WRT (With Respect To) Technology

In reading the Denver Post today I was again struck by the momentum turning to solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation and other renewable energy sources including wind turbines.

(see Denver Post articles from today’s business section)

Solar-energy system to land at DIA in 2008

State’s largest windfarm to be dedicated today

We in Colorado are blessed with many things, including an abundance of sunshine and brisk winds throughout much of the year. But it is not just Colorado that is finding it wise as well as profitable to invest in renewable energy sources.

Sure, Colorado has plenty of wide open spaces on which to site PV and wind turbine installations, but Colorado is also familiar with the present impacts of and future prospects for extractive energy resources. When I drive to Denver or Wyoming, I cannot avoid seeing the increasing number of operating oil wells and drilling rigs, the growth in natural gas pipelines and pumping stations, and the miles long coal trains headed toward large regional coal-fired generating plants. I can’t help but hear about accelerating efforts to drill for oil and gas in pristine wild areas such as Colorado’s Roan Plateau, or to mine underground for uranium using leaching techniques that may pollute ground water systems as in Nunn , Colorado near Fort Collins.

Driven in part by the relentless run up in petroleum prices as shown below, increasingly, in America, the states, utilities and investors are finding it important and profitable to invest in truly renewable energy solutions.

Figure 1: Thirteen Year Trend Crude Oil Prices

Source: NYMEX

While the US is behind the curve compared to European countries including Germany and Spain, as well as Japan, US states have begun to join the move to renewables. This is illustrated clearly by the number of states that have established definite goals for renewable energy as shown below.

Figure 2: State Renewable Energy Program Goals (Includes Solar and Other, as of September 2007)

Source: www.dsireusa.org

With the attention that renewable energy is receiving, and the growth in revenues of the renewables industry worldwide, it is now clear that investments are now being made that will pay dividends, or not, well into the next decadal period. Happy hunting.