Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Ritter Energy Plan
Back in March, Democrat candidate for Governor, and fellow ex-DA, Bill Ritter, unfolded an energy plan. It received some coverage today in the Rocky Mountain News because Ritter was more specific on Tuesday. Here are some comments thereon.
Bill noticed that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was located in Jefferson County west of Denver. He thinks we should use some of the ideas coming out of there. I say good call.
Mr. Ritter wants 25% of the energy used to be renewable by 2025. How long does Ritter plan to be governor?
He also thinks we should set up wind turbines on the windy flat part of the state. Except for the bird and bat deaths those spinning blades cause, again good call.
Ritter also says we should replace traditional light bulbs in all state facilities with long-lasting, energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. OK. Certainly it is a plan strong on detail.
He's for ethanol production and something called bio diesel. Except that ethanol is a horrible gas additive and it costs more energy to produce than it gives burning in a car or truck, that's an OK use of the corn and soybeans Colorado farmers grow, except for the really tasty Olathe corn. We should eat that.
He's strong on coal gasification (turning coal into a liquid fuel--my memory is shaky here but I seem to remember the Nazi troops complaining bitterly about the coal derived fuel they had to use during the last 18 months of the war--oh well, I'm sure we can iron out the kinks).
Finally, Bill Ritter wants future coal fired plants to scrub the CO2 out of the smokestack and bury the shell like product from the scrubbers in what is called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) with carbon sequestration. Good idea. Wonder what the kilowatt price of that electricity will be? Oh that's right, Ritter is in the price to the consumer be damned crowd.
Oh well, at least he has a program that's not just a wish list supported by platitudes.
Bill noticed that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was located in Jefferson County west of Denver. He thinks we should use some of the ideas coming out of there. I say good call.
Mr. Ritter wants 25% of the energy used to be renewable by 2025. How long does Ritter plan to be governor?
He also thinks we should set up wind turbines on the windy flat part of the state. Except for the bird and bat deaths those spinning blades cause, again good call.
Ritter also says we should replace traditional light bulbs in all state facilities with long-lasting, energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. OK. Certainly it is a plan strong on detail.
He's for ethanol production and something called bio diesel. Except that ethanol is a horrible gas additive and it costs more energy to produce than it gives burning in a car or truck, that's an OK use of the corn and soybeans Colorado farmers grow, except for the really tasty Olathe corn. We should eat that.
He's strong on coal gasification (turning coal into a liquid fuel--my memory is shaky here but I seem to remember the Nazi troops complaining bitterly about the coal derived fuel they had to use during the last 18 months of the war--oh well, I'm sure we can iron out the kinks).
Finally, Bill Ritter wants future coal fired plants to scrub the CO2 out of the smokestack and bury the shell like product from the scrubbers in what is called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) with carbon sequestration. Good idea. Wonder what the kilowatt price of that electricity will be? Oh that's right, Ritter is in the price to the consumer be damned crowd.
Oh well, at least he has a program that's not just a wish list supported by platitudes.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:49 AM 
