Decarbonizing gets a new chapter

Colorado is starting another chapter in what could be a future history book, “How We Decarbonized our Economy.”

Big Pivots

by 2030.

Allen Best couple is new chapter is about tamping down emissions associated with buildings. is plot line will be more complicated. Instead of dealing with a dozen or so coal plants, we have hundreds of thousands of buildings in Colorado, maybe more. Most burn natural gas and propane to heat space and water. ose clean heat plans, required by a 2021 law, will tell state agencies how they intend to reduce emissions from the heat they sell to customers. e targets are 4% by 2025 and 22%

In that book, electricity will be the easy part, at least the storyline through 80% to 90% reduction in emissions. at chapter is incomplete. We may not gure out 100% emissionsfree electricity on a broad scale for a couple more decades.

I would start this chapter on Aug. 1. Appropriately, that’s Colorado Day. It’s also the day that Xcel Energy and Colorado Springs Utilities will deliver the nation’s very rst clean-heat plans to state regulators.

Wishing I had a sex scandal to weave into this chapter or at least something lurid, maybe a conspiracy or two. ink Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in “Chinatown.” e environmental groups see great promise in electri cation, particularly the use of air-source heat pumps. Heat pumps milk the heat out of even very cold air (or, in summer, coolness from hot air). ey will need backup gas heat or electric resistance heating. After two winters of testing at the National Research Energy Laboratory in Golden, the testing of heat pumps will move to construction trailers set up in Leadville, Colorado’s Two-Mile City.

Arguments between utilities and environmental advocates remain polite. Both sides recognize the need for new technologies. e disagreements lie in how best to invest resources that will pay o over time.

Good enough for prime time? I know of people in Avon, Fraser, and Gunnison who say heat-pumps deliver even on the coldest winter days.

Xcel says that heat pumps have a role—but cautions that cold temperatures and higher elevations impair their performance by about 10% as compared to testing in coastal areas.

Xcel also frets about adding too much demand, too quickly, to the electrical grid.

Another, perhaps sharper argu- woman, 22 on obstruction and resisting arrest charge at 11th & park Avenue. She was on bond at the Weld County Jail. ment has to do with other fuels that would allow Xcel to use its existing gas pipelines. Xcel and other gas utilities have put out a request for renewable natural gas, such as could be harvested from dairies. Xcel also plans to create hydrogen from renewable resources, blending it with natural gas. It plans a demonstration project using existing infrastructure in Adams County, northeast of Denver.

Je Lyng, Xcel Energy’s vice president for energy and sustainability policy, talks about the need for a “spectrum of di erent approaches.” It is far too early, Lyng told me, to take any possible technology o the table.

In a 53-page analysis, Western Resource Advocates sees a greater role for weatherization and other measures to reduce demand for gas. It sees renewable gas, in particular, but also hydrogen, as more costly and slowing the broad market transformation that is necessary.

“I think there’s a real tension that came out between di erent visions of a low-carbon future when it comes to the gas system,” Meera Fickling, an economist with WRA, told me.

We already have a huge ecosystem of energy, a huge investment in natural gas. Just think of all the natural gas lines buried under our streets. No wonder this transition held on bond at the Weld County Jail. will be di cult.

“It’s more di cult because everything you do in the gas sector now has a spillover e ect in the electric sector,” says Je Ackermann, the former chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. “Each of these sectors move in less than smooth, elegant steps. We don’t want people to fall o one and onto the other and get lost in the transition. ere has to be su cient energy of whatever type.”

Getting back to the book chapter. Colorado has nibbled around the edges of how to end emissions from buildings. With these proceedings, Colorado is moving headlong into this very di cult challenge. e foreplay is done. It’s action time. Xcel talks about a decades-long transition and stresses the need to understand “realistic limitations in regard to both technologies and circumstances.” under investigation.

Keep in mind, 25 years ago, it had little faith in wind and even less in solar.

Do you see a role for Jack Nicholson in hearings and so forth during the next year? I don’t. Even so, it promise to be a most interesting story.

Allen Best publishes Big Pivots, which keeps track of the energy and water transitions in Colorado. Find him at BigPivots.com.

Police issued a summons to a Fort Lupton woman, 21, for a child abuse complaint in the 600 block of 14th Street. The case is under investigation.

Police arrested a Fort Lupton man, 56, for motor vehicle theft in the 600 block of 14th Street. He was held bond at the Weld County Jail.

July 13

Police arrested a Firestone

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Police arrested a Firestone woman, 22, at 11th & Park Avenue on warrants out of Boulder County for a protection order violation, Weld County felony warrants for domestic violence, motor vehicle theft, and failure to comply with bond conditions on a drug possession charge. She was held on bond at the Weld County Jail. Police took a 64-year-old Fort Lupton man into custody in the 1100 block of Fourth Avenue on an Aurora warrant for aggravated assault. He was

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A Dacono man, 59, was arrested in the 2900 block of Ninth Street on a Jefferson County warrant for failure to comply with conditions of probation on a DUI charge. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

Police arrested a Fort Lupton man, 22, in the 1000 block of Platte Drive on a Weld and Adams County warrants for failure to appear on criminal mischief and traffic offenses. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

July 14

Police arrested a Denver man,

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29, in the 1000 block Mountview Avenue for burglary, menacing, possession of a weapon by previous offender, protection order violation, unlawful use of controlled substance, prohibited use of weapon, and child abuse. He was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

A Fort Lupton woman, 34, reported a laptop stolen in the 900 block of McKinley Ave. Her report is under investigation.

Police took a 37-year-old Fort Lupton woman into custody at 12 th Street and Denver Avenue for failure to appear for public orders crimes. She was held on bond at the Weld County Jail.

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ADenver-based nonpro t music education organization is helping local rising stars showcase and enhance their musical talents, record music and learn podcasting for free.

Youth on Record, founded by local musician community organizer Flobots in 2008 works with people aged 14 to 24.

“Flotbots’ mission was to bring music to young people to improve academic success and youth outreach, and it grew into what is now known as Youth on Record,” said Haley Witt, a guitar musician and singer-songwriter who manages Youth on Record.

Youth on Record recently rocked at its ninth annual block party in support of youth in music with over 20 live music performances, teen activities and vendors at its o ce location near downtown Denver.

“We have a state-of-the-art recording studio soundboard and all sorts of instruments,” Witt said. “So young people can drop into our programs and learn about mixing, mastering songs and learn about songwriting and instrumentation.”

After school programs e Youth on Record runs afterschool, out-of-school and in-school programming with Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools middle and high schools.

“We partner with the schools to teach four-credit classes, and we hire local professional artists to teach those classes,” Witt said. “Our Youth on Record teaching artists come to the schools, and the young people are able to learn from them. It’s one way that you nd our Youth on Record programs through the schools.” ere also is an open mic every rst Friday, and it is open to the public, where the youth perform and gain experience in combination with all the First Fridays and art walks across the city, speci cally in collaboration with the Santa Fe Art Walk.

Youth on Record also has afterschool programs at the Youth on Record media studio space called the open lab on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and is available to young people from 14 to 24 years old.

“It’s self-guided so that they can explore their interests. ey come into the space with a passion for music, making songwriting production, and we teach them the skill set they need to accomplish the projects they’re passionate about,” Witt said.

Witt said Youth on Record also o er an internship and fellowship program and a fellowship program, both of which are paid programs by donors.

“Youth on Record is a nonpro t organization so donors fund our program,” Witt said.

Witt said Youth on Record has had a lot of talented program graduates.

Baily Elora from Hudson/ Keenesburg Colorado, featured in the Fort Lupton Press, went through the program and signed on with Sony Music Subsidiary e Orchard.

“We are proud of all of our program graduates and all of the various directions that they’re headed, it’s really important to us to connect with young people with economic opportunities, “ Witt said.

Witt said Youth on Records is a pillar of academic success, economic opportunity and community activation.

“Our economic opportunity pillar, it’s really important to us to connect young people to community careers and job opportunities,” Witt said.

Witt said they have young people who play gigs in the community and support booking those gigs and paid opportunities for young people to perform.

Youth on Record also places young people into community internships and fellowships.

“Our fellows will have the opportunity to have community internships with local partners as well. It’s important to us to connect young people to jobs in the industry and to connect them to opportunities in creative elds and show them that it’s possible,” Witt said.

“ at’s a program run by our fellows and learn how to put together a music festival, run it, secure porta potties and design posters for the festival and how it ties in economic opportunity. e block party is a youth-led program,” Witt said.

Learning about podcasting

David Ladon, Youth on Record audio arts innovation manager, teaches youth how to do podcast interviews. Ladon has been teaching podcasting for nine years and has worked with Youth on Record for three in a half years.

“We have a podcast show that comes out monthly called ‘Generation Collaboration’ that we produce in collaboration with Colorado young leaders,” Ladon said, adding that they just nished season one and that the podcast airs on KGNU.