Current Issue
September 2010 Issue
Cover Story
King Coal, politics and the new energy economy
By Allen Best
Comanche 3 began generating electricity July 6 on the prairie just outside Pueblo. “The monster has risen,” read a sign deep within the bowels of the power plant, Colorado’s largest, when I visited in August.
The project employed as many as 2,400 workers, including pipe fitters and boilermakers from across the country who came to learn and perfect innovative welding and other construction techniques as needed by one of the most advanced coal plants anywhere.
But many have said it will be Colorado’s last coal plant. Does it also represent a colossal failure of...
Articles
Cleantech trends
By Eric Peterson
Critical mass. Turning point. Widespread adoption.
These are the terms we hear in relation to many emerging clean technologies: They are seemingly continually on the cusp of hitting the mass market in a big way, any day now. But hype sometimes overshadows reality.
The times, however are a-changin’: Market dynamics for four prime clean-tech categories - biofuels and bio-based chemicals, solar, wind and electric vehicles - are not just theoretically on the cusp any more. They are visibly on the cusp. Cleantech is happening now, and it’s happening here: Colorado is...
The race for global green
By Lisa Ryckman
The U.S. still leads the world in cleantech innovation, but other countries are investing more green in green and leaving the U.S. behind in a variety of important ways, industry experts say.
“The U.S. cannot expect to outspend our competitors - China, Europe and Brazil,” says Trent Yang, director of Entrepreneurship and Business Development CU/NREL-Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI). “Many other countries are spending a significant amount of resources and capital toward developing their cleantech sector, especially China, which is outspending the...
Powering up the future
By Debra Melani
In Colorado, farmers are shooing Bessie from certain pastures to thwart the escape of greenhouse gases. In Wisconsin, scientists are nabbing errant carbon from a massive coal-fired power plant using a common household product. And in Minnesota, researchers are harnessing and storing power from the wind.
Those are just three examples of pioneering projects local energy suppliers have their hands in, as they work to provide affordable, reliable service and meet regulatory and renewable-energy challenges head-on.
“There’s a tremendous amount of innovation coming out of...
Tech startup: GoSmart Technologies Inc.
By Eric Peterson
INITIAL LIGHT BULB: With a combined background spanning project management to electrical engineering, Brian Smith saw an opportunity in charging stations for electric vehicles and founded GoSmart last year. “I had a vision and thought it was a good market to enter,” Smith says.
So Smith put an ad on craigslist looking for a software engineer and an electrical engineer and got a response from Aaron Melin. Smith quickly realized Melin could fill both roles, and the pair co-founded
the company.
Since GoSmart’s launch, Melin spearheaded design of the company’s...
Venture visionary has deep roots in cleantech
By David Lewis
How fitting it is that the first Colorado Cleantech Awards Celebration should be addressed by the man at the summit of venture capital investment in the industry.
Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner with Palo Alto-based Technology Partners, transformed cleantech. He shattered the lens through which VC and later other investors saw the industry largely through his fund’s investments in cleantech, when it was still called “alternative energy.”
Along the way Ehrenpreis’ breakthroughs have been recognized fittingly by his service of seven consecutive years as chairman of the...
Executive edge: Gary Brierly
By Lynn Bronikowski
When Gary Brierly was 8 years old, his father took him to see “The Mighty Hoosac” - a 4½-mile tunnel built in the 1850s through the Berkshire Mountains of Northwestern Massachusetts. It was a father-son day that would forever influence Brierly’s life.
“As a kid you’re standing there marveling at how it was possible to build such a giant black hole in what seemed like the center of the Earth,” said Brierly, president of Brierly Associates, a geotechnical tunneling company based in Littleton.
His factory-worker father died of a heart attack when Brierly was 13, but...
Top Company Finalists: Colorado’s most competitive business award
By the staff of ColoradoBizNow more than ever, being selected a Top Company finalist exemplifies tenacity and innovation. With businesses continuing to face a tough economy and an overabundance of uncertainty, there’s little room for error, and making the right decisions is essential.
Top Company is Colorado’s most competitive business awards program, judged on the basis of sustained financial performance, operational excellence and community involvement.
Companies submit or are nominated to the program. Long-time sponsor Deloitte selects finalists after rigorous evaluations. Then a panel of...
Small biz: not your usual imitation sharkskin
By Mike TaylorImitation sharkskin brings to mind cowboy boots, gaudy belts and flashy wallets. But University of Florida professor Anthony Brennan looked more closely at the skin of a shark - through an electron microscope - and discovered that the distinct diamond pattern and tiny riblets were what kept micro-organisms from growing on the shark’s body.
That was back in 2002, when the Office of Naval Research asked Brennan to help find chemical-free ways of combating the buildup of marine crustaceans on ships’ hulls and submarines, a persistent problem that increases the drag on...
State of the state: natural resources
By Mike CoteBroomfield-based MWH is leading the design for a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, touted to save fresh water by 60 percent. MWH is a “wet infrastructure” company with an international reach. We recently talked with MWH President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Krause about the project.
ColoradoBiz: Tell us about what MWH is doing in the Panama Canal. It’s a huge project, and you’re one of the two U.S. companies involved.
Alan Krause: Our role has been as the lead designer for the new set of locks that are being constructed and designed in Panama. They...
Colorado cool stuff: otterbox, panda bikes and pine beetle furnishings
By Eric Peterson
OTTERBOX DEFENDER AND COMMUTER IPAD CASES
Phone and handheld computer case-maker OtterBox dove into the iPad market as fast as it could with two new products designed to protect Apple’s latest and greatest gadget: The Commuter is the basic model, protecting against drops and dust and scratches, and the Defender is a bit tougher, plus features a built-in stand.
“The Defender Series has been extremely popular due to the protection it provides from drops and scratches, allowing users to keep their devices safe even on the go,” says Laura Sanchez, OtterBox’s general...
Guest column: best practices for structuring corporate responsibility programs
As we have all seen in recent years, being a good corporate citizen has become more and more important on companies’ agendas, and many corporate leaders are seeking to integrate corporate responsibility programs into their core business practices.
But in practice, it can sometimes be a struggle to implement successful programs with both internal and external engagement. In our experience, CR programs must be incorporated in a wide array of company activities, both internally and externally. Otherwise, the value in partaking in these initiatives is greatly diminished....
State of the state: tourism
By Maria Cote
Some would say that a mere exhibit at a museum would never draw crowds into a city. To that, Cathey McClain Finlon, president of the Denver Art Museum, would simply say, “Tut, Tut.”
The Denver Art Museum’s “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” is drawing those crowds by the thousands, not only from Colorado, but from around the country.
“Our objectives are being exceeded,” Finlon says. “We’re getting tourists flying into the region. And people from every walk of life - moms, grandmas, children - are loving it.”
The exhibit, which runs through Jan. 9,...
Colorado’s cleantech industry needs a strong voice
Colorado is poised to become a world leader in the cleantech industry - if we’re smart enough to take advantage of our strong position.
Consider these impressive stats - Colorado is No. 3 in the U.S. for cleantech venture capital financing; we’re No. 4 in the country for percentage of jobs in the cleantech sector, and the state is home to more than 300 companies producing cleantech products. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, Colorado’s cleantech industry is growing faster than the state’s other industry sectors.
Pretty impressive stats for a less-populated state like...
Who owns Colorado: Changing spaces
By David Lewis
Offices haven’t changed so much over the years. True, few contain roll-top desks and feather quill pens anymore, but so what?
Most all of us still work at desks with our recording implements and communications devices at hand and one eye over our shoulders. Office space remains arranged hierarchically: Ownership and upper-tier employees get privacy, the corner office and the mountain views.
But something new in workspaces is taking hold around the Front Range, such as new workplace pioneer Mickey Zeppelin’s TAXI development in River North, RiNO, that is; or Andrew...
Road map to a cleantech future
By Nora Caley
Colorado’s New Energy Economy needs a plan, and the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association is stepping in to help. The CCIA, together with Navigant Consulting and a 25-person steering committee, is developing the Cleantech Roadmap for the state of Colorado.
Christine Shapard, executive director of CCIA, says the road map will be an action plan, not just a report. “A report sits on a shelf,” she says. “This will be a living document. It will have specific actions for the state legislature, partnerships that need to be formed, grants that need to be pursued, and...
Rundles wrap up: the confidence game
By Jeff Rundles
Early last month the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, in its regional Economic Letter, suggested that the probability of another recession gripping the nation within the next 18 to 24 months is higher than there being an economic expansion. The reason: Consumer confidence and spending have dropped, and private-company hiring is well below expectations.
There’s a lot to be said for this point of view, and it is very important for all of us to focus on consumer expectations and jobs. Wall Street has posted significant gains over the last several months, but look...
Colorado craft beer’s ever-growing map
By Jay Dedrick
Anyone with an eye trained on the restaurant bar or liquor store refrigerator case knows that Colorado craft beer blankets the state.
Six-packs of Breckenridge bottles sit on 3.2 shelves in grocery stores. Empty Oskar Blues cans fill recycling bins near campgrounds. New Belgium tap handles ... well, where are there not New Belgium tap handles?
Production volume has long kept Colorado at or near the top of the list of beer-producing states for years. And Colorado consumers are certainly the proudest fans of local brews. But increasingly, they’re becoming outnumbered...
State of the state: music
By Mike CoteHow blue can you get? B.B. King once asked that question in a song. This year, the birthplace of the blues discovered it was wider and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
The millions of gallons of oil that have dumped into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP spill have wreaked havoc on the coast and destroyed the economic livelihood of thousands of people, some still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina just five years ago. The Deepwater Horizon spill will cost the U.S. Gulf Coast region 17,000 jobs and about $1.2 billion in lost economic growth by the...
NREL Growth Forum: gathering connects companies with investors
By David ClucasSome of the nation’s top clean energy entrepreneurs will gather Oct. 19-21 in Denver to pitch their business concepts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 23rd Industry Growth Forum.
The event at the Denver Marriott City Center allows attending investors and corporations to get a sneak peek at the latest technologies in clean and renewable energy for possible future investments or acquisitions.
In the past seven years, about half of the 202 participating companies at the growth forum have gone on to raise a combined $3.4 billion since first presenting....
The Economist: when should we start worrying about the deficit?
By Tucker Hart AdamsThe public ... realizes that there is a significant adjustment to come, but they tend to think it can be solved by increasing taxes they don’t pay and cutting spending that they don’t benefit from.
- Robert Chote
Sooner or later we are going to have to deal with the issue of the federal budget deficit. One of my Ten Rules for Understanding the Economy - the second one, actually - is, “You can’t forever spend more than you make.” This applies to the government as well as to individuals.
I’m not of the school that screams for a balanced budget at all costs. There are...
state of the state: transportation
By Allen BestTom R. Skancke comes across like somebody trying to sell snow tires in Florida. Earnest, crisp and well-rehearsed, he has you fingering your credit card. But do you really need them?
Instead of snow tires, he’s pushing high-speed trains that would link major cities of the West. So far, governments serving the metropolitan Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno and Salt Lake City areas have joined Skancke’s Western High Speed Rail Alliance. He hopes to get New Mexico on board, and he argues that Washington and Oregon would be logical members.
Development of high-speed rail...
