WESTERN SKIES - August 30, 2005

*** ALTERNATIVE ENERGY ***

ERIC WHITNEY: High energy prices are creating stress and headaches for individual commuters and homeowners, but also opportunity for entrepreneurs. In northern Colorado, business leaders are getting together to try to help their region become a leader in alternative energy. KUNC's Jim Beers talked about the plans with Bob Baun, editor of the Northern Colorado Business Report.

BOB BAUN: Earlier this month we found out that a group of leaders from local government agencies and Colorado State University and some economic development interests got together in Fort Collins to begin to organize something that they call a "clean energy cluster." In short, what they want to do is try to foster the growth of start-up companies, as well as some existing companies that are involved in alternative energy research or technologies that make more efficient use of existing fuels. The result, they think, can be the establishment of the Northern Colorado region as a center for the clean energy industry, which has the potential to create jobs. If this project is successful, it could go a long way to absorbing some of the job losses this region has experienced at high-technology employers like Hewlett Packard and Agilent, and Celistco.

JIM BEERS: Why do these organizers think a clean energy cluster is viable in Northern Colorado?

BAUN: First, there's Colorado State University where a great deal of research is already underway at the Engineering College in areas like solar energy and engine technology. It's hoped that some of this research will have commercial applications. If so, the companies that come out of this research could be established right here. Seconly, there's a group of existing businesses based in this area that are involved in related industries such as hybrid motors, bio-diesel fuel, and technology that manages the use of electricity. There's also political support. The City of Fort Collins, for instance, is already a significant user of wind power as a source of electricity and it's committed to generate fifteen percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017.

BEERS: Bob, what are some of the economic possibilities for a project like this?

BAUN: That's certainly conjecture at this point. Some of the true believers think it can mean many thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue, just here in Colorado. But there's also competition out there. There are eleven other clean energy projects like this one around the country with some of the same goals. One thing is true, that some major businesses are putting time and money into clean energy, which means somebody outside the environmental community thinks there can be dividends. Recently the Wall Street Journal pointed out that Florida Power and Light, which is a large publicly-traded utility, has become the nation's largest developer of wind power technology. The same article also said that General Electric is getting into the wind power business. And the Goldman-Sachs group has recently acquired a small company that makes wind power facilities. There's also some venture capital funds that have been created that target clean energy businesses.

BEERS: When could this clean energy cluster begin having an impact on Fort Collins or the region?

BAUN: It may be quite soon. A key to the success of alternative energy ultimately is making it cost effective compared to traditional sources of energy. And right now, a research team at Colorado State is working on a process to mass produce photovoltaic cells, that's what converts sunlight into electricity. If this application is successful we'll have a low-cost way to use window glass as a solar panel, which means solar power could be within the reach of many more people. Locally, that could mean a new manufacturing business in Northern Colorado and the jobs that come with it.

WHITNEY: That was Bob Baun, editor of the Northern Colorado Business Report, talking with Jim Beers of KUNC radio in Greeley.

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WHITNEY: About a hundred seventy-five miles east of the I-25 corridor, one northern Colorado town learned last week that alternative energy will be giving it a shot in the arm. Yuma expects to gain about sixty new jobs. Stephen Raher reports.

STEPHEN RAHER: Panda Energy last week announced its plans to build a one hundred twenty million dollar ethanol plant in the town of Yuma. The facility will be able to produce one hundred million gallons of ethanol per year. The recently passed federal energy bill is anticipated to increase demand for ethanol by 7.5 billion gallons by 2012. Ethanol is a corn-based fuel that's added to gasoline under federal mandates.

Andrea Anderson is the Executive Director of the Yuma County Economic Development Corporation. She says sixty new jobs is big news in the county of just over ten thousand people. She adds that Dallas-based Panda Energy picked Yuma for several different reasons.

ANDREA ANDERSON: We're the top corn-producing county in the state, and third in the nation. Also, the ability of the county and the city and the state-you know, there were incentives involved and I don't know if that was part of their decision, but just the fact of the willingness and the can-do attitude of the community played into their coming to Yuma County.

RAHER: Panda Energy says the Yuma facility will be partially powered by renewable energy technology that converts cattle manure into bio-gas fuel.

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WHITNEY: And, this week a coalition of farmers and environmentalists is wrapping up a summer tour of rural Colorado, where they've been spreading the word about alternative energy opportunities. Colorado's Farm Bureau and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union have joined with Environment Colorado and Colorado Working Landscapes in what they're calling the "Harvesting Energy Tour." Democratic U.S. House member Mark Udall and Republican Lola Spradley, formerly speaker of the Colorado house, appear at each stop and are joined by locals who are already involved in alternative energy programs.

LANDON GATES: Our main focus at this point is educating our members on the opportunities that are available to them.

WHITNEY: Landon Gates is a spokesman for the Colorado Farm Bureau. He says the tour drew about thirty-five people per stop on its swing through the western slope, and that he expects double those numbers this week when it hits Lamar, Springfiled, Trinidad, Alamosa, and Canon City. Part of the draw might just be seeing farmers and environmentalists in the same room together, and not yelling at one another.

GATES: This issue has certainly made for some strange bedfellows, I will admit that. We definitely have our disagreements on issues, on water and on oil and gas exploration. But with this issue we looked for some common ground, and we have definitely found some.

WHITNEY: The Harvesting Energy Tour stops in Lamar and Springfield on Wednesday, August thirty-first, and in Trinidad, Alamosa, and Cañon City on Thursday September first.