Colorado panel aims high to deflect warming

Panel proposes 37% reduction in emissions by 2020

Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 13, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, the substances blamed for global warming, by roughly 37 percent in the next 13 years to protect its lands and citizens from the harmful effects of the warming trend, a powerful blue-ribbon panel said Wednesday.

"The message is we want to be aggressive, we want to be leaders in the region," said Tim Sullivan, a member of the Colorado Climate Action Panel.

With hard work and millions of dollars, Coloradans would produce only 92.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2020, down from the 147.4 million metric tons that would be generated if the state does nothing and continues on its present course.

The group, made up of professors, small-town mayors, electric utility officials and environmentalists, wrapped up 10 months of work Wednesday, identifying several ways Colorado can shrink its carbon footprint.

The result is an ambitious road map for slashing energy use in homes and businesses, cutting carbon dioxide emissions in power plants, opting to drive clean-burning cars and using more energy generated by wind, plants and solar panels.

The recommendations likely will lay the groundwork for action by Gov. Bill Ritter and state lawmakers next year.

But millions of dollars will be needed to reduce emissions.

Use more, pay more

Among the recommendations is to charge electric customers more as their electric use increases, in the same way water utilities now charge for water. Any excess money generated would help pay for energy savings.

John Nielsen, who represented Western Resource Advocates on the panel, said Colorado should push as hard as it can to promote energy efficiency because it is the cheapest way to reduce CO2 emissions - much cheaper, for instance, than paying for new natural gas-fired power plants.

"Efficiency is simple," Nielsen said. "This is where we need to be aggressive."

Part of the urgency behind the panel's work is the rapid growth Colorado is seeing in its CO2 emissions. They have grown 36 percent since 1990, a rate roughly twice the national average.

To combat the trend, the group recommended that the state expand its use of renewable energy to 24.4 percent, from the 20 percent mark lawmakers approved last year.

The group spent 8 1/2 hours deliberating Wednesday, approving, among other things, plans to plow farm fields differently so they absorb more carbon dioxide.

"We're grateful they're doing this work," said Heidi VanGenderen, Ritter's senior policy adviser on climate change and energy.

Guv cautious

But she said Ritter wants to make sure laws now on the books, such as the existing renewable-energy standard, be allowed to work.

Colorado's CO2-reduction plan comes as other Western states move forward with similar proposals.

Utility officials said they worry about being able to meet such ambitious goals.

Frank Prager, Xcel Energy's vice president for environmental policy, said many of the proposals will be tough to implement. He said Xcel would have to carefully analyze the options on the table to make sure they are feasible and cost-effective.

And Dianna Orf of the Colorado Mining Association said efforts to sharply limit the use of coal-fired power plants or to require that they use expensive new CO2-reducing technology are unrealistic.

"Some of these technologies are still years away from being ready," she said.

The group plans to present a final set of recommendations to Ritter in October or November.

Laying the groundwork

A blue-ribbon panel Wednesday recommended dozens of ways Colorado could work to reduce its carbon footprint over the next 13 years. Here are some of the key proposals:

Goal

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 92.9 million metric tons by 2020, 37 percent below the 147.4 million metric tons projected to be generated if the state does nothing.

Steps to achieve the goal

• Create a statewide registry for companies to report their emissions and forecast future emissions.

• Require Colorado Department of Transportation and others to calculate how much greenhouse gas emitted is associated with new transportation plans.

• Increase to 24 percent the amount of energy Colorado utilities must derive from renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

• Reduce overall energy use by 1 percent annually by 2013.

• Recommend that 70 percent of new homes built use 15 percent less energy than current standards require.

• Impose inverted rate structure on electricity users so that customers who use more, pay more. Use any extra money generated by higher rates to pay for more energy-efficiency programs.

• Adopt Clean Car Program, which would require all new cars and trucks, beginning with model year 2011, to meet tough new carbon dioxide emission standards. Fifteen other states, including California and Arizona, have committed to do the same.

• Increase production of grass- and corn-based ethanol by 400 million gallons a year by 2012.

• On feedlots, use methane converters to produce electricity.

• Thin forests to reduce wildfires. Use harvested trees to create fuel from biomass.

smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474

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