Pickens Plan District Group CO-03

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Comment by scott scharin on January 16, 2009 at 10:25pm

Colorado Green collar jobs!




Aspen Colorado | Aspen Times



Thursday, January 15, 2009
Report says Colorado gaining 'green collar' jobs


The Associated Press
Aspen, CO Colorado
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DENVER — A group that promotes solar energy research says the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries provided more than 91,000 jobs — from janitors to engineers — in Colorado in 2007.

The American Solar Energy Society released a report Thursday that said "green" industries generated $10.3 billion in sales and accounted for more than 4 percent of the gross state product in 2007.

A report prepared for the Colorado Energy Research Institute in 2007 estimated that oil and gas activity in the state employed about 71,000 people, and that industry's economic contribution in 2005 was $22.9 billion, not including expenditures for developments like pipelines.

The ASES report was commissioned by Xcel Energy, Red Rocks Community College and several Colorado and Denver agencies including the Governor's Energy Office.

The report said public- and private-sector initiatives and the presence of facilities like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory position Colorado well to take advantage of growing interest in green technologies. For instance, state law requires large utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The report noted companies that have announced plans in the last two years to add jobs in Colorado:

• Wind-turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems is developing plants in Windsor and Brighton with plans to employ a total of more than 2,000 people.

• AVA Solar Inc., a spinoff from Colorado State University, plans to build a solar panel manufacturing plant that would employ 500 people.

• Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. said it was moving its U.S. headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Broomfield, which offered economic incentives to lure the wind energy farm developer. The headquarters is expected to employ 140 people.

• Siemens Energy said it would establish a wind turbine research and development center that would employ 50 people in Boulder.

"In a surprisingly short time Colorado has effectively positioned itself as a national leader in the green economy," said Brad Collins, ASES executive director

Comment by Preston Purviance on December 17, 2008 at 4:16pm

Im on board for the district. Let me know if there is anything i can do to help!

Comment by Anne Barounos on December 16, 2008 at 4:52pm

Hi - glad to be a member. Good news that Ken Salazar is likely to be named Interior Secretary -- perhaps we here in Colorado can use this connection to push for wind energy production here in Colorado. Ken's brother John is my Congressman -- does he cover the entire area covered by this District CO-03?

Comment by Linda Collison on December 16, 2008 at 12:53pm

I'm glad to be a member of CO-03 Pickens Plan. As T. Boone says, it's a plan and it's the only plan. Let's not get mired in small details. The main highlight of the plan as I understand it is to use more natural gas for powering vehicles, esp. government, mass transit, and trucking vehicles, and use more wind power for electricity. This is to reduce our importation of foreign oil. I believe we should concentrate on this conversion first, and all the other alternative energy plans can be gradually developed and implemented. Let's keep the main objectives of the plan foremost in mind.

Comment by Nikki McDonald on December 15, 2008 at 7:27am

I am concerned that we do not create another problem with our change, we must be careful and consider our actions carefully. We do not need change that makes things worse. I understand that if an electric car is wrecked there is a severe problem in the disposal of it and the batteries. I worked with the state of Colorado, years ago implementing regulations regarding hazardous waste materials for body shops. The gentleman that I worked with admitted to me that no one exactly knew what was the right thing to do. I saw many proposals that simply would not work, and were way to costly, for the benefit of the effort. We discussed what we could do, and how our industry worked and I believe we achieved some measure of success. We needed to educate our regulators and our selves about what worked. We will need to learn more about energy and not create fund generators for the government, or products that will harm our evironment further.

Comment by Adam Fotta on December 11, 2008 at 10:09pm

This is a great vision , that transcends everything. We need it for our country to have a future .

Comment by Clayton on December 11, 2008 at 5:52pm

Hello. Glad to be a member to bring change. Hope we can all work together as a team to get this country headed in the right direction. Tired of paying foreign countries my hard earned money for their oil. Need to keep our money home . Glad to help with any projects. Clayton

Comment by scott scharin on December 11, 2008 at 11:42am

Hello, i'd like to introduce myself to all in the 3rd district of colorado. i'm really proud to work with everyone on the pickensplan. As district leader I hope we can be a impact and keep the pressure on the new leadership of our country and get us a sane energy policy! please contact me anytime, Scott

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