A New Energy Economy - Center for the New Energy Economy ...

INTRODUCTION – THE NEW ENERGY ECONOMY
Introduction
The state of Colorado, under the leadership of Governor Bill Ritter Jr., has in
recent years led the country in the creation and expansion of a “New Energy
Economy.” This successful economic transformation, recognized in Washington
D.C. and in many countries around the world, has evolved through a series
of policy, legislative and economic development actions that recognize a 21st
century shift in the way the world will produce and consume energy.
The commitment to developing a New The basis for building a New Energy
Energy Economy has transformed Colorado Economy rests on a convergence of factors.
into an important national and international
hub for renewable energy companies and
Those include:
entrepreneurs, clean-energy research and
• Forecasts of rising energy prices
production, and has fostered growth in
companies that focus on energy efficiency. • Growing concern over the impacts
The New Energy Economy grew in Colorado of climate change tied to fossil
even in a period of severe national recession. fuel combustion
Manufacturers were building factories and
hiring employees on the Front Range of • The increasingly mainstream interest
the Rocky Mountains, even at the height in protecting the environment and
of the economic downturn. These projects conserving natural resources
produced, at least in part, an antidote to
• A growing emphasis on
the swirl of difficult economic news that
energy independence
dominated the last years of the decade.
• The focused work of non-profits and energy. This is offered as important history,
foundations helping educate Americans but more significantly as a blueprint for
about the imperative for a new
states and local governments interested in
energy course
replicating this effort to the extent possible
in other regions. Colorado’s success with the
• The desire to ensure America remains
New Energy Economy shows that forwardlooking
policies that take into account
economically competitive globally
by understanding the shift in jobs,
global economic and environmental trends
manufacturing and technology
will lead to opportunities to expand local
tied to a new energy movement
economies, build energy security, protect
the climate, clean the air and reduce
This document tells the story of Colorado’s
dependence on finite fossil energy.
New Energy Economy, its origins, its
development under Governor Ritter’s
leadership from January 2007 to January
2011, and key elements that ensure longterm
market transformation built around
homegrown jobs, protection of the state’s
postcard beauty and clean, inexhaustible
Gov. Ritter pumps insulation into a home in
Colorado Springs. Weatherization of existing
structures is a key aspect of building Colorado’s
New Energy Economy. Photo courtesy Energy
Resource Center.
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