CRESTED BUTTE – Eight white shipping containers, instruments spouting from the tops of some and a generator humming away in another, sit in the East River valley, on the outskirts of this mountain town, pulling data out of the air. The containers, a “mobile atmospheric observatory,” will gather bits of information over the next two […]
U.S. Department of Energy
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Economy, Energy, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Xcel Energy may fill the hole left by closing its Hayden coal-fired power plant with salt. And fish.
There is molten salt in the town of Hayden’s future – maybe trout, too – but almost definitely molten salt. The idea of using molten salt energy storage to fill part of the gap in employment and taxes left by the planned closure of the Routt County town’s coal-fired power plant is being planned by […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Energy, Environment, Housing, News, Technology
Students designed a net-zero solar home in one of Colorado’s coldest mountain towns that could help a housing crisis
While touring a temporary neighborhood of student-designed solar houses in Denver a few years ago, college sophomores Gabi Abello and Hannah Blake wondered out loud: “This is so cool. We have to do this. Why doesn’t CU have a team?” The two University of Colorado Boulder engineering students became the leaders of that team, which […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Energy, Environment, Housing, News
A disillusioned ExxonMobil engineer quit to take action on climate change. He found his net-zero place in Arvada.
For 16 years, Dar-Lon Chang worked as an engineer at ExxonMobil. Fresh out of graduate school, he was by all accounts exactly the type of person the company is known for hiring: smart, driven, diligent. From his base at Exxon’s sprawling campus outside Houston, Chang helped the company maximize production at far-flung oil and gas […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Grand Junction keeps its grave for radioactive, Cold War dirt thanks to new coronavirus-aid package
Cold War-era Grand Junction had a widespread benefit from a uranium mill in its backyard: dirt — fine, sand-like, multipurpose dirt. The Climax Uranium Mill along the Colorado River offered an endless supply of the gray dirt that was free for the taking by anyone who needed material to use in sidewalks and roadways, in […]