Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “The Coyote Caucus Takes the West to Washington.” Throw a stick around the West’s public offices and institutions, and the odds are decent you’ll hit a member of the extended Udall clan. Joining Mark Udall and Tom Udall in Congress is their second cousin, […]
Renewable energy
Posted inSeptember 13, 2004: When a Boom is a Bust
Colorado voters hold the cards on renewable energy
In the state Legislature, utilities have had the upper hand — but now the choice is up to voters
Posted inFebruary 16, 2004: Courting Disaster
Ethanol takes off in the West
But is it a wonder fuel — or an energy-losing proposition?
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Renewable energy made simple
For most people, living with the energy supplied by Mother Nature is more noble aspiration than practical reality. But thanks to Rex Ewing’s new book, Power With Nature: Solar and Wind Energy Demystified, everyone who embraces renewable energy in theory but not in practice, is now officially out of excuses. Ewing tackles a complex, technical […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2003: Being Green in the Land of the Saints
National preserve is in hot water
Some say proposal to build a geothermal power plant in the Valles Caldera is a ploy to extort money from the Forest Service
Posted inNovember 24, 2003: New Mexico goes head-to-head with a nuclear juggernaut
The BLM is blowing in the wind
It’s no secret that the Bush administration is pushing for increased oil and gas development across the West. But one often-overlooked recommendation of Bush’s National Energy Policy calls for greater reliance on sources of renewable energy, such as the sun and wind. In response, the Bureau of Land Management is studying the prospects for developing […]
Posted inWotr
A cheer for runaway bison and their glorious home
Anyone with a heart had to cheer the bison. One recent snowy day in Great Falls, Mont., three of the half-ton creatures were being loaded off a truck into a slaughterhouse. One of the half-wild bovines busted through a five-foot timber corral and — bingo! — led a buffalo breakout. The three beasts stampeded through […]
Posted inMay 12, 2003: Planting time
Healthy energy on public lands
Wind turbines and solar panels may be coming soon to a national forest near you. According to a new report, there are plenty of opportunities to develop renewable energy on millions of acres of federal land in the West. In Assessing the Potential for Renewable Energy on Public Lands, the Bureau of Land Management and […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Golden State gets a green power surge
California’s famous sunshine is about to be put to work. Under a new law signed by Gov. Gray Davis, D, in mid-September, California’s three investor-owned utilities must buy 20 percent of their power from alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. State environmental officials say the move will help California reduce pollution, and also […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Wind power in the West gains speed
While energy companies scour the West for oil and gas, another, greener power source is on the rise: wind. Long regarded as expensive and unreliable, wind energy is now drawing the attention – and investment – of even the most conventional energy companies. In the last few years, technological advances and public policy have made […]
Posted inNovember 19, 2001: Bringing back the bosque
Cows to heat homes
OREGON This winter, manure from 400 Holstein cows will begin generating enough electricity to power 65 homes in the Willamette Valley. The manure will be stored above ground in “digester” tanks where, in heated, airtight conditions, bacteria produce gas in a few weeks. The methane is siphoned off to fuel generators that convert the gas […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Blackfeet bet on wind
MONTANA Montana’s Blackfeet Nation is a step ahead in the race to generate new, renewable sources of power. Using two of its most abundant natural resources – land and wind – the 15,000-member tribe is partnering with a private wind-power firm to build the first large-scale wind-energy project on tribal land. Blackfeet WindPower One is […]
Posted inApril 9, 2001: The water empress of Vegas
Green power threatens the Black Rock
A proposed geothermal plant in a newly protected Nevada desert sparks a fight
Posted inJanuary 29, 2001: Power on the loose
Wind power spins into the energy mainstream
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to an essay, “Rearranging the grid.” While most of the power-strapped West looks toward fossil fuels for relief, wind power has quietly swept onto the energy playing field as a viable alternative. Next month, on the Oregon-Washington border, construction will begin […]
Posted inJune 5, 2000: Change on the Plains
Arizona adds sunshine
Arizona’s plentiful sunshine will soon supply a small part of the state’s power. By the start of 2001, electricity providers in Arizona will be required to begin using renewable resources such as the sun, wind, biomass generators and landfill gas, for one quarter of 1 percent of total electricity used. By 2007, the state wants […]
Posted inMay 2, 2005: The Great Energy Divide
The Winds of Change
With the White House seeking to more than double the number of power plants, the best hope for a clean energy future lies in local communities
Posted inJanuary 17, 2000: STOP
Nuns get a windfall
The wind didn’t exactly blow dollar bills through the door of the Sacred Heart Monastery in Richardton, N.D. But two years after the monastery’s Catholic sisters installed two windmills 100 feet high, their electric bill was cut almost in half for a savings of $18,000 in two years. “We’ve been here for over 30 years, […]
Posted inOctober 11, 1999: A home-grown Water War
A fresh breeze hits Western utilities
You can count on the wind in Wyomin’, beer when it’s foamin’, the road when it’s roamin’ … – Song by Rob McLaren and Spencer Bohren of the Gone Johnson Band MEDICINE BOW, Wyo. – Just south of this tiny hamlet stands the world’s largest windmill. Reaching almost 400 feet in the air when its […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Trading up to salmon power
The Emerald People’s Utility District near Eugene, Ore., says it will provide “green power” to its customers. The district has agreed to pay 75 percent more to a new partnership between the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and a trio of environmental groups formed to encourage energy production that doesn’t harm air quality or salmon. The […]
Posted inOctober 12, 1998: A river becomes a raw nerve
Solar power is booming
After lagging for decades, solar power is booming; its growth rate of 16 percent per year from 1990-1997 ranks it as the world’s second fastest-growing energy source after wind power. Worldwatch Institute attributes the boom to declining manufacturing costs and subsidies. Japan, Europe and the United States, for example, have instituted programs to encourage use […]