Rebates, rebates, rebates. You can’t afford NOT to go electric!  

Right after I successfully placed an alarming U.S. drought update map in the space below, it started snowing in Colorado. And as I write this on the Front Range, it still hasn’t stopped, though I’ve already shoveled 4 inches of slush from at least 6 inches of wet snow.

Lost a big branch, will have to get the (electric) chainsaw out this afternoon.

Why am I boring you with mundane, street-scale life details? Because this morning I’m thinking maybe mundane is good for a bit. For all of us. Colorado has made its political wishes known, and now journalists will take a deep breath, get back on the phones, and start reporting how sweeping national movements might drop a few more policy-change branches on our state. Environment, climate, health care and personal health, all at the core of this newsletter, will be in play.

We’ll be there for it! But first, looks like there’s another 2 inches to shovel. Your daily reminder that while this may be bad news for your lower back, it’s good news for dry Colorado.

Here we go with the news …

Michael Booth

Reporter

TEMP CHECK

CLIMATE

Colorado could cut expected emissions from growth up to 30% by following recent legislative directives, study says

Colorado could cut way back on new carbon emissions from expected new development if state agencies and local governments execute quickly on land-use reforms made possible by recent legislation, a new study says.

Colorado’s Front Range metropolitan counties and a handful of rural resort counties will continue to attract 95% of population growth, the state-commissioned study says. If leaders help concentrate that growth, by promoting building near transit stops, allowing cuts to required parking, and clearing the way for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in backyards and over garages, emissions from new construction could drop 30%.

Under that best-case scenario, transportation emissions attributed to the new growth could be cut by 15%, says the study, commissioned by the Colorado Energy Office, CDOT and the Department of Local Affairs.

The study compared a “business as usual” scenario, handling housing and transportation growth under past land-use laws, versus an option A leaning hard on just some of the new laws, and an option B if all the new tools, plus some as-yet unapproved, are employed.

Using all the land-use tools together could even cut back on growth in dangerous and expensive wildland-urban interface areas, the study said, by making new, denser housing in urban and suburban transit centers more attractive for construction.

The key 2024 laws cited as potential emissions-killers in the study include:

• Prohibiting local governments from requiring traditionally high levels of off-street parking for new multiunit housing developments; this could free up space for denser housing and push development to happen where local transit options are strong. 
• Requiring cities over a certain size to allow ADUs, which increases density along transit corridors and provides more affordable housing options. 
• Creating new “transit-oriented communities” near rail or bus lines where developers can benefit from increased allowed density and state grants to pay for new infrastructure, as a carrot. 

Further steps state leaders should consider to reduce emissions from new development include allowing dense residential housing in commercially zoned corridors, eliminating some parking requirements altogether, and assessing a new fee on development proposed for “greenfields,” or previously undeveloped land.

Read the rest of the report here.

Section by Michael Booth | Reporter

Colorado rolls out more home electrification rebates

Income-qualified Coloradans can benefit from new federal rebates for efficient, carbon-cutting heat pumps and water heaters as well as rewiring and upgraded panels, the Colorado Energy Office says.

Billions in new spending nationwide from the Inflation Reduction Act will flow through Colorado’s existing Weatherization Assistance Program. Income-qualified households that already get access to free insulation and window replacement will also get free electric heat pumps, rewiring and upgraded electrical panels.

Early in 2025, the appliance rebate program will expand to more income-qualified residents who are not in the weatherization program, earning up to 150% of their area median income. Colorado is working with dealers and installers to get the rebates taken off at the point of sale, always a more attractive method than waiting for a tax rebate. The rebates include:

• Up to $8,000 for a cold-climate rated, Energy Star-rated heat pump/air conditioning unit.
• Up to $4,000 for a new electrical panel.
• Up to $2,500 for new electrical wiring to support the more demanding appliances.
• Up to $1,750 for a heat pump water heater. 
• Up to $840 for an electric stove or oven.

Colorado is the first state to meld the new rebates with its existing weatherization program, which should speed assistance for qualified residents.

In the first year of the expanded federal assistance to Colorado, there will be $7.6 million in additional money for the weatherization program, and $46 million for the direct-to-consumer rebates, Colorado Energy Office officials said in a recent interview.

The office has redesigned and simplified its web pages and links to streamline consumer information, energy office director Will Toor said.

“We are at a place where between the federal government with federal tax credits, and the rebate programs through the federal government, state tax credits, and then the variety of programs that are offered by utilities, there is a lot of complexity here,” Toor said. “We are doing our best to make it as simple as possible for consumers.”

Coloradans who want to know if they may qualify for either weatherization assistance or the 2025 expanded rebate program should go to the Colorado Energy Office rebates page.

Section by Michael Booth | Reporter

An electric Nissan Leaf for $19 a month, “guaranteed” by the governor

OK, Gov. Jared Polis may not exactly have “guaranteed” it.

But he did put the astonishing $19 a month lease price of a Nissan Leaf EV into an official government news release with his name on it. Polis and a host of state officials joined with car dealerships in October to tout ultra-low lease deals available in Colorado, as dealers make way for new models and manufacturers strive to meet local mandates on percentages of EVs for sale in the overall inventory.

In addition to $19-a-month Nissans, a serviceable and well-liked compact hatchback, Chevy has upped its EV game with sleek Equinox full-battery EV/SUVs that go for $200 or less a month on a 24-month lease. If you also happen to qualify for the Xcel $5,500 rebate, that stylish SUV is essentially free for two years.

“These low-cost and great-to-drive options are an incredible deal for Coloradans and we are excited to see so many people taking advantage of them,” Polis said in a release and at a media event held jointly with Tynan’s Nissan in Aurora. “More than 22% of new cars sold in Colorado are electric, and we know deals like this will continue to push that number even higher.”

In addition to the Leaf deal, and the Equinox lease numbers reported by friends of The Sun, the state press push also mentions that “for $99 per month, Coloradans can lease a Kia Niro from Fort Collins Kia or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 from Schomp Hyundai.”

Your negotiating results may vary, of course, at these or other dealerships offering similar specials. Who knows exactly how much about all the rebates available to your family, and how to push the manager for them, not only depends on the dealership, but can come down to the experience and eagerness of individual sales staff.

So study up, and take that Polis press release with you when it’s time to sit down and negotiate. What will it take for you to drive off this lot today with a new EV? Perhaps the trick is having the governor riding shotgun.

Section by Michael Booth | Reporter

MORE CLIMATE NEWS

• Clone-baby ferrets are big news for endangered species. Despite thousands of black-footed ferrets being raised in captivity and released into prairie dog holes across North America, only a few hundred survive in the world. A new tool could change that. Antonia, the first ferret produced from DNA cloned from a 1980s-era ferret, has given birth to two healthy baby kits for the first time, federal researchers announced. It could be a big breakthrough for all endangered species programs, Michael Booth reports. 
• Gray wolves making their way south past I-70. Might want to keep a closer eye on the small dogs, backyard cats and other tiny loved ones in Eagle and Summit counties, not to mention any stray cattle, as Colorado officials report their wolf trackers show the gray hunters wandering down below Interstate 70. Wildlife researchers were quick to point out this was always expected in the controversial reintroduction program: Roaming is what wolves do. 
• Tiny Rico gets settlement to keep cleaning up lead in town. Rico, a tiny town near Telluride and Silverton, could have waited for Superfund or other official federal cleanup status, but town officials have found negotiations work better. Now, Rico has a state-approved settlement with Atlantic Richfield to speed up a lead soil cleanup throughout town, where yards and roads were tainted by debris from the old Argentine Mine complex, Michael Booth reports.
• As winter roars in, dust-on-snow experts meet again to ponder impact. On a snowy day in southwestern Colorado, about 70 researchers, soil scientists, water professionals, artists and more met to discuss one of Colorado’s dirtiest problems: dust on snow. Each year, storms pick up dust from across the Southwest and drop it on Colorado’s mountain snowpack, where it influences how the snow melts. Its ripple effects impact water supplies, forecasts, irrigators, communities and ecosystems across the state. While the problem has become more clear, solutions are still elusive, Shannon Mullane reports. This year, a collaboration of interdisciplinary problem-solvers set out to tackle the issue from as many angles as possible.

CHART OF THE WEEK

While we’ve been obsessed with campaigns and elections, with the occasional hurricane and flooding distraction, a major national drought has snuck up on us.

Hat tip to The New York Times for pointing this week to the latest Drought Monitor, which indeed shows only two states across the country that are free from at least moderate drought. And one of those is Alaska! All states but Alaska and, inexplicably, Kentucky, have at least some moderate drought reported, and many are growing ugly-red patches of extreme drought.

A couple of feet of snow in Summit County this week is nice, but we’re going to need a lot more nation-sweeping storms to reverse this worrisome trend. The Drought Monitor writers said, “For the Lower 48 states, there has not been this much drought shown on the U.S. Drought Monitor since December 2022. Areas of the Southeast that were impacted by significant precipitation associated with landfalling hurricanes have dried out rapidly, with some locations recording zero precipitation since the hurricanes.”

If you want something to worry about after election results become clear later this week, the Drought Monitor is updated every Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed when you hit the “refresh” button.

Section by Michael Booth | Reporter

If you made it this far, you might have more snow to shovel, too. Good luck with that, and drive safe!

— Michael & John

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