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Thin air a solution?

TELLURIDE, Colo. - Does thin air induce greater clarity of thought? That conclusion could easily be drawn from two separate reports about scientists congregating at both Crested Butte and Telluride.

TELLURIDE, Colo. - Does thin air induce greater clarity of thought? That conclusion could easily be drawn from two separate reports about scientists congregating at both Crested Butte and Telluride.

At the rustic ghost town of Gothic, located near Crested Butte at an elevation of 2,896-metres, scientists have gathered each summer since 1928 to study biological processes and, increasingly, their impact by humans. Among those scientists has been John P. Holdren, the scientific advisor to President Barack Obama.

With a $1.8 million federal grant, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory is now erecting a solar-powered building where scientists can use precise instruments and techniques to study biological processes at the molecular level, instead of just through observation, reports the Crested Butte News .

At Telluride, elevation 2,667-metres, a vision has been announced of creating a new institute where scientists could meet each summer to collaborate on how to store solar energy - a key challenge if it is to displace fossil fuels to a far greater extent.

Scientists working through the local Telluride Science Research Center recently appealed to potential donors. "We know how to capture sunlight, but the challenge is to store it," said Michael Wasielewski, a chemist and director of the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center.

The 25 to 30 groups of scientists around the world who are working on solving the storage problem for solar energy need to spend face time together, and they need a focal point. That's where a "small but viable lab in Telluride" comes in, Wasielewski told the potential donors.

The Telluride Watch notes that the existing research institute in Telluride was started in 1984, when 18 chemists gathered to consider new research. This summer, the institute hosted nearly 1,000 scientists in 30 workshops.

Aspen also serves as a magnet for scientists, particularly physicists, and it has done so for decades.

Nana Naisbitt, executive director of the Telluride Science Research Center, estimated that $25 million to $30 million is needed for the new campus to further solar energy research. Organizers say the broader Solar Fuels Institute that is being proposed would need a budget of $1 billion over the next decade, with the money coming from philanthropic donations, venture capitalists, and existing industries.

 

Numbers don't lie

JACKSON, Wyo. - The hard numbers are arriving to put firmness into the anecdotal observations about job decline of the last three years in Teton County.

From 2008 through 2010, the once-boisterous construction and real estate sector shrank dramatically, tourism businesses slimmed just a bit, and the government sector bulked up.

Accommodations and food services, if those jobs typically pay less, lost only 50 jobs. The construction sector lost 894 jobs. And the government sector, primarily the federal government, added 73 jobs.

Jobs, as of 2009, accounted for only 34 per cent of total income in Teton County. Dividends, interest and rent accounted for 63 per cent.

 

Jackson more bike friendly

JACKSON, Wyo. - With town and county governments underwriting the costs, the fourth business in Jackson has erected bike corrals. The corrals cost $1,000 each and, in the case of Pica's Mexican Taqueria, displace one parking space for cars, notes the Jackson Hole News&Guide .

 

Aspen wants lower-cost lodging

ASPEN, Colo. - Among its top-10 goals for the next year, the Aspen City Council wants to see more mid-range lodging options. As Aspen has redeveloped, the old lodges built in the 1950s have generally been replaced by more upscale housing, particularly fractional timeshares.

At the end of a two-day retreat in July, the council agreed to examine the feasibility of encouraging cheaper rooms. The average hotel room goes for more than $400 a night during winter, the Aspen Daily News notes.

City officials tell the newspaper that it's not clear what barriers exist to construction of more moderate-priced lodging. Chris Bendon, the director of community development, says it's possible the city could tweak its zoning code to give breaks, in terms of less stiff parking and affordable housing requirements, to projects that promise less expensive rooms.

 

Renewables and visuals

ASPEN, Colo. - Proponents of renewable energy protested, but Pitkin County now requires that anybody erecting more than 19 square metres of solar panels in unincorporated areas must first notify neighbours, allowing the possibility that the project will be vetoed by county authorities.

The Aspen Daily News points out that county officials want to see more renewable energy but not at the expense of rural character.

"We have the tricky task of balancing competing goals," said Rachel Richards, chairwoman of the county commissioners.

The question was taken up by the commissioners after a family at Old Snowmass, an area of ranchettes and other small acreages, complained about the blinding glare from a neighbouring 37-square metre solar array.

County planers believe the regulation drafted to address solar glare is the first in the nation, although others are being considered.

To Richards, the aesthetics of solar installations are analogous to those of home size. There's no way to make an 800 or 1,000-square-metre home invisible in a neighborhood, she noted. "It is our job to minimize those," she said.

The Daily News also reports that the county commissioners adopted regulations governing what constitutes a barn or other agriculture building. The regulations seek to both encourage small-scale farming and to prevent abuses by property owners who ostensibly build bigger barns to get around limits on house sizes.

 

Solar gardens gain traction

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - A concept called community solar gardens continues to attract attention in Colorado. The fundamental premise is that individuals can buy into a solar garden in small increments, say one panel at a time, instead of going through the cumbersome process of putting them atop homes.

Such solar gardens already exist at several locations, with potential for new gardens at the landfills for Eagle County, west of Vail, and in Summit County, near Keystone.

The Summit Daily News reports that county commissioners are interested in buying in, as they have adopted a goal of getting a percentage of the county's energy from renewable sources. Proponents are also approaching Vail Resorts with the idea of being an anchor tenant or owner in the solar farm.

The payback on investment in such solar farms is now about 10 years, although continued improvements in solar technology and mass production capabilities continue to lower the payback time.

Meanwhile, the Summit County Energy Action Plan is on its way to adoption by county officials and representatives of the various towns. The plan outlines steps that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent. The plan also sets as a goal 50 per cent increase in waste diversions by 2020.

 

Algae growth affects clarity

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The fabled clarity of Lake Tahoe that Mark Twain wrote about when he was a young jasper, roaming in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, has worsened.

The deep-blue lake now admits vision to a depth of 19.6-metres, down from 20.7-metres just two years ago. Scientists think that growth of a single-cell, free-floating algae is to blame for scattering light and thereby impeding lake clarity. The Sierra Sun cites "large climatic changes" to explain the algae.

 

Task force to study bears

BANFF, Alberta - It's been a bad year for bears in the Canadian Rockies - really, a bad decade altogether.

Ten bears have been killed at the hands of humans in Banff, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks, most of them on roads or on railroad tracks. One was killed after chasing hikers and stalking a fisherman.

"Grizzly bears and black bears are getting killed left, right and centre this year," Canmore-based bear researcher Colleen Campbell told the Rocky Mountain Outlook .

The situation along the railroad tracks has been simmering toward a boil. Since 2007, Canadian Pacific Railway trains have been the single biggest killer of grizzly bears in the park, killing an average of one or two grizzlies each year.

Railroad and park officials have taken steps to remove the spilled grain from along the tracks that is attracting at least some of the bears. However, they are now stepping up efforts to reduce the fatalities, such as more extensive use of train whistles in areas where bears have been hit previously.

The Outlook reports that a $1 million, five-year study will get underway to more intently examine solutions. The study will kick off with a gathering of scientists and transportation experts in September in Banff.

At least 10 grizzlies have died in Banff since 2001, a worrisome figure given that Banff has only 60 grizzlies. Worsening the situation even more is the fact that female grizzlies for unexplained reasons are now giving birth to cubs every five years or so, on average, which biologists seem to think is the lowest rate in the world, tied only with bear populations in the Bering Straight of Alaska. They also have begun having cubs at a later age.

What may have changed in recent years that now pose a greater challenge to grizzlies isn't clear, given that trains have been going through Banff since the 1880s.

 

Worker dies as his co-workers look on

ASPEN, Colo. - Mental-health counsellors were on the scene quickly at a construction site near Aspen where a 39-year-old worker was killed as other employees looked on helplessly.

The crew was stabilizing retaining walls behind a condominium complex, and to achieve this they had erected a platform against the cliff. The victim's fall-prevention cord became entangled in a hydraulic 60-foot-long drill, and it spun him around repeatedly.

The Aspen Daily News reports that it took co-workers a minute to get the drill shut off, and then it took more time before rescuers were able to rappel down the cliff. The victim was not breathing when they reached him, although it was unclear whether he had died of a heart attack or from the trauma.