DENVER — Two of the Democratic candidates for governor are campaigning on a promise to make Colorado a state that runs on "100 percent renewable energy.” At least, that's the version that fits on a bumper sticker.
Turns out, there's a lot of fine print to go with that promise.
Democratic frontrunner Jared Polis and his fellow Democrat Mike Johnston are both campaigning on the idea.
In a recent 9NEWS gathering with voters, both candidates got questions about this. To some voters, the idea sounded a little grandiose.
Asked whether he means that all our cars and airplanes are going to run off of electricity, Polis explained that this goal is only about the power supply for our electric grid.
“The power for your home, not airplanes, not cars,” Polis said. “The power for your home will be 100 percent renewable by 2040.”
That timeline is the same goal that Johnston is promoting—and there’s a glaring caveat that needs to be made clear: the next governor won’t be governor anymore in the year 2040.
If the next governor wins a second term, they’d be termed out of office in early 2027. That’s 13 years before the promised all-renewable year.
If it sounds a little pie-in-the sky to you, you have reason to feel that way.
“First thing you do, is you’ve got to stop putting more carbon into the air,” Johnston told another voter.
Leaving aside the fact that the power grid only accounts for part of the carbon emissions being released right now, this goal doesn’t match up with the current direction that the energy sector is going.
Power companies like Xcel Energy, which provides the power to the Denver area, will tell you that we have reached a tipping point.
Xcel told us recently that wind power is already cheaper than fossil fuel power in Colorado, even without subsidies, and solar is almost there.
But they'll also tell you they do still need fossil fuels.
Xcel is building new natural gas plants to fill in the gaps when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine.
To get to truly 100 percent renewable energy is going to take either a lot of new energy storage or some new technology.
Which may be one reason why candidates who like this goal aren't promising to get it done while they're still in office.
