I love clean banks, and I've wanted to talk to someone about them on the podcast! Fortunately, Colorado has a green bank, and its Executive Director Paul Scharfenberger was willing to come on the podcast and talk about them with me. In this episode we talk finance, Colorado clean energy, and even a touch of nuclear.  Because of course we did! Links to the Colorado Clean Energy Fund and numbers quoted in this episode are below:

Colorado Clean Energy Fund

https://www.cocleanenergyfund.com/

American Green Bank Consortium

https://greenbankconsortium.org/annual-industry-report

Vogtle 3 and 4 Costs

https://www.powermag.com/cost-overruns-at-vogtle-expected-to-soar/

Bryan Hannegan, president and CEO of Holy Cross Energy joins me to discuss the advantages and challenges of smaller utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and community choice aggregates in the clean energy transition. 

Find Bryan on twitter at:

https://twitter.com/bjhanneg?s=20

Find more information about Holy Cross Energy at:

https://www.holycross.com/

Tim Hade is a co-founder of Scale Microgrid Solutions, a company focused on deploying microgrids for large customers using a unique business model. On this episode we talk about his unique background and how to navigate the energy industry with people who might not share your same values. We also talk about the business models and trends of microgrids. 

Find Scale Microgrid Solutions online:

https://scalemicrogridsolutions.com/

Tim Hade is on twitter at 

@timothyhade

The Pew research that I referenced in this episode can be found here:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/21/how-americans-see-climate-change-and-the-environment-in-7-charts/

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/24/plurality-of-americans-support-current-level-of-defense-spending/

Mike Kruger, CEO of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association, or COSSA, joined me to discuss plans for states to support clean energy. Specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are low-cost options for states to continue to support economic activity in clean energy while also protecting workers. Mike recently published an article outlining these options in Utility Dive that can be found here:

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/a-playbook-to-jumpstart-clean-energy-across-all-50-states/575452/

You can find out more about COSSA at the website:

https://cossa.co/

Mike can be found on twitter @mikekruger

Julia Pyper is an incredible reporter in the energy space. Although she isn't from Colorado, she was willing to discuss some of the nuances of a clean energy transition that could affect our state.

Will Toor is the head of the Colorado Energy office and has been leading the relationship between the Colorado Legislature and Governor Polis. Will joins me today to discuss what the state energy office is doing to promote clean energy, and what are some of the next steps in a state whose largest utility has already committed to carbon free electricity by 2050.

Former Governor Bill Ritter joins me to talk about Energy Issues facing Colorado, the Center for the New Energy Economy, and where his focus is on decarbonisation.