Two pieces of legislation that will bring “new energy” to Colorado passed unanimously out of the House Transportation and Energy Committee today.

House Bill 1037, sponsored by Representative Claire Levy (D-Boulder), encourages natural gas utilities to create conservation and energy efficiency programs that will reduce emissions and air pollutants. The program is estimated to save consumers over $560 million on utility bills and will cut natural gas consumption significantly over the next decade. Last year a similar bill passed the House and Senate but was vetoed by Governor Owens.

Plug-in cars, those hybrid or electric cars that can plug into household electricity to "fill-up" are considered by many to be a critical component in reducing imported oil use, global warming and pushing wider adoption of electric car technology.

Reducing energy use to slow global warming is suddenly at the top of the nation's agenda. Because emissions from vehicles sold in the United States account for six percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, creating a market for alternative-fuel cars is a crucial part of any plan to curb climate change. Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity today made a major push for plug-in hybrid electric cars, petitioning the Department of Energy to allow federal and state agencies to purchase plug-ins and count them as alternative-fuel vehicles under the Energy Policy Act. The move would create an instant market for these cars.

The fuel efficiency of plug-in hybrids can be dramatic, with the potential to achieve nearly 100 miles per gallon equivalent while reducing emissions and saving consumers money. Plug-ins come equipped with batteries that consumers charge at night with cheap, domestically produced electricity, allowing all-electric driving in ranges of 20 to 60 miles. These cars are plug-and-play, meaning the only infrastructure needed is a standard power cord that plugs into existing electrical outlets. Consumers can run the cars on gasoline for longer trips.

Pond scum may be an important component of the worlds energy future.

Solix Biofuels Inc., a startup company based in Boulder, is working with Colorado State University engineers to commercialize technology that can cheaply mass produce oil derived from algae and turn it into biodiesel - an environmentally friendly solution to high gas prices, greenhouse gas emissions and volatile global energy markets.

Solix officials plan to commercialize the technology over the next two years. After ramping up to widespread production, the company expects to eventually compete commercially with the wholesale price of crude petroleum.

“We’re facing two global challenges: depletion of our petroleum reserves and a buildup of greenhouse gases,” said Bryan Willson, director of Colorado State's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, which is helping Colorado State achieve its goal to lead the nation in developing and commercializing environmentally sustainable solutions to global problems. “This process harnesses photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide and energy captured from the sun into an economical petroleum substitute.”

Restructuring the global economy according to the principles of ecology represents the greatest investment opportunity in history. In scale, the Environmental Revolution is comparable to the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions that preceded it.

The Agricultural Revolution involved restructuring the food economy, shifting from a nomadic life-style based on hunting and gathering to a settled life-style based on tilling the soil. Although agriculture started as a supplement to hunting and gathering, it eventually replaced it almost entirely. The Agricultural Revolution eventually cleared one tenth of the earth’s land surface of either grass or trees so it could be plowed and planted to crops. Unlike the hunter-gatherer culture that had little effect on the earth, this new farming culture literally transformed the earth’s surface.

The Industrial Revolution has been under way for two centuries, although in some countries it is still in its early stages. At its foundation was a shift from wood to fossil fuels, a shift that set the stage for a massive expansion in economic activity. Indeed, its distinguishing feature is the harnessing of vast amounts of solar energy stored beneath the earth’s surface as fossil fuels. While the Agricultural Revolution transformed the earth’s surface, the Industrial Revolution is transforming the earth’s atmosphere.