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Recent Articles from Allen Best
Energy report: A power couple on the rocks
Given the magnitude of the climate risk, Boulder finds Xcel lacking, a lead-footed dance partner. Some liken Xcel’s effort to innovate to that of a sumo wrestler trying to perform ballet.
Will energy's bust take the economy with it?
When Colorado’s energy economy tanked in the early 1980s. The vacancy rate in downtown Denver’s overbuilt office towers rose to 31 percent in 1986. But it’s not déjà vu, say many economic analysts.
King Coal: Looking to an uncertain future
Black-and-white “Coal Keeps the Lights On” signs dot Craig and other parts of the coal-mining country of northwestern Colorado. In April, the three-county area of Routt, Moffat and Rio Blanco delivered two-thirds of the coal mined in Colorado.
Drilling down for common ground
it looked ugly a year ago as protagonists in Colorado’s messy dispute about oil-and-gas drilling girded for an election season of 15-second, finger-pointing sound bytes.
Taking aim on greenhouse gases
The building at 1515 Wynkoop in Denver’s LoDo district has obvious attractions.
Oilfield innovators drawn to water
In August, Riggs Eckelberry flew into Aspen for a renewable energy conference, but perhaps surprisingly, his message concerned traditional energy development. He aimed to talk about his company’s algae-based system to help drillers clean up their water. “They will save money, which to me is a pret...
Mountain resorts pay up for health coverage
Colorado’s mountain resorts made the news last winter for reasons unrelated to snowfall; instead, Kaiser Health News reported that a four-county region – from Breckenridge to Vail, and from Aspen to Glenwood Springs – had the highest health-insurance costs in the country. It wasn’t a shock. Aspen...
Energy: Divided over drilling
Colorado’s record for oil production was set in 1956, and for decades it appeared untouchable. Last year, owing to the confluence of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, much of it in the Wattenberg field north of Denver, the record finally tumbled. Natural gas production was the fourth h...
Putting water to work
Gravity being what it is, any water flowing between Colorado’s highest and lowest points, a range of 11,124 feet, has great embedded energy. The question is whether that energy can be throttled and put to use. The answer, of course, is yes. Early gold-seekers used hydraulic mining to blast apart h...
State of the state: Agriculture
Instead of a bland Tiger or a ho-hum Mustang, Rocky Ford High School is home to the Meloneers, a nod to the area’s production of watermelons, pumpkins and cantaloupes. Especially […]
Quarterly energy report:
You might wonder whether Colorado’s New Energy Economy should be swapped for a different model. Abound Solar, the Loveland-based manufacturer of thin-film solar panels, flopped into bankruptcy in July, and General Electric put the skids on a new factory in Aurora that was to employ 355 people, als...
Making use of methane
Give Tom Vessels his due. He’s a matchmaker and dealmaker who brought together what just may be the oddest couple of Colorado business. Who could imagine two enterprises in Colorado […]
