Power company, university come together on environment
Colorado officials are planning dramatic change to the problem of global warming.
Politicians, energy executives and students all converged on CU Monday night at the Center for Energy and Environmental Security‘s presentation entitled “The Global Energy Crisis- Colorado’s Response.”
The presentation, which was attended by CU provost Phil DiStefano and Regent Cindy Carlisle as well as over 400 others, included speeches by CU faculty, members of Governor Bill Ritter’s administration and energy experts. Most of the discussion centered on what the state of Colorado is doing to combat climate change, particularly with regard to carbon emissions.
“We’re more aware this week than ever before of the need to address these issues,” David Getches, Dean of the CU Law School, said in reference to the ongoing United Nations summit on climate change being held in Bali. “We’re painfully aware of the need for leadership in confronting the realities of climate change.”
The keynote speech was given by Hal Harvey, director of the environmental program for the Hewlett Foundation, a grant program that addresses social and environmental issues. Harvey focused on the necessary changes that large industrial nations such as the United States, China and the United Kingdom must make in order to effectively address the problems of carbon emissions and climate change.
“I’m pushing about ten changes, and there are about 1000 more, just like there are 180 countries and about 10 that matter,” Harvey said.
Harvey was critical of the Bush Administration’s response to climate issues and said that he believes Congress would have to make the push for dramatic change on the national level.
“I’m convinced there are 60 votes in the Senate for a carbon cap right now, if only some leadership would emerge .” he said.
Jim Martin, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and Tom Plant, director of the Governor’s Energy Office, also spoke on climate issues and what Colorado was doing in response to the global warming crisis.
They outlined Colorado’s Climate Action Plan that recently went into effect and how it will attempt to reduce carbon emissions in the state by 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. Both goals meet the requirements of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year for their work on global warming.
Martin and Plant were both confident that the Climate Action Plan would enable Colorado to meet these goals.
“There is reason for optimism here in Colorado,” Martin said.
Some of the measures Martin and Plant mentioned included solar panels on the state capitol building and governor’s mansion, stricter building codes, increased investment in renewable energy sources and increasing efficiency in the energy industry. Plant also emphasized the need to include energy companies in the discussion of finding solutions to environmental problems.
“To have them (energy companies) as part of the effort is so crucial and so important,” Plant said. “They said they are behind the governor in supporting this climate action plan.”
The final speaker was Xcel Energy‘s Vice President for Environmental Policy, Frank Prager.
Prager spent most of his speech detailing how Xcel was stepping up its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Prager said that Xcel is the number one provider of wind energy to the entire country.
Xcel also recently submitted a plan to Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission that would substantially reduce carbon emissions from Colorado utilities if approved. Among other things, the plan calls for the retirement of two older coal power plants in Grand Junction and south Denver that would lead to a 10 percent reduction in emissions by 2017.
“We think in the next six to nine months we should have a decision on this plan; if it’s finalized it will be a plan Colorado can be proud of,” Prager said.
Prager also emphasized the fact that only consumer demand would drive other companies to change their policies in order to alter the effects of climate change.
“Citizens will drive the decisions,” Prager said. “The question that always comes back to us is ‘how much are our customers willing to pay?’ If they’re willing to pay, we’ll do it.”
Contact Campus Press Reporter Rob Ryan at rryan@thecampuspress.com
