A Colorado perspective: the new energy economy.

• Author: Martin, Jim
• Position: Company overview

1. INTRODUCTION II. AGRICULTURAL SEQUESTRATION III. RENEWABLE ENERGY AND EFFICIENCY MEASURES A. Renewable Energy B. Efficiency Measures IV. FOSSIL FUEL ELECTRICITY GENERATION A. Existing Coal Plants B. Clean Coal C. Natural Gas V. SMART GRID VI. ECODRIVING VII. MANDATORY REPORTING VIII. COLORADO'S STATE GOVERNMENT: LEADING BY EXAMPLE IX. ADAPTATION X. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION

   In his campaign for Governor, Bill Ritter promised to establish Colorado's twenty-first century New Energy Economy by promoting alternative energy, encouraging cleaner ways of extracting and using fossil fuels, and rewarding efficiency and conservation. A plan was put in place to create jobs and develop businesses, boost rural economies, leverage unique energy assets, increase energy efficiency and conservation, lead by example, and promote the responsible development of fossil fuel resources. In the two years since the governor took office, major progress has been made on all of these fronts and the underlying tenants of the New Energy Economy--creating jobs and spurring fiscal growth while producing cleaner energy--remains a reality in Colorado, even in the midst of a national economic crisis.

   At a time when concern about our economy is growing and American families are struggling with high energy costs, we have proposed policies that will take advantage of renewable energy resources like wind, solar and biofuels. In Colorado, we call this the New Energy Economy. By creating a twenty-first century energy policy, we are creating jobs, revitalizing the economy, protecting the environment and helping secure our nation's energy future. (1) One year after the election, Governor Ritter released the state's first Climate Action Plan (CAP), which included all of the elements of the New Energy Economy. (2)

   In this first iteration, our CAP is an incentive-based plan. Guided by the scientific advice of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the CAP set a goal of reducing emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050. The CAP, including our accomplishments to date, is outlined below.

2. AGRICULTURAL SEQUESTRATION

   The Colorado CAP recognizes that the state and the nation will need transition strategies while we develop new technologies to produce energy without adding to the atmosphere's greenhouse gas load. In the United States and internationally, carbon sequestration in soils is an option to help mitigate increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and it is recognized as an attractive low-cost activity that can be quickly implemented. Soil sequestration and management practices that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases could reduce more than 10 percent of Colorado's total greenhouse gas emissions. Incentives to producers to implement these management practices are established by creating a market in agricultural offset credits that farmers and ranchers can sell to those wishing to offset their emissions.

   Examples of such management practices are reduced tilling, rotational grazing, converting cropland to permanent vegetative cover, adjusting the amount and timing of fertilizer use and improving the storage and management of livestock manure. These practices often have environmental and economic co-benefits as well. This results in a win-win-win proposition as we reduce the "low-hanging fruit" of greenhouse gas emissions; offer revenue streams for our farmers and ranchers; and improve the environment with management practices that conserve water, improve water quality, provide habitats for our wildlife, increase soil fertility, reduce soil erosion and increase resource efficiency.

   In May 2007, Governor Ritter signed HB 1203, a bill that provides funding for a county-level appraisal of carbon stocks as well as carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas mitigation potential. This appraisal will be conducted by the Colorado State University's (CSU) Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. CSU scientists are also developing modeling to quantify the amount of greenhouse gases sequestered or reduced as a result of changing to a particular management practice. Farmers and ranchers can then use online support tools to estimate the amount of emissions reduced and carbon they could sequester by implementing an alternative management practice. The more greenhouse gases that are sequestered or reduced, the more credits producers can sell.

   In addition to supporting this important research, we have developed a demonstration project that illustrates the efficacy of an agricultural offset program. This winter, the state facilitated the execution of contracts with owners of expired or expiring Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands in Baca County to ensure that the acres will continue to serve as carbon sequestering grasslands. Colorado has 700,000 acres of CRP lands due to expire this fall, at which time both the federal government and the farmers may choose not to renew the contracts. In that case, the acres may get plowed out unless incentives are provided to keep the acres in grass.

   The demonstration project involves two farms, one where the acres recently came out of CRP and one where the acres are still in CRP, but are due to expire this year. In the first case, the farmer is selling offsets for emissions avoidance to keep the recently expired acres in grass and forego...