Fuel injected.

• Author: Cole, Rebecca
• Position: Planet profit report - Report

WHILE COLORADO IS BUILDING A 'NEW ENERGY ECONOMY,' THE IMPENDING ARRIVAL OF CONOCOPHILLIPS' TRAINING AND TECHNOLOGY CENTERS UNDERSCORES HOW MUCH TRADITIONAL OIL AND GAS STILL POWER THE STATE

In a high-tech lab at the Colorado School of Mines, researchers manipulate beakers of slimy green algae in hopes of converting the organisms into an efficient source of liquid fuel.

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Research into "green fuel" like algae is a throwback in Colorado to 1978, when the National Renewable Energy Laboratory studied thousands of species to determine which had the most potential as an alternative energy source. Back then, oil was cheap--only $20 a barrel--and with the comparative cost for algae biofuel prohibitively expensive, NREL shelved the project in 1996.

Fast forward to today. With oil now climbing past $125 a barrel, and federal laws mandating a fivefold increase in biofuel production over the next 14 years, School of Mines researchers like professor Matt Posewitz and his team are dusting off NREL's pioneering research for another look at how the photosynthesizing wunderkinds can help offset the reliance on fossil fuels.

Investing in such technologies drives Gov. Bill Ritter's promotion of Colorado as a clean energy hub. But the road to renewables--and the state's financial fortunes--continues to be fueled by the traditional oil and gas industry. As much as Ritter has been successful in promoting a new energy economy, no economic boost from solar or wind compares to the coming arrival of ConocoPhillips, the country's third-largest petroleum refining company with revenues last year of $178.5 billion.

As the renewable energy sector continues to grow and the U.S. seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels, many oil and gas veterans are dipping into biofuels. Although Posewitz's work is helping fill the funnel, it will be years before companies like ConocoPhillips offer green fuel at the pump.

In February, ConocoPhillips purchased the 432-acre former Storage Tek property in Louisville for $58.5 million to build a corporate training facility and global technology center.

"We knew we were running out of space on our two major campuses in Houston and Bartlesville, Okla.," says Mary T. Manning, ConocoPhillips' general manager for global real estate and facilities services. "We wanted a place that would distinguish us from competitor s and take us to the next level of success."

The company decided early on that it didn't want to look at properties on either coast, and Colorado was quickly on its short list as an ideal location.

"Colorado is such an attractive place, and we want this to be distinctive in the marketplace when recruiting employees. And certainly the partnerships and the proximity to the universities were a big plus," Manning says. After the company looked at about 25 sites in the state, Louisville "kept coming to the top," as one of the best places to live and to raise a family.

TRANSFORMATION IN THE WORKS

Details are trickling out about how the company plans to utilize the site. In March, Steven R. Brand, ConocoPhillips' senior vice president of technology, told a crowd gathered for Sen. Ken Salazar's third annual energy summit that the company is in the process of transforming itself to eventually supply energy in alternative forms--and that Colorado will play a significant role in its plans.

"In 20, 40 and 50 years from now we'll be a different company," he said, "We need to decide what that is."

Calling any effort to expand supplies "doomed" unless steps are taken to address the carbon impact, Brand said research and development is the key to building a viable energy future--but that ConocoPhillips isn't moving away from oil and gas anytime soon.

"Half of all the oil ever discovered cannot be recovered with current technology," Brand said. "Even a 10 percent gain through better extraction methods would add hundreds of billions of barrels of recoverable oil, greatly improving the world's energy outlook"

With oil and gas the state's largest industry--surpassing even tourism--Colorado is just as securely...