Colorado mandates ambitious emissions cuts for gas utilities

3 comments

1. The problem with setting these 10 year off goals is that companies will just make marginal progress for the first 8-9 years and then lobby the government to change the rules when they are 15% of the way to their goals.

2. I live up in the mountains in Colorado about 3000 ft above Denver, and my friends and I have been installing mini splits all over our homes – this is driven both by the desire to get away from gas, but also because it’s gotten so hot at high elevation lately that we need AC – something that up until 10 years ago was unthinkable at high elevations.

   When we first started installing mini splits ourselves we had an issue and called up a local HVAC place and they ridiculed us for choosing such high efficiency mini-splits and told us that we’d never see the benefits at high elevation, nor be able to heat with it – this proved to be wildly false. Instead of servicing it the most they’d do is replace it with a very low efficiency mini-split for like 12k USD.

   I’ve even helped my neighbors install mini-splits; we went in together on the cost of tools, so we have everything needed to install and service them. One of us even got certified to work with refrigerants.

   I’m now starting to look seriously at solar, but up in the mountains with lots of trees and hills it’s hard to justify the high cost of having solar installed when the payout might be 35 years – which is why I’m now trying to figure out how to DIY solar as well.

   I’m now getting kind of close to heating about 1/5th of my home off of solar using a mini split – I see the path, but the challenges of living in a hilly area with tall old-growth trees is real.

   I wish Colorado did more to incentives DIY solar installation and balcony solar – I’ve written my reps multiple times asking for legislation on balcony solar. In some ways I feel it’s partially the “Abundance” (see Ezra Klein) problem with solar in Colorado we might have over-regulated what can be done – preventing the state from deploying more solar at a smaller scale, compared to states with less regulation around solar.

   It’s insane to me that Utah passing a balcony solar law is proving to more progressive than Colorado on this front.

3. $100 it gets struck down in court with federal preemption.

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