Ryan: So when those “tens of thousands of people” visited Denver for the US Green Building Conference, did they drive hybrids and actively try to “be green”?

As Kermit says, “it’s not easy being green.”

(Sorry, I had to toss that in.) =)

Adding tax is always a dumb idea. in 5 years even if cars are no longer creating as much pollution as today, the tax will probably still be there.

My guess is that currently, the more electricity you use the lower the price is per unit – so even though they have a higher bill, they pay less per kwh. So the improvement is probably to increase the per unit cost for the higher tiers of usage.

>Setting energy-efficiency standards for new construction – >Aren’t builders already doing this?

Building codes are state/local so I don’t know what CO is like, but at least in PA they are NOT doing this.

As for people moving away, you really think these suggestions are so terrible they’ll force people to leave their jobs? Really?

That said, I don’t really hold with this sort of power-train micro-management. If they want to do incentives based on fuel economy or emissions, that makes some sense. But doing this sort of thing based on the design of the engine and power delivery system in the car is silly.

The Denver metro area is pretty open to environmental solutions like this. For example, we have HOV lanes on our freeways and have made a big investment in a light rail project that is in its third phase to bring efficient train service throughout the metro area and reduce car dependence.

We still have room to improve on the enviromental front however. I say bring it on!! A greener Denver would only make me happy.

DB

That’s a good point. I wonder if something like this could affect Denver’s economy?

Electricity is already “tiered” in most areas, depending on rate schedule, electricity provider etc. I would think they’d just do MORE of that. That’s a good idea (most) people have a good amount of control over how much energy they use. If they want to save money, they can. Raising the cost of electricity increases ROI on energy efficiency upgrades as well, especially since those upgrades save on the most expensive tier of electricity (if that makes sense).

Construction standards for new buildings happen on a state-wdie level only if those standards are more stringent than nationwide standards. California’s Title 24 is fairly strict, and largely owing to that, California per capita greenhouse gas emissions have not increased much since the 1970s, while the rest of the country’s has increased over 30%.

The joke about people moving away from Denver is pretty funny, but I think past experiences largely show that these kinds of efforts generally improves an area and raises revenue. See Santa Monica, Portland, Boulder, etc. Even if they don’t, strictly speaking, improve the quality of life somewhere, they vastly improve image. Denver hosted the last US Green Building Conference that attracted some tens of thousands of attendees and hundreds of sponsors. Some city officials may just as quickly be trying to fill their coffers as save the earth.