELY 28 Layout and design: Manzanita Graphics, LLC Darin C. Dickson & Barry D. Perow 717 17th Street, Suite 1400 Denver, Colorado 80202 303.292.9298 303.292.9279 www.manzanitagraphics.com WHAT IS CLEAN ENERGY? Take a stroll in Boulder, Renewable energy comes Montrose, Fort Collins, or either directly or indirectly Limon on a typical day and from the sun or from tapping you’ll see and feel two of the heat in the Earth’s core: Colorado’s most powerful ¥ Sunlight, or solar energy, can clean energy resources. The be used directly for heating, sun shines bright in the sky, cooling, and lighting homes and and there is likely to be a other buildings, generating elec- pleasant 15-mph breeze. It’s tricity, and heating hot water. solar energy and wind energy ¥The sun’s heat also causes at your service, part of a broad temperature changes spectrum of clean Gretz, Warren NREL, PIX - 07158 on the Earth’s energy resources surface and in the available to us in air, creating wind Colorado. energy that can Today, 98% of be captured with Colorado’s energy wind turbines. is produced from ¥Sunlight causes fossil fuels—coal, plants to grow oil, and natural and is the source gas. They are of all life. The plentiful and organic matter that inexpensive comes from plants today, but their Newly arrived at Colorado in and from animal supply is finite 1998, wind energy is now available to the majority of wastes is known as and their combus- electricity customers in biomass. It can be the state. tion has environ- used to produce mental conse- electricity, trans- quences. In contrast, clean ener- portation fuels, or chemicals gy resources are constantly for consumer products. The replenished and economically use of biomass for any of these advantageous to the state. Clean purposes is called bioenergy. energy systems can be classified in two general categories: ¥Rain, created from water renewable energy and energy evaporating when exposed to INTRODUCTION efficiency. sunlight, collected in rivers 1 and streams, can be turned into Energy for Eternity electricity called hydropower. Although projections vary ¥Geothermal energy taps the widely, no one disputes that Earth’s internal heat, carried by we will eventually run out of steam or hot water. It can gen- fossil fuels. Renewable energy erate electricity or be used will not run out as long as the directly to heat and cool build- sun shines on the Earth. ings. Jobs and the Economy And energy-efficient technolo- Most clean energy investments gies minimize the energy used are spent on materials and to perform work, whether it be workmanship to build and running a car or lighting a maintain renewable energy home. facilities and energy-efficient equipment, rather than on ener- gy imports. Colorado’s clean Why Is Clean energy investments can be Energy Good made within our state. This means energy dollars stay home for Colorado? to create jobs and fuel local Renewable energy and energy economies, rather than going efficiency benefits the state in out of the state or overseas. many ways. To put it simply, Coloradans Environmental Benefits have many clean energy choices Renewable energy technolo- that are available today at rea- gies are clean sources of ener- sonable cost. Most of us can gy that have a much lower purchase wind-generated elec- environmental impact than tricity from our electric utilities. conventional energy technolo- All of us can save money by gies. Energy-efficient tech- purchasing energy-efficient nologies minimize convention- appliances and using energy al energy use and greatly wisely at home. Those of us in reduce environmental impacts. remote areas can benefit today from solar and wind electricity Clean energy will David Parsons, PIX - 00480 help us keep Colorado’s envi- ronment beautiful for many genera- tions to come. 2 generation. And we can all For more information: drive fuel-efficient cars and Clean Energy trucks, or even purchase alter- Basics—National Renewable native fuel and hybrid electric Energy Laboratory vehicles. www.nrel.gov/clean_energy This booklet will tell you what your clean energy choices are, Provides a definition of the where they are being used in different kinds of renewable Colorado today, and provide energy and how they can be used in the future. you with contacts to help you obtain more detailed informa- tion. Since we have the power, let’s make it clean power. Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC) www.state.co.us/oemc OEMC is the lead agency for energy efficiency issues in the state. Colorado Energy www.coloradoenergy.org Provides information about events, programs, legislation, publications, and other infor- mation related to clean energy in Colorado. This Web site is funded by the OEMC. 3 POWER IS CLEAN POWER Today, Colorado consumers than 15,000 customers, includ- can choose two types of renew- ing 300-plus commercial cus- able energy for their electricity: tomers and four wholesale cus- wind and solar. Other types of tomers—making it the largest renewable energy, such as and most successful utility hydropower and landfill gas green-pricing program in the (methane), are mature tech- country. nologies and already form part Through Windsource, Public of the electricity generation Service Company of Colorado system. These types of renew- offers residential and business able energy technologies are customers blocks of 100 not marketed separately as kilowatt-hours (kWh), with clean energy in Colorado as in each block priced slightly other states. Other types of above existing electric rates. GREEN renewable energy electricity Customers can choose how generation, such as geothermal, many blocks of wind energy mixing biomass with coal they would like to purchase up (cofiring), and some types of to 100% of their electric load. solar technologies (concentrat- One block is approximately ing solar power), do not yet 15% of an average home’s operate commercially in electric usage. The average Colorado. Nevertheless they home in Colorado uses 600 could based on the experience kWh of electricity each month. in other states of operating and marketing them to consumers Public Service Co.’s as clean energy. Windsource is the largest, but not the only, such program, in Colorado. Twenty utilities offer Wind Power their customers the option to choose wind energy, including You have most likely seen Colorado Springs Utilities and Colorado wind power in action Holy Cross Energy, which pur- on TV newscasts. The chase wind power from Public Ponnequin Wind Facility, Service Co.; and the municipal located in northeastern utilities of Fort Collins, Colorado, provides up to 20 Loveland, Longmont, and megawatts of power to more Estes Park, which purchase 4 wind power from the Platte For more information: River Power Authority. In Aspen and Glenwood Springs, Wind Power: Clean Energy for Colorado the municipal utilities provide www.cogreenpower.org wind power to all customers as Sign up with one of Colorado’s power part of their regular electric companies offering wind energy under a service. In addition, 14 of green-pricing program or find out more Tri-State Generation and about wind energy. Transmission Association’s 32- member rural electricity coop- Public Service Company of Colorado eratives also offer wind power www.ncenergies.com to their customers. 1.800.824.1688 Today the majority of Sign up for Windsource. Colorado electricity consumers have wind power as an option Clean Energy Basics—NREL from their electric power com- panies. www.nrel.gov/clean_energy/wind.html While the use of wind energy Has a more detailed explanation about how is growing rapidly, there is wind energy works with links to resources for homeowners, business owners, and stu- room for much more. dents and teachers. Colorado, like all of the states that occupy the Great Plains, has a large wind energy U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) resource. According to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy National Renewable Energy Wind Page Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, www.eren.doe.gov/RE/wind.html our state has enough wind Provides links to publications, research, energy to supply 9% of the industry associations, and information about electricity consumption of the wind projects around the country. Or call lower 48 states. In this calcula- DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable tion, urban areas, wetlands, Energy Clearinghouse hotline at parklands, and national forests 1.800.363.3732 for free fact sheets on are excluded from wind power wind energy. Warren Gretz, Warren NREL, PIX - 07158 Public Service Co.’s Ponnequin Wind Facility, located near I-25 and the Wyoming border, is Colorado’s first utility-scale wind power plant. 5 development. With a large PV Goes Mainstream resource in the state and low As of January 2000, more than costs compared with other 100 Coloradans have chosen to sources of renewable energy, generate their own electricity wind is poised to make a using solar-electric PV tech- major contribution to the envi- nology, while remaining con- ronment and future economy nected to the utility power of the state. grid. Thanks to dramatic price drops and growing consumer interest in clean energy options Solar Power that offer self-sufficiency, PV Electricity from the sun is technology is becoming more becoming an increasingly popular.