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CRES
Clips is sponsored by
SolSource
Thank you
Bella
Energy
for sponsoring CRES.
CRES Clips
As a 501(c)3
nonprofit organization, CRES depends on your support.
CRES
is successful because of the energy and commitment of members,
volunteers and donors. The scope and outreach of CRES will be
enhanced and expanded by further use of technology and the expansion
of paid staff to guide and coordinate the CRES pool of dedicated
volunteers.
Would you consider investing in renewable energy
for Colorado?
Mail your donation to CRES at 245 Eliot St. Denver, CO 80211
You can also contribute online through the (secured by
PayPal) CRES website:
http://www.cres-energy.org/joinorder.html
CRES Meeting on "Financing Renewable Energy Projects in
Today’s Capital Markets," Thursday, March 26
Finding the
right financing for renewable energy projects has always been a
challenge. Today's combination of tight financial markets and the
need for more utility-scale RE projects, however, makes this
challenge even more significant. Join us for a discussion by one of
the leading experts in this field to see how projects like these get
financed.
Lee White is an Executive Vice President and
Manager for George K. Baum & Company at its Denver Public Finance
Headquarters. He has been in the investment banking business for
more than 20 years and is responsible for underwriting over $6
billion of municipal bonds. Mr. White has assisted numerous state
and local governments and private corporations finance their
infrastructure needs. The complete list of Mr. White's experience,
accomplishments, and credentials is far too long to include here.
But highlights of this experience include serving as lead banker for
several hundred million dollars' worth of renewable energy and other
utility projects, Co-Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic
Committee’s Study on Infrastructure in the United States, member of
the Colorado Clean Energy Development Authority, and numerous other
airport, stadium, higher education, and non-profit projects.
This meeting will start at 7:00 PM Thursday, March 26, at the
Jefferson Unitarian Church, 14350 W. 32nd Avenue (about a mile west
of I-70) in Golden.
PLEASE PLAN TO CARPOOL AND ARRIVE EARLY!
If the JUC parking lot is full (and it filled up quite quickly for
our February meeting), there is another small lot at a park about
two blocks to the west.
The meeting will be followed by a
reception with refreshments and some of the best networking you’ll
find anywhere.
Those outside the West Metro Denver Area are
encouraged to join us online via Live Webcast. Our SE-CRES regional
group already has webcast viewings set up in Colorado Springs and
Pueblo, so please check the event listing (URL below) for
information on joining them if you live in any of those areas. There
are still a few connections left to host a viewing of the webcast,
and we give priority to groups of at least 3 CRES members.
Complete information about this event - including instructions for
viewing the live webcast - are available on the CRES Website.
http://www.cres-energy.org/events/#nextmtg
Those who cannot
join us can view a recording of this webcast, which will be posted
to the CRES Event Archives by the end of Friday, March 27.
http://www.cres-energy.org/events/archives/2009 > March 26
This event is co-sponsored by the Jefferson Unitarian Church.
http://www.jeffersonunitarian.org
News from the
CRES Policy Committee
The CRES Policy Committee – chaired by
Tom Konrad – has been diligently following many energy-related bills
in the state legislature since the session began in January. CRES
endorses those bills that help move Colorado closer to a sustainable
energy future, and sends experts to help legislative committees
understand the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Here are highlights of the committee’s efforts over the past
month:
CRES has endorsed two bills at the Colorado
Legislature. Both of these bills have now passed through all
necessary committees, and need only to pass a house vote and the
Governor’s signature.
§ SB09-051 "Renewable Energy
Financing Act" (M. Carroll, Levy) expands both the size and
eligibility for loans for RE and EE through the Governor's Energy
office. The full text of
SB09-051 is here.
§
SB09-177 "New Solar Facility Property Tax Valuation" (Schwartz,
Vigil) requires the valuation of new solar facilities greater than
2MW based on the expected income from those facilities, not cost.
This should effectively lower property tax on such facilities over
time. This brings the tax rules for large solar in line with Wind
power. It also calls for a standard offer process to replace the
current bidding process for facilities between 100KW and 1 MW, which
should add certainty for smaller scale commercial PV projects.
SB09-177 text is here
The CRES Policy Committee
urges you to contact
your representative in the Colorado General
Assembly (House) in support of these two bills.
The CRES Policy Committee has also drafted a letter to the
Colorado Public Utilities Commission which supports the Commission
in an investigatory docket considering possible oversight powers the
Commission should have regarding Cooperative Transmission and
Generation Associations such as Tri-State.
Western Resource
Advocates provided the Committee with useful resources and feedback
in the process.
This letter has not yet been finalized, but
all filings in this important docket, along with CRES’s comments
when they are finalized, will appear
here.
CRES
thanks the Policy Committee for all of this hard work. Look for a
more established web presence for the Policy Committee in the near
future!
CRES Fundraiser: Wine Tasting and
"Walden" Play, April 3-5 in Arvada
(and group discounts for CRES
Members)
Noble Heart Theater is excited to announce its debut
production - "Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau,” by Michael Jonathon.
It depicts the final two days that Henry David Thoreau spent in his
cabin before leaving Walden Pond. Join friends of CRES to sample a
variety of Colorado wines and an evening of inspiring theater.
Proceeds from these events will help fund CRES's continuing mission
to promote awareness of the benefits of energy efficient and
renewable energy technologies.
You’ll hear a lot more about
this event at our March 26 meeting.
-
Actors will present a
brief excerpt from the play.
-
Tickets will be on sale at
the JUC before, during, and after the meeting.
-
CRES
Members who buy five (5) tickets will get a sixth (6th) ticket for
free.
-
AND the March 26 meeting will be your last chance to
buy tickets with check or credit card. You can still buy tickets at
the show, but with cash only.
Complete information about this
much-anticipated event is available on the CRES website:
http://www.cres-energy.org/events > April 3-5
Additional CRES Fundraisers
Both the Barnes & Noble
Booksellers and Whole Foods Market in Denver West Village
(14347-14357 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood) will donate a
percentage of their sales on Earth Day – Wednesday, April 22 – to
CRES … so please be sure to save up your grocery and book shopping
needs for Earth Day!
Please also make sure you tell the
cashier when you check out that you want your purchase to count
towards a CRES donation. They will not ring up the purchase as a
donation automatically.
http://www.cres-energy.org/events >
April 22
Volunteers Needed for CRES Exhibit
Booth and Other Projects
Being in an environmental group
around Earth Day is starting to feel like being an accountant at tax
time! CRES will have its exhibit booth at dozens of events
throughout the year.
We will need volunteers to help staff
the booth at these events,
so please contact CRES if you’d like
to help with these efforts.
303-806-5317 /
info@cres-energy.org
New Volunteers are also invited to join CRES on Saturday,
April 11, 4:00 – 6:00 PM, for an orientation & training at the
(zero-energy and voice-activated) home of John Avenson, 9988 Hoyt
Place in Westminster.
http://www.cres-energy.org/events > April
11
Seeking Donations for Silent Auction at the
CRES Annual Meeting
The CRES Annual Meeting, Dinner, and
Silent Auction will be held on the evening of Saturday, May 2, at
the Historic Fort Restaurant in Morrison. Please join CRES and
leaders of Colorado's New Energy Economy on a beautiful spring
evening at one of the West's most historic (and newly green!)
restaurants. We'll acknowledge our achievements in 2008, and look
forward to 2009 & beyond.
Online Registration is now
available for this event.
http://www.cres-energy.org/joinorder.html#Annual_Meeting
Space is limited, and registration rates go up $15 per ticket after
Monday, April 20 … so register soon!
We also still need
donations for the Silent Auction to be held at this event. Do you
have a solar panel, for example (Thanks to CRES Business Member
SolSource for their generous donation of a solar thermal system!),
or consultation services, or a weekend in the mountains, or some
other product, artifact, artwork, or service you'd like to donate?
Do you know of somebody that does?
Please contact Shirley
Beverly if you can help.
303-751-7217 /
shirleyandpete@estreet.com
Apply On-Line before
April 10 to be a part of the 2009 Denver Tour of Solar Homes
The 2009 Denver Tour of Solar Homes will be on Saturday, October 3.
Planning for the Tour is a year-round effort. If you'd like to have
your home or building considered for the 2009 Tour, we have a new
web-based form for you to fill out.
http://www.cres-energy.org/events/tour/questionnaire.html
The
deadline for submitting a home/building is Friday, April 10.
Nominees Needed for CRES Awards
CRES is
still seeking nominations for its annual awards.
The “CRES Volunteer of the Year” Award recognizes the CRES member
who has volunteered extraordinary amounts of time and effort and
made significant contributions to the betterment of CRES and its
causes.
To nominate a CRES member for the Volunteer of the
Year Award, please visit the CRES website:
http://www.cres-energy.org/about_awards.html
#CRES_Volunteer_of_the_Year_Award
Deadline for Volunteer of the Year Nominations is Wed,
April 15.
The "Renewable Energy in Buildings
Awards" recognize building owners, builders, and construction
companies for innovative use of renewable energy. Categories include
Institutional, Commercial, General Residential, and Off-Grid
Residential.
To nominate a new (built in 2008) building for
one of these awards, please visit the CRES website:
http://www.cres-energy.org/about_awards.html
#The_Colorado_Renewable_Energy_in_Buildings_Awards
Deadline for Building Award Nominations is Friday, May 29.
The “Larson-Notari” Award (named after CRES
co-founders Ron Larson and Paul Notari) recognizes individuals for
distinguished service and exemplary contributions to the field of
renewable energy. Governor Bill Ritter won this Award for 2007.
To nominate an individual (regardless of whether or not they are
a CRES member) for the Larson-Notari Award, please visit the CRES
website:
http://www.cres-energy.org/about_awards.html#The_Larson-Notari_Award_for_Distinguished_Service_
Deadline for Larson-Notari Award Nominations is Friday, May
29.
Call for Papers, 2009 Colorado Renewable
Energy Conference
The 2009 Colorado Renewable Energy
Conference will be held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden on
the weekend of August 28-30. This year's theme is "Clean Energy:
Pathways to a Low-Carbon Footprint."
CRES is now calling for
presentations, papers and panel discussions regarding clean energy
and energy efficiency technologies, measures, policies, programs and
analytical tools. Selected papers, presentations and panel
discussions will be showcased at the Conference on Saturday, August
29. They may pertain to one or all of the energy-consuming sectors –
transportation, buildings, utilities, government-owned facilities,
cities and counties, etc.
If you are interested in making a
presentation or organizing a panel discussion, please submit an
abstract (250 words maximum) to all of the following CRES Conference
officials:
Doug Seiter (Conference Co-Chair) -
dlseiter@comcast.net ,
Carol Tombari (Conference Co-Chair) -
coloradotombaris@earthlink.net , and
Gerry Fitzpatrick (Program
Chair) - fitzpgb@comcast.net .
The deadline for submitting
proposals is Friday, April 17. Tracks and groupings will be decided
after presentation topics are selected. CRES intends to collect
presentations for the CRES website and DVD distribution after the
Conference.
Maurice Albertson Scholarship Fund
for CRES Conference Volunteers
The CRES Board of Directors
has established the Maurice Albertson Scholarship Fund to help
offset conference costs for CRES members who volunteer to assist
with the annual Colorado Renewable Energy Conference (CREC). Maurice
“Maury” Albertson, professor emeritus at CSU, one of the architects
of the U.S. Peace Corps, and an early supporter of the Colorado
Renewable Energy Society, died at the age of 90 on January 11. As
recently as two years ago, he was working on a collaboration called
Village Earth to end global poverty. His exemplary life of
volunteerism was the inspiration for establishing this scholarship
fund.
Scholarships will be based on an individual's
contribution to the successful operation of the CRES Conference,
which will be held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden on the
weekend of August 28-30.
Volunteers will be needed in the
following areas:
- Conference Set-up and Logistics;
-
Registration;
- Workshop/Session Monitors;
- Audio-visual;
- Conference Clean-up;
- and other duties (as required).
IREA Annual Meeting on April 18 -> Join IREA
Voices to Help Make History!
Those who saw those black “Got
Voice?” t-shirts all over the February 26 CRES meeting should now be
familiar with IREA Voices. This is a grassroots group of concerned
customers (or “member-owners”) of Intermountain Rural Electric
Association (IREA) that serves Denver’s outer suburbs. IREA Voices
has endorsed three candidates for the IREA Board of Directors. If
you live in the IREA service area, check to see if your district
director’s seat is up for election (not all of them are). If so,
please don’t forget to mark and send in your ballot, and encourage
your neighbors to cast a vote for change in the Board of Directors.
This is the only way to get IREA to join other utilities in
addressing global warming, working with their customer base, and
planning for a more sustainable future.
IREA will hold its
Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 18, in Woodland Park. IREA Voices
and their black t-shirts will be prominently featured at this
meeting. They will make good use of their only chance each year to
officially address IREA General Manager Stan Lewandowski and the
Board of Directors.
Find out more about this important
effort at both the CRES and IREA Voices websites:
http://www.cres-energy.org/events > April 18
http://www.ireavoices.org
_______________________________________________
CRES-Members mailing list
CRES-Members@archenergy.com
http://www.archenergy.com/mailman/listinfo/cres-member
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