SRL Renewable Energy Committee

Thanks to everyone who attended our recent event and to the panelists for engaging in a conversation with us about moving forward toward our renewable energy goal! Following the panel discussion, several audience members submitted questions that we sent to the panelists for follow up. Here are their responses:

Questions from the audience: 

1. How do we overcome the political obstacles? i.e. Big Oil, etc.? 
Marcia Martin: The power of the COGCC needs to be broken in Colorado. It has been hard because the current Governor and the current State Senate majority favored the extraction industry. Electing a Governor who will not do so, and flipping the party in control of the State Senate, are the next two steps. Public opinion is not as big an obstacle as it used to be, but getting the word out is still important. I recently had an amazing conversation with a woman I met on the street in Old Town Longmont. We were both canvassing, but for different things. She was certain that natural gas is a necessary component of the transition from coal to renewables. A decade ago the economics of the situation made that seem plausible. It isn't anymore. Siemens, a huge manufacturer of gas turbine engines, has already stopped making the big ones. 

Tom Roiniotis: Since we are a home rule city and own our electric utility, the politics most impacting our ability to move towards carbon free electricity is local. Fortunately, there seems to be general agreement among the current elected local officials (including those in the other Platte River Power cities) to move in this direction as aggressively as possible while maintaining reliability and affordability.    
 
2. Will putting a price on carbon, eg carbon tax or carbon fee & dividend accelerate Seba's time line?
Marcia M: It might, but at this point it may be unnecessary. Unsubsidized renewables compete on their own. More important in the political fight is to get extraction companies to post cleanup bonds in this narrow window we are having while gas and oil prices are relatively high. Target January 2019 if the State Senate will pass it. COGCC (see above) will put up a big fight. But if this is not done Weld County (especially)  will suffer when the tipping point comes, as the extraction companies will simply flee the state.

Tom R: If done right, it could certainly provide some additional incentive to more quickly adapt new technologies for reduced carbon.  However, the development of those technologies enabling reduction in carbon while maintaining reliability and affordability will have the biggest impact on Seba’s timeline and there is already huge financial incentives for that.
 
3. "A pathetically small % of LPC customers have sign up. ~600 out of 40,000. How do we disrupt this stagnation? 
Marcia M: Longmont Power and Communications tailored its rates pretty responsibly to allow rooftop solar buyers to recover their investment in the long term, but not force low-income ratepayers who cannot afford to invest in solar to subsidize solar early adopters. I spent some time verifying the math - it's complicated. Right now economics favor utility-scale solar - it's wildly cheaper than household. People who adopt rooftop solar now are doing it out of social responsibility. Eventually, if our appetite for power continues to grow, and especially if the area of open land occupied by utility-scale solar farms becomes a problem, then economics will favor covering our rooftops with solar generation devices - probably next-gen ones that are cheaper and longer-lived than what we have now. Europe has much more rooftop solar both because their governments are more interested in subsidies, and because land is at more of a premium. The only thing to fear in this process is that politicians will tinker with the prices to put solar at a disadvantage compared to gas in order to preserve the market for gas home heating. We have a voice in that - our votes.
 
Tom R: We will continue to market existing and new, hopefully more attractive future renewable energy options and we encourage you and others in the environmental community to help us promote them.  In the meantime, we will also continue increasing carbon free sources in our base portfolio making the voluntary programs incrementally less important to get to zero carbon.

Background
  • On Jan. 9th, 2018 the Longmont City Council passed a Resolution 100_re_resolution_longmont_jan_2018.pdf committing Longmont to a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2030. 
  • Now that Longmont has made this a goal, the Renewable Energy Committee will continue to support Longmont's transition to 100% renewable energy through education, advocacy and organizing events. 
  • Contact us to find out more or get involved!

More Information
On December 5th, 2017, Mayor Brian Bagley signed a Mayoral Proclamation committing Longmont to a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2030! We're grateful for this leadership on this important issue and are looking forward to an even stronger City Council Resolution in 2018. You can still sign the pledge below to be added to our email list and receive campaign updates. 

The SRL Renewable Energy Campaign is a partnership with the Sierra Club Ready for 100 Campaign. Launched in summer 2017, we are supporting Longmont's transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. Email us to find out more about the SRL Renewable Energy Committee and get involved.