http://energy.i2i.org at the Independence Institute Thu, 16 May 2013 17:53:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It seems that no bad deed goes unrewarded by the University of Colorado-Denver. This week, the UCD School of Public Affairs announced that former EPA Region 8 Administrator James Martin will be one of the winners of its 14th Annual Wirth Chair Sustainability Awards. It’s a curious choice, in light ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/05/16/ex-epa-region-8-administrator-martin-to-receive-award-despite-record/ The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers hydropower to be a renewable energy source. The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) calculates that carbon emissions from hydroelectric power are on par with wind and solar energy. Last Thursday, Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a leftist non-profit organization, testified in front of ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/05/13/why-does-co-eco-left-hate-most-hydro/ A newly released survey provides some powerful ammunition for North Carolina lawmakers who want to freeze the state’s renewable energy mandate at its current level rather than continue its increase to meet the 12.5 percent mandate by 2021. The Raleigh, North Carolina, based Civitas Institute conducted the state-wide poll and found ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/05/07/no-love-for-%e2%80%9crenewable%e2%80%9d-energy-sources-in-north-carolina/ Conventional wisdom would believe that Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) such as Xcel Energy would have lower electric rates than Rural Electric Associations (REAs) and Municipally Owned Utilities (MOUs) because IOUs have the advantage of population density that allows for maximization of capital investment. But that is not the case as the ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/05/04/should-xcel-energy-be-worried-about-high-cost-of-its-electricity/ According to Xcel Energy’s regulatory filings, the utility spent $275 million in ratepayer subsidies for customer-sited solar panel systems from 2008-2012.* That breaks down to: $196 Cost of these solar subsidies for each of Xcel Energy’s 1.4 million Colorado customers. .7% Percentage of Xcel Energy customers (approximately 9,200) that benefit from lower electricity rates by ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/23/the-great-solar-rip-off-by-the-numbers/ Predictions from the first Earth Day in 1969, "Environmentalists' Wild Predictions," by Walter Williams: At the first Earth Day celebration, in 1969, environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, "The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind." C.C. ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/22/must-reads-to-celebrate-earth-day/ The impact of SB 252, a bill to raise the renewable mandate on rural electric cooperatives, will be devastating to rural Colorado according to Dr. Roger Bezdek, Founder and President of Management Information Services, Inc. Bezdek released a report titled "The Economic and Jobs Impact of the Proposed Colorado RES" that ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/15/war-on-rural-co-economic-impact-of-sb-252/ Despite close to seven hours of testimony on SB13-252, a bill to raise the renewable energy mandate 150 percent on rural electric co-ops, it is very clear that the bill’s prime sponsors Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) do not understand their own bill and ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/09/highlights-and-lowlights-of-sb252-testimony/ Sponsors excluded from cost of own bill: Two of the main State Senate sponsors, Senate president John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Aspen) conveniently carved their own districts out of the bill. Because municipally owned utilities are excluded from the bill, Morse won’t have to pay the cost of his ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/08/hypocrisy-of-sb-252/ Denver area eco-leftists have rural Colorado in their sights. In a September 2012 letter to state legislative candidates, Colorado Environmental Coalition Executive Director Elise Jones (now Boulder County Commissioner) and Colorado Conservation Voters Executive Director Pete Maysmith implied that dirty air in the Denver metro area may be the result of ... http://energy.i2i.org/2013/04/07/eco-left-targets-rural-co/