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Mountain News: Feed-in tariffs may stimulate clean energy

BOULDER, Colo. - Already, 75 per cent of the electricity distributed by the municipal utility department in Aspen, Colo., comes from renewable sources, mostly wind.

BOULDER, Colo. - Already, 75 per cent of the electricity distributed by the municipal utility department in Aspen, Colo., comes from renewable sources, mostly wind. The city hopes to push that to 83 per cent with installation of a small hydroelectric plant on a local creek.

Could something called a feed-in tariff push Aspen toward its goal of 100 per cent renewable energy?

"We are certainly going to look at it intensely to see if it has merit," says Dave Hornbacher, the city's deputy director of utilities and renewable energy. "It appears to have the potential to facilitate additional photovoltaic installations," he added.

In the wonkish world of energy policy, feed-in tariffs occupy a particularly esoteric niche. But speakers at a workshop last week in Boulder, Colo., said they will be crucial in accelerating the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We're not thinking grandly enough, boldly enough," said Randy Udall, an energy analyst and activist from the Aspen area. Feed-in tariffs, he said, are the only way to achieve the giant steps that are needed.

Jim Woolsey, a former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, said they would also provide environmental benefits by reducing atmospheric pollution by mercury, nitrous oxide and other toxins produced by burning coal.

Woolsey said feed-in tariffs could also make the United States less vulnerable to terrorists by making our energy supplies less centralized. An ordinary squirrel in Ohio was able to put New York as well as other states and parts of Canada into the dark in 2003. He suggested a few people with far more malevolent intentions could do far worse.

Feed-in tariffs provide generators of small to intermediate amounts of renewable energy fixed prices and long-term guarantees from their utility. The guarantees give entrepreneurs easier access to financing.

The effect of the tariffs would be to substantially change the nature of our electrical supply. That existing system is centralized around large coal-fired plants. But feed-in tariffs would create more diverse and dispersed energy sources.

Several countries have adopted feed-in tariffs, as has the Canadian province of Ontario and at least one U.S. city: Gainesville, Fla.

But price is a major stumbling block. In the short term, renewables generally cost more than fossil fuels. So why would a utility - and its customers - be willing to pay more for electricity from renewable sources?

Possibly because coal will become far more expensive in the long run - conceivably more expensive than renewables, even if you don't account for the greenhouse gas emissions or the health impacts.

In Aspen, city officials expect price hikes of 8.5 per cent each year for the next two years, with an unspecified increase the year after, for coal-generated electricity they purchase from Municipal Energy Association of Nebraska.

At the same time, the price of electricity from renewables has been plummeting. Wind has, at times and places, achieved parity with coal-generated electricity, and the prices of solar panels have dropped substantially in the last year as factories - particularly in China - have ramped up to meet growing demand.

John Lyle, an electrical engineer from Durango, Colo., foresees a time when the price for energy from solar and coal will be about the same. But he believes feed-in tariffs will be needed to accelerate the pace of clean energy innovation and adoption.

"The thing that jumped out at me at this workshop is how the various states have set up renewable energy portfolio mandates: 30 per cent in Colorado by 2020 (for investor-owned utilities) and 33 per cent in California," said Lyle. "But to achieve those goals, we have to really accelerate the pace of installation of renewable energy."

In Germany, adoption of feed-in tariffs has stimulated the rapid installation of solar panels. The price Germans get paid for installation of solar panels is high. But then Germany is in a fix, with no oil or natural gas of its own.

"Germany will do 20 times more solar than California this year, despite the fact that California has solar resources that are 70 per cent greater than those of Germany," said Craig Lewis, executive director of the Feed-in Tariff Coalition, a California group.

Lewis argued that despite the high feed-in tariff cost in Germany, resulting in high costs for electricity, in the not-too-distant future stimulation of renewable energy will actually save consumers money.

If it's so wonderful, why don't the utilities rush to embrace feed-in tariffs? Speakers suggested that utilities, given the current economic models, fear losing their power and profits. Lyle, who plans a similar workshop in Durango this fall, says utilities resist the change because they're wedded to coal.

In addition to Aspen, the Colorado towns of Boulder and Fort Collins have also been considering adoption of feed-in tariffs. Pegeen Hanrahan, an engineer and former mayor of Gainesville, Fla., urged them to do so.

While reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the tariffs have resulted in local job creation, winning the support of the local chamber of commerce. While Gainesville, home to athletic powerhouse Florida State University, has long been on the sports pages, now it's in the business pages, too, she said.

 

Price of ski passes pared

JACKSON, Wyo. - Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has slashed the price of a season pass by 25 per cent, bringing it to $1,255. That's the lowest price since the 1980s for a full-privilege ski pass. But, at the same time, the resort increased the cost of skiing for children.

Jerry Blann, the chief executive at the resort, said the reduced price was an effort to get adults who have been buying the 10- and 20-day packages to go forward with season passes.

"I think we will see some of our 10- and 20-day people move up," Blann told the Jackson Hole News & Guide . "We're counting on that. We might even see some people with second homes here buy season passes."

He also noted that Jackson Hole has improved its infrastructure, with a new tramway, and other changes and has plenty of capacity.

In slashing season prices, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has joined many other resorts in the West. The season-pass price slashing began in Idaho but was quickly picked up by major ski areas in Colorado.

But whereas those discounted passes were aimed at regional markets, especially the ski-happy Denver area, Vail Resorts upped the ante two years ago with a no-holds-barred Epic Pass. The pass this year costs $600 and is good at the corporation's four ski areas in Colorado (Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge) and one ski area in California, Heavenly, along with Colorado's Arapahoe Basin.

The News & Guide reports that Jackson Hole's new price puts it on par with several other high-end resorts in the West: Sun Valley and Aspen both offer passes that, if purchased early, cost $1,500, while Deer Valley comes in at $1,630.

For locals in Jackson, there's always Grand Targhee at $600 and the in-town Snow King at $225. Options abound.

 

Kids' ski-free continues

ASPEN, Colo. - The Aspen Skiing Co. expects improved business next winter, but will continue to offer better deals to make sure it does indeed improve.

After skier visits plunged more than seven per cent with the recession, the company bounced back with a four per cent gain this year. But to achieve that, it offered a program in March called Kids Stay, Ski Free package with lodges at Aspen and Snowmass Village.

Next year, it will continue that program, extending it into April - if the snow holds out. Easter falls on April 24. Mike Kaplan, chief executive of Aspen Skiing, told a business group recently that he expects Aspen can achieve the pre-recession numbers next winter.

Dispensaries not head shops

MINTURN, Colo. - Governments in ski towns and elsewhere in Colorado continue to wrestle with what to do about medical marijuana dispensaries. State voters several years ago authorized medical marijuana, but the Obama administration opened the gate by announcing it wouldn't enforce federal laws.

Response of local governments has varied. The university town of Boulder didn't attempt to throw up many roadblocks and may realize $260,000 in sales tax revenues. In Denver, radio ads have told listeners that no matter the hour, a doctor can be found to evaluate the medical need for marijuana. And in Summit County, the sheriff last winter made the wry comment that he'd never seen so many 21-year-olds with ear aches.

Yes, there's a bit of hypocrisy in all this.

But if a town's voters supported medical marijuana several years ago, as was the case in Vail, how can a local municipality then close and bolt the door?

That was the essential question posed by the Colorado Independent after Vail town council members banned dispensaries.

Allowing pot shops "flies in the face of the tone we've tried to set in this community," said Vail Mayor Dick Cleveland. He was backed by long-time council member Kevin Foley, a waiter by profession. "To me it's just that when you've got guests coming here from all over the country and all over the world, I just don't think we need to have it here in town," he told the Vail Daily .

Breckenridge went the opposite direction. Voters there clearly supported legalization of marijuana, and town council members said they felt they needed to honor that. "But it couldn't be just a free-for-all," said Jennifer McAtamney.

Regulations in Breckenridge ban doctors from working at dispensaries and require inventory controls, surveillance cameras, and air-filtration systems.

In Minturn, located near Vail, town council members appear to be split on whether to put the question of pot shops before voters. Earle Bidez, a long-time council member, thinks there may be an over-reaction, according to a report in the Vail Daily.

"I haven't been to any of these dispensaries, but we're approaching it like it's going to be a head shop with smoke wafting out of the windows and guys grooving to music with bongs hanging out the window and all that kind of stuff," he said at a recent meeting. "I'm assuming we can structure this so it will be a clinical office-type space. I think we can put those regulations on it so it's not going to be something silly."

 

Locavores dine in Vail

VAIL, Colo. - The word "locavore" continues to creep into the lexicon of mountain towns, as across the continent. Instead of eating food that, on average, gets hauled 1,500 miles, locavores try to eat locally.

Hotels, in turn, have also been catering to this whim - for there's no evidence yet that it's a broad movement. Vail's Cascade Resort recently offered what it called a "green" dining event. The food was primarily organic, but 98 per cent of the food was secured within 100 miles of Vail.

 

Home gets gold LEED rating

TELLURIDE, Colo. - Telluride now has a gold-rated LEED-certified home, a three-bedroom affair on the town's main street. Gold is the second highest of four levels in the U.S. Green Building Council's rating system. The house has triple-glazed windows, a roof made of energy-tight structural insulated panels and a deck made from Trex, a product made from a composite of recycled plastic and other recycled materials.

Seeking LEED certification for the house cost at least $4,000 in added inspection costs, said Peter Sante, the architect. But that and other higher upfront costs will be offset by the lower cost of electricity, gas and water "forever," he told the Telluride Watch .

 

Low-waste events on rise

VAIL, Colo. - The idea of zero-waste special events has been spreading among ski towns. In Telluride, firefighters for the second year used compostable plates and cutlery for their community July Fourth picnic. Local environmental activist Kris Holstrom reported that 83 per cent of trash was diverted from the landfill.

In Vail, a farmers'market has become a big, big deal on Sundays. Recently, the town environmental sustainability coordinator, Kristen Bertuglia, enlisted cheerleaders from the local high school to encourage more recycling and composting at the weekly event.

 

Cold snap knocks back beetles

CANMORE, Alberta - It wasn't much for people of Banff and Alberta who had broken out their shorts, but a spring cold snap apparently quelled bark beetles in local forests. It takes much colder weather during mid-winter to accomplish the same tricks, as the beetles have a sort of natural anti-freeze at that time. But apparently it did get cold enough last week, and stay cold enough, to do the trick. The Banff-Canmore area has nowhere near the number of beetles as has become evident in both Colorado and British Columbia. There, they're still trying to cut down all the trees that have been infested, notes the Rocky Mountain Outlook .

 

Grizzly aims for rounds

BANFF, Alberta - A grizzly bear wandered through Banff recently, and at last sighting was headed for the Banff Springs Golf Course. Meanwhile, Banff National Park authorities levied a fine of $4,300 to a Calgary woman, who had been the official campsite renter where a mess had been left. "There was a huge mess left when the group departed," said Anita Szabo, a crown prosecutor. "The concern is that it will draw bears and other wildlife. It just cannot happen in a national park," she told the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

 

Allen Best publishes a monthly newsletter called Mountain Town News, which tracks trends in mountain resort valleys of the West. He can be found at www.allenbest.net