alex chiang: web 6.0

Amendment 37 proposes to amend the Colorado Revised Statutes such that certain Colorado utilities must generate or purchase a percentage of their electricity from renewable resources. The schedule is: 3% from 2007 to 2010, 6% from 2011 to 2014, and 10% by 2015 and afterwards.

I’m quite torn on this amendment. It’s not a constitutional amendment, so I can’t immediately discount it. It does appeal to my sense of environmental conservation. And one of the problems with renewable energy today is the chicken and egg problem. Renewable energy hasn’t seen the amount of investment that fossil fuels have because the returns aren’t as great because the demand isn’t there. But if there’s no demand, then there’s no incentive to invest. So forcing the utilities to use renewable energy would artificially boost demand and encourage greater investment in more efficient renewable energy technology.

Therein lieth the rub, however. The operative word there is “artificially”. As someone who believes in the free market, I have a hard time believing that increased legislation is the proper solution to a cleaner planet. Personally, I already purchase 100% of my power as wind energy (my house is entirely electric, no natural gas), paying a premium of approximately $0.01 per kwh. I’ve put my money where my mouth is, since I believe it’s worth paying the extra money for a cleaner planet. My problem is that I don’t think it’s right for me to force my values on others.

So it’s with some measure of reluctance that I will vote “no” for Amendment 37. My belief in the purpose and role of the government just won’t allow me to do so. To those out there who think this amendment is a good idea, I respectfully challenge you to examine your own habits first before trying force your fellow citizens to pay for changes in theirs.

Purchase only energy generated from renewable resources, like wind or biomass or solar. Ride your bike to work (I ride mine 3x a week, 20 miles roundtrip). Make the effort to recycle more of your waste (most garbage companies in Ft. Collins won’t recycle cardboard, but the town dump will). Bla bla bla, you’ve heard it all a million times before, but we don’t need bigger, more intrusive government to save this planet.