Tech | June 27, 2009 | 7 comments

Denver's Secret

source: http://www.slate.com/id/2221406/

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atomiclegion
Why so many green jobs are sprouting in Colorado.

Talk from Washington suggests that investments in renewable energy, infrastructure, and public transit may be a partial solution to our economic woes. For the last several years, the Denver region has been staging a trial run of this strategy, one that shows both its promise—and perhaps its limits.

The Mile High City occupies the high ground when it comes to clean energy—and clean living. Denver's sheer outdoorsiness can be by turns charming and infuriating. (The question "What do you do?" is likely to be answered with an outdoor activity, not a profession.) When I showed up at Gov. Bill Ritter's office, an aide was carting a bicycle rack out of the inner sanctum. And while the state's jewel of a capital may be testimony to its heritage of extraction—walls of Colorado-mined rose onyx, a dome covered in gold, and Works Progress Administration-era frescoes paying tribute to coal mining—a new Colorado is dawning. In November 2004, Denver-area citizens voted to boost sales taxes to expand the region's light-rail system, and the state's voters approved a ballot initiative mandating that utilities draw a chunk of electricity from renewable sources. The quasi-independent republic of Boulder is a capital of composting, recycling, hybrid-driving, and general eco-fabulousness.

Ritter, a Democrat elected in 2006, speaks of the dawning of a "new energy economy," fueled by the shifting zeitgeist but also by the state's research universities, local institutions such as NREL, and anticipated stimulus funds. A quick case study: Abound Solar, which started producing thin-film solar material in April in Loveland, was hatched in a laboratory at Colorado State University in the 1980s, received $15 million in Department of Energy funds in the 1990s, and in recent years has raised $150 million in private capital.
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7 comments // Denver's Secret

  • EmperorThan
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • For those of us who do business regularly in Denver, the centrality of energy development there was predictable at the point they decided to build their new airport...in a neighboring state...

      I mean, Holy Moses that is a long drive!

    • 2 years ago
  • Panzer_Tanzler
  • Panzer_Tanzler
  • 23485768934756
  • alivein85
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • see folks it can be done all we have to do is do it start small and let it grow and it will grow lets turn off the GAS MAN and go green it helps bring jobs home and makes every thing better all the way around solar and wind IT'S FREE why pay for free well ok there is the one time start up fee but thats one bill not one every month for month in an month out whats on your roof the cat maybe a frisbee or two why not use that space for solar panels or at least a solar hot water heater thats a small start just think all the hot water you want for free man i wish i was able to go solar but hey the wife and i do what we can think people what can i do to help the world today and even if you just do a little it helps

    • 2 years ago
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