[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Xcel on top 10 Climate Polluter list

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Wilson, Ken



I found the letter to the editor this morning from Mr Randy Compton interesting.  He noted that Xcel Energy is among the top 10 Greenhouse climate polluters according to a list done by the Political Economy Research Institute at U Mass.  I looked at the
 news release on the U Mass web site and have a couple of comments.
 
All of the top 10 companies on the list are big, multistate electric utilities, with the top two companies being American Electric Power and Duke Energy.  The list was compiled based on total size, with no thought to CO2 per Megawatt, which is really the
 issue.  If Duke Energy was 50% renewables they would still probably make the top of the list.
 
The second thing I would like to point out is that if you scaled up any municipal utility in Colorado to the size of Xcel, they would be above Xcel on this list.  Ft Collins, Longmont and the other Muni's in Colorado have more CO2 per Megawatt than Xcel. 
 Ft. Collins, a city that is arguably as progressive as Boulder, is struggling to meet a 20% renewable energy goal by 2020 while Xcel will make 30% with room to spare.
 
There is absolutely no assurance that forming a municipal utility equates to less CO2 per Megawatt. 

 
Ken Wilson
Council Member and Electrical Engineer