Response from the Mayor

Here are the latest responses from the Mayor, council, and City staff, followed by my response to their responses.


In response to constituents asking the City to maximize DER and Vehicle to Grid electric vehicles, Mayor Arndt wrote:

"Thank you for writing to me. I’ll copy the interim Director of utilities here who can get you a complete answer on our solar plan, our commitment to our climate future, and our DER strategy. I think you’ll find our plans to be of some of the most advanced in the country as we’ve been committed to clean energy future earlier than the most municipalities I know.   

As Mayor of Fort Collins, I was selected to attend the COP 28 in Dubai last fall. One of 10 United States mayors. This is in recognition of our work date in the clean energy space, and our commitment to the future.  In January I was elected to an international board for communities committed to clean energy. I only say this to point out that Fort Collins is on the forefront of these issues and we’re working hard to make sure we meet the future demands of climate change.

Thank you for caring about our community.

Kindly,

Jeni Arndt, Mayor of Fort Collins

970-413-3146"

My response:

At least she's acknowledged that citizens have concerns. She doesn't address them or commit to learning more about them, but she knows you exist. Weird grammar aside, she is correct that Fort Collins was early to the game in setting goals, and we got accolades and recognition for doing so. Unfortunately, when it comes to taking action, Fort Collins is at the back of the pack (https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/04/platte-river-power-authority-greenhouse-gas-reductions/). Jeni's message is "Don't worry. We got this." But they don't.

Jeni's flight to Dubai produced 5.6 tons of CO2. She came back with an application for a $50k grant for "youth engagement". I haven't been able to find any info on the grant or what "youth engagement" means, but I'd be surprised if this grant leads to 5.6 tons of CO2 reduction. 

Despite being elected to an international board and claiming commitment, the Mayor can't address your concerns. Instead she passes your concerns to the interim utility director, who passes the buck to the energy services manager, who says the same thing as Jeni, but with more detail. There is one new addition to the renewable energy program this year. They added home batteries to the solar rebate program, which is great if you are in the market for home batteries, but doesn't have any meaningful impact on the plans to build more gas plants. Denver is taking real, meaningful action to reach their goal of 30% DER by 2030. Jeni doesn't seem to know that this is happening, but she's convinced that Fort Collins' goal of 5% makes us a leader.

Rather than throw our hands in the air and give up, CforSE is going to step up the communication. We are planning to attend as many Tuesday evening council meetings as possible to speak during public comment. Council has a much more difficult time ignoring us in public with the cameras on. 20 or so folks speaking on the same topic gets their attention!

Would you like to join us on a Tuesday evening (first and third Tuesday of the month) at City Hall? The time commitment is from 6:30 to about 8pm. You will have a maximum of 2 minutes to speak. Honesty, it's kinda fun. Nobody judges anyone's public speaking. There is a real atmosphere of camaraderie among us citizens in the audience. Let me know if you can make it, and we'll make plans.

Hopefully the leadership that you and other citizens are showing will inspire the Mayor to step up and lead Fort Collins into a bright renewable energy future.


Here’s that response from FCU:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding our Community’s renewable electricity efforts. Fort Collins’ City Council adopted the Our Climate Future (OCF) plan in 2021, which is a community guide to help create a carbon neutral, zero waste, and 100% renewable electricity future, while also improving community equity and resilience (fcgov.com/climateaction). The plan includes multiple goals, with the following two directly related to renewable electricity:

• Provide 100% renewable electricity by 2030 with grid and local sources

• Provide 5% of community electricity from local distributed renewable sources by 2030

The OCF plan also identifies foundational strategies to advance the installation of renewables locally in Fort Collins. Included in these strategies, Fort Collins Utilities launched “solar boost” incentives in early 2024, enhancing existing programs with increased incentives for new local residential solar and battery storage systems (fcgov.com/solarrebates). This will support our continued progress toward the above 5% local renewable goal, with the Community already achieving 3.2% in 2023 (up from 2.6% in 2022 and 2.2% in 2021).

Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), our local generation and transmission provider for delivered electricity, also has planned increases in new renewable generation starting in 2025 and each year to 2030. When including the renewables included in our distribution grid and the mix provided from PRPA, our community’s annual electric usage comes from approximately 50% non-carbon resources (wind, solar and hydro). Utilities has a commitment to the ongoing adoption of efficient building equipment to reduce overall electricity consumption, and supports incentive programs and policies that enable all electric buildings in our future.

I am also happy to share that Utilities has regularly collaborated with CSU / Energy Institute for many years. Included in the collaboration is the recent development of a real time community solar model that will help conceptualize solar generation in our community, and how this energy may impact Platte River Power Authority in a future energy market ( link here: https://apps.fcgov.com/community-solar-generation/). Additionally, Utilities seeks to partner with CSU on a data analysis exercise related to increasing the opportunity for level 3 electric vehicle charging in Fort Collins.

Finally, I’d like to share the attached presentation of the steps being taken to deploy a comprehensive Virtual Power Plant here in Fort Collins. PRPA and Utilities are partnering to deploy the necessarily software to support community wide DERs, which is foundational for our future energy supply.

Thanks again for writing, and we’d be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Brian Tholl 

(he/him/his)

Energy Services Sr. Manager

Fort Collins Utilities – Energy Services

Here Brian acknowledges that Fort Collins DER goal is only 5% by 2030. He doesn’t mention that Denver’s goal is 30% and that academic research suggests 45% of US electric demand could be met with rooftop solar. He mentions that progress has been made over the years on renewable energy, which is true and good, but doesn’t address the questions or requests of the constituents. If you’re in the market for home batteries, then FCU’s new battery rebate program might be good for you, but it doesn’t move the needle much on preventing new gas plants. The mentioned collaboration with CSU is a joke. The graph provides very little useful information and the links to potentially useful information don’t work. He doesn’t mention that FCU turned down CSU on collaborating to create a VPP, or that FCU blocked a developer from implementing vehicle to grid and VPP in their new neighborhood. The presentation that he attached demonstrates that the utility is concerned with managing VPP, not maximizing potential.

They are responding to citizen request with public relations and a dog and pony show. Fort Collins residents need and deserve better leadership from our local elected officials.

Long Term Goal: Virtual Power Plant

Email Action

To: Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt. jarndt@fcgov.com

Fort Collins City Manager Kelly Dimartino. kdimartino@fcgov.com

Subject: Solar/Virtual Power Plant Advocate

Say whatever you like in the body of your email. Our main request is that Fort Collins Utilities prioritize local energy production and a Fort Collins Virtual Power Plant, and work to minimize the need for fossil fuel generation.


Last year Community for Sustainable Energy got Poudre School District to agree to explore solar options. This year we are continuing to work with PSD, and working to get Fort Collins Utilities (FCU) to help the schools, and to modernize the Fort Collins electric grid to achieve what is known as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP).

 

What the heck is a Virtual Power Plant?

 

·       Local Distributed Energy Resources (DER), such as solar, electric vehicles, brewery biogas, and smart water heaters networked together to provide electricity for a community.

·      DER’s are owned by individual local ratepayers (such as schools, businesses, residents) sharing energy in a co-op model.

·       Brattle Group study:  VPP is 40%-60% more cost effective for consumers than traditional power plants.

·       Utilities from coast to coast are developing VPP to replace coal and gas, and increase reliability.

·       Fortune 500 companies and investment bankers are developing VPP to harvest savings as profit.

·       VPP… a weird name for a Networked Distributed Energy System. What shall we call the FTC VPP?

 

Why Should Fort Collins pursue VPP?

·       Fort Collins electric rates increase 5% per year. With VPP rates can go down, not up.

·       VPPs have an economic multiplier of 2.5x, meaning that every dollar spent generates $2.50 in local economic activity. Our current energy system has an economic multiplier of 0.2. We send $250,000,000.00 annually out of Fort Collins for electricity. If we can put half of that into VPP then we can increase our local economy by $312 million annually!

·       DER reduce pollution and are rapidly deployable. Giant wind and solar projects take more than 5 yrs to deploy, face local opposition, and can’t be built fast enough to meet Fort Collins’ 2030 climate goals. 

How can Fort Collins achieve VPP?

·       CSU’s Energy Institute has been a pioneer in this space since the 1990s and is eager to help.

·       Fort Collins is a prime candidate for one of the $250 million VPP grants from the Department of Energy.

What does Fort Collins need to do now? 

·       Denver has a DER goal of 30% by 2030. FCU’s goal is 5% of electricity coming from DERs by 2030. We’ll surpass that goal without any additional help from FCU. Their approach appears to be to manage DER growth rather than to maximize potential.

·       A different approach would be to partner with experts from CSU, Rocky Mountain Institute, National Renewable Energy Lab, and elsewhere to form a “DER accelerator” to work on maximizing DER.

·       Local solar is a key DER. A FCU “Solar Advocate” employee could work on policy and implementation to build out local solar potential now, while electric vehicles and other technology become more widely adopted.

·       Platte River Power Authority (FTC’s electricity provider) wants ratepayers to pony up $300 million for four fossil gas plant, locking us into expensive gas generated electricity for the foreseeable future. We need VPP before that happens.

How can you help? 

·       Spend 20 minutes Googling Virtual Power Plant and Brattle Group to have your mind blown and get inspired.

·       Join us at City Council meetings, call and write the City, talk to everybody about Virtual Power Plants!

Fred @ city council Oct 17, 2023

Solar on City Owned Facilities

Email Action to Mayor and City Manager

Mayor Jeni Arndt claims to support the goal of maximizing solar potential in Fort Collins. The City has a done a great job of promoting residential solar, yet they have done very little to maximize their own solar potential. For comparison, CSU has 11 MW of solar while the City only has 1.4 MW. How much solar should the City have? What are solar best practices for the City to adopt? 

The first step towards maximizing solar is to discover what the City’s solar potential is. This can be achieved through an audit which the City has not done. Mayor Jeni Arndt doesn’t think an audit is necessary despite advise from utility staff that an audit could lead to lower costs and more complete projects. The City’s piecemeal approach to solar creates under-developed projects: The Edora Pool and Ice Center solar project is about 1/3 the size it could be. The City just used a state grant to add batteries to the Aztlan Center project, which is nice, but that project could be 50% bigger. CSU, on the other hand, has a solar master plan and their rooftop solar projects are sized to maximize available space.

CSU Recreation Center. CSU maximizes available space for solar

Fort Collins EPIC. Solar not maximized to available space

Maximizing solar on City facilities would reduce pollution, save tax payers money, and support a Fort Collins Virtual Power Plant.

Our best estimate is that the City could host 20-30 MW of solar if they get serious about it. That’s 20 times what they have now. In response to our campaign, Fort Collins Utilities released a spreadsheet of existing, and potential, City solar projects. They claim to have achieved 40% of their potential. The spreadsheet is comically inaccurate. For example, it counts solar on fire stations in LaPorte and Timnath as Fort Collins projects, but makes no mention of fires stations in Fort Collins. They didn’t respond to questions about that. When asked what the plan is to achieve the other 60%, they said they don’t have a plan.

How are we supposed to trust the Mayor when she says she supports maximizing solar throughout Fort Collins, when she doesn’t even have a plan to maximize solar on City buildings?

Please write a short email to the Mayor and City Manager. It’s best to use your own wording and add some of your thoughts, but you can copy and paste from below.

To: jarndt@fcgov.com, kdimartino@fcgov.com 

cc: cforse.fred@gmail.com

Subject: Solar on City Property

Body:

Dear City Manager Kelly DiMartino, and Mayor Jeni Arndt,

Thank you for making sustainability a priority in City planning and for empowering home owners to go solar. Why is the City so far behind CSU when it comes to solar?

Sincerely,

Solar on Schools

Key Points:

  • Poudre School District (PSD) could benefit from maximizing solar adoption to: Reduce Pollution, Save Money, and Teach Students about the solar industry.

  • We started this campaign in Sept 2021 and were told flat out “No” to rooftop solar at PSD.

  • On June 14, 2022 (in response to community demand) the school board approved a plan to pursue a rooftop solar feasibility study.

  • In August 2023 McKinstry presented their solar feasibility study to PSD and recommended six solar projects ready to go. PSD staff has put this study on a shelf, wanting to wait until an unrelated bond issue is voted on.

  • PSD could be using this time to explore financing options. We now need to hold PSD accountable to following through with the implementation of “Best Practices” for solar.


Please send a quick email to Superintendent Brian Kingsley asking him to support an implementation of best practices for solar at PSD facilities.

Thank you!

Superintendent Brian Kingsley: bkingsley@psdschools.org

Contact me for more info or to get involved: cforse.fred@gmail.com


Benefits of schools going solar:

  • Reduce pollution. PSD might be able to bring over 25 MW of solar to the local grid. That’s the equivalent of 5,000 average sized home solar arrays!

  • Save schools money. Denver Public Schools are saving over $1 million per year through their solar program. That’s money that goes right back to the classroom. PSD can do the same!

  • Prepare students for solar jobs. High schools in Pennsylvania are using their solar projects to get students solar certificates so they are ready for the job market upon graduation. Solar jobs pay well and we need a lot of workers in the industry to meet national climate goals.

Latest responses from PSD:

9/12/23 - In a meeting with CforSE director Fred Kirsch, energy guru Bill Althouse, PSD energy manager Trudy Trimbath and PSD Operations Director Jeff Connell, we discussed the exciting potential of maximizing solar, electric busses, and building efficiency to turn PSD’s electric bill liability into revenue generating energy assets. We all also expressed our displeasure with the quality of the McKinstry solar feasibility study. The study excludes any building without a brand new roof and is riddled with incomplete calculations and a + or - 20% confidence interval, casting serious doubt on the validity, and usefulness, of the conclusions.

3/7/23 - McKinstry presented to the board their plan for a comprehensive energy study of PSD facilities, including evaluation of solar at 51 sites. This study should be complete by year’s end. See above youtube clip for details.

10/23/22 - PSD has completed the RFP for the solar feasibility study and will be presenting recommendations to the Board for choice of contractor on December 13th. We will be there (please join us) to advocate that the study be thorough and lead to timely action getting solar on roofs.

6/14/22 - Facilities Director Matt Bryant presented a preliminary plan to the board of education to commission a feasibility study to determine best practices for solar and a path forward. This is what we’ve been asking for! Now that they have stated intent, we need make sure they follow through with action. Matt did not provide a timeline for getting the feasibility study. He also left out the slide in his presentation about how solar could save PSD money. We are asking for both of those things and hope to hear back soon.

Here’s the link to the presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFbopmLcVRc My comments begin at 1:06:34. The presentation begins at 1:38:50.

5/24/22 - I met with Super Intendent Brian Kingsley and Facilities Director Matt Bryant today to learn about PSDs current solar projects and discuss their plans for the future. I also alerted them to a study that had been done for PSD in 2016 that explored their rooftop potential. The study identified 7 MW of projects ready to go at that time (about the size of 1,300 residential solar arrays). They were unaware of this study’s existence. The researcher has since reshared the study with them.

In addition to 25 kW of rooftop solar, PSD is also invested in either Xcel or PVREA solar gardens (Matt wasn’t sure which). Matt is interested in investing in more solar garden investment and putting solar on the bus shed, and in a remote location. He does not want to do rooftop solar out of concern that it might cause leaks and prevent access to HVAC and other rooftop equipment.

Matt’s concerns have long been addressed by standard solar practices and building codes. Bethke Elementary has had rooftop solar since 2009 with no known leaks or other problems. CSU has tons of rooftop solar. Denver Schools have over 40 rooftop solar arrays. Leaving out rooftop solar would potentially leave out millions of dollars in savings for PSD.

From Matt Bryant, 1/19/22

Dear Sascha,

 

My name is Matt Bryant. I am responding as the Executive Director of Operations, on behalf of Superintendent Kingsley, regarding your communications received by District personnel. We appreciate your inquiry and realize the importance of renewable energy to our community.

 

Poudre School District (PSD) has an exemplary record of reducing non-classroom operating costs through efficiency improvements and energy design standards, including community solar programs through Xcel Energy and PVREA. PSD is interested in renewable energy options, including but not limited to community solar gardens and site-based solar arrays. PSD is always interested in building relationships with community partnerships to identify funding sources for renewable energy options.

 

PSD is continuing work on the Sustainability Management Plan (SMP) in which we address renewable energy and utilize available resources from public and private organizations in the development of energy efficiency projects. 

 

We appreciate the time your organization is dedicating to improving renewable energy projects for our community and including PSD in these plans. If you would like to discuss any alternative options including potential funding resources, please contact me.

From PSD Board Chairman Robert Petterson, 12/13/2021

Mr. Kirsch,

 

Thank you for contacting me about the possibility of solar on our schools.  Personally, I am a huge fan of solar energy and have put solar on the roofs of my last two houses.  And I would like nothing better than to expand the use of solar through PSD.

 

Having said that, the district is maxed out right now with the priorities we have.  These obviously include strong educational initiatives in the face of the pandemic and, for our operations team, completion of the projects promised in the 2016 bond, among other things.  Taking on even an investigation of solar would displace one of these other priorities, which we cannot do at this time.

 

I will keep your email and your strong interest in supporting us toward sustainable energy in mind for possible follow-up down the road.

 

Thank you again

Here is a response to our request for information from October 2021:

Dear Mr. Kirsch, 

I wanted to reach out after being made aware of statements that CFORSE made about the construction of PSD schools and solar energy. 

As I shared in our previous email exchange, the district is not seeking to install additional solar on school rooftops using funds leftover in the construction process or from any other source. This is an important clarification to CFORSE's statements that were shared with me.

That said, I am open to meeting with community partners to discuss possible future renewable energy options, such as covered parking with solar arrays or community/site-based solar gardens. PSD does not currently have an identified funding source for solar installations but would be interested in pursuing community partnerships or funding that would be available to PSD to address renewable energy options.  

Thank you, 

Matt Bryant

Executive Director of Operations

“Push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.”

Attributed — Sir Francis Drake — 1577


Utility Owned Distributed Solar

Main Points:

  • Utilizing the UODS model, Fort Collins Utilities might be able to add enough solar to large roofs in town (think schools) to power 24,000 homes in Fort Collins.

  • This investment might bring $100,000 per month to the local economy.

  • City Council needs to hear from us to make this a priority.

What is Utility Owned Distributes Solar (UODS)

In 2017 Fort Collins Utilities (FCU) agreed to study a solar business model known as Utility Owned Distributed Solar (UODS). FCU would lease large roofs and parking lots to install their own solar panels. The property owner (school, church, commercial/industrial space) would get a rent check, and FCU would get the electricity to power our town. UODS might be able to power roughly 24,000 homes, and reinvest over $100,000 per month in the local economy.

For examples:

  • A high school could earn thousands of dollars per month—enough to pay a teacher’s salary—by leasing its roof to FCU. 

  • FCU might lease a commercial parking lot for 25 years and build solar canopies. Then the owner could pass along lower rents to tenants.

  • A church or other non-profit could raise thousands of dollars per year by leasing its roof or parking lot to FCU.

So, who pays for the solar panels? FCU’s electric revenue is projected to average 15.3 cents/kWh over the life of the solar project (2023-2058). The complete cost of UODS might average 10.7 cents/kWh. That leaves 4.6 cents/kWh to pay the rent to the school, or church, or local business. For a high school-sized roof that works out to over $53,000 per year.

CforSE has urged City Council and FCU for four years now to complete a study of UODS. Both agreed to study the model in 2017, but they have yet to produce a quality study. If the City gets crackin on this then we can present it to the Poudre School Board to be implemented in 2023 or 2024, but first we need a study to present to them.

Please email City Council and ask them to…

Hire an independent firm to complete the study of Utility Owned Distributed Solar and to decide based on that study if this model works for Fort Collins.

IF YOU LIVE IN THIS PART OF TOWN... COUNCILPERSON IS...

East of College, North of Drake Susan Gutowsky - sgutowsky@fcgov.com

East of College between Drake and Harmony Julie Pignataro - jpignataro@fcgov.com

East of College, South of Harmony Tricia Canocino - tcanocino@fcgov.com

West of College, South of South of Horsetooth. Shirley Peel - speel@fcgov.com

West of College between Horsetooth and Prospect Kelly Ohlson - kohlson@fcgov.com

West of College, North of Prospect Emily Francis - efrancis@fcgov.com

If you are unsure of who your councilperson is then you can email Mayor Jeni Arndt - jarndt@fcgov.com

Thank you!




Petition to replace Northern Colorado coal with Renewables

***In lieu of knocking on doors in these times we are asking folks to participate in our on-line actions and fundraising. Please remember that we are 100% funded by viewers like you. Thank you***


From our friends at Colorado Sierra Club…

Sign the petition calling on PRPA to chart the path to northern Colorado’s clean energy future!

When the city of Fort Collins committed to a goal of achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030, it was the broad public support--and achievability--of that goal, that moved 6 out of 7 councilmembers to vote “yes.” On the night of the city vote in October of 2018, “dozens of people filled the council chambers” and called on Fort Collins city councilmembers to commit to charting a path for Fort Collins’ clean energy future.

Just 9 months prior to Fort Collins making its 100% renewable commitment, the city of Longmont committed to its own goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2030. Along with sharing the same commitment to 100% clean energy, the cities of Fort Collins & Longmont share a regional electric power provider. That utility--Platte River Power Authority (PRPA)--serves the four cities of Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, and Estes Park. After more than a year of community-member led campaigning from all four cities, PRPA committed to their own goal of achieving a 100% non-carbon resource mix by 2030. Next, the cities of Estes Park & Loveland passed city resolutions supporting PRPA’s goal.

Fast forward to March of 2020, and PRPA is currently in the process of finalizing its long-term energy plan, or Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). With just 10 short years away from the 2030 clean energy target, PRPA’s IRP is critical to creating a plan for achieving its city & utility 100% renewable energy goals. Yet despite this fact, PRPA still has no plans to retire its 280 MW Rawhide coal plant. In fact, Rawhide is not slated to retire until 2046--16 years after the 2030 target. Furthermore, PRPA is even considering building a new gas plant in 2036, despite city commitments to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030. 

Fortunately, PRPA’s IRP is a window of opportunity for community members in all four cities to call on PRPA to honor its member city commitments to 100% renewable electricity by planning for the retirement of the Rawhide coal plant. Community members are also calling on PRPA to commit to not building any new fracked gas plants that will burden communities with fossil fuel debt and hinder the achievement of any 100% renewable goals. Additionally, community members are demanding that PRPA use the Social Cost of Carbon in this planning process to account for the true costs of climate change on our communities from natural disasters to weakened infrastructure. Unlike investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy or Black Hills, PRPA is not required by the state to use the $46 per ton of CO2 Social Cost of Carbon in their resource planning. Yet including the Social Cost of Carbon in any resource planning is imperative to account for the community health, environmental, and economic burden of the continued burning of fossil fuels.

There are many things community members in Northern Colorado can do to make their voices heard through this process, but with PRPA’s IRP wrapping up by June, the window of opportunity is closing. 

Take action now:

  1. Sign the petition calling on PRPA to chart the path to northern Colorado’s clean energy future!

  2. Email your city councilmember & Mayor asking them to hold PRPA accountable to the city & utility 100% renewable goals! Find their contact information here.

Have a question or want to get more involved? Reach out to Sierra Club Beyond Coal Organizer Sarah Snead at sarah.snead@sierraclub.org or 443-974-6291

A conservative fights for Solar

Capitalist for Conservation by
Michael Pruznick

I am the proud owner of the premier privately funded free market residential rooftop net-positive solar array in the city. AT 32 KW, the array is rated to produce enough green energy to power more than five average homes for less than the government owned utility charges. My journey began in 2011, when the city created the Sustainability Department with the awesome goal to, "increase coordination, accountability, and collaboration amongst the three functions of sustainability." Armed with data showing residential rooftop solar would pay for itself over its lifetime, I went to the outreach roadshows and advocated for net-zero building codes. At the time, the city leaders were not ready for the shift, and in many ways, they still are not. I hope the success of my project will be their inspiration.

As for me, I was ready, willing, and able. By 2013, I had my first net-positive design ready. Unfortunately, my design was too green for one of the greenest cities in the world. The city didn't want to make net-metering payouts nor did it want to upgrade my transformer. So, I downsized the project to meet these requirements and got the unofficial thumbs up. But, it came with an unexpected caveat. I had to comply with the 120% Rule first, a law that prohibits a home from using solar to offset natgas and gasoline use. Climate Change cannot be solved with such restrictions, so I spent the next few years trying to change this policy with no luck.

Eventually, the city unwittingly caved in. By changing their electric rate structure from expensive tiers to time-of- day with unlimited low-cost off-peak, they made it affordable for me to comply by converting from clean natgas to dirty coal-fired electricity. However, before I could complete the transition, they changed the law and cut the amount of solar I qualified for in half. This killed my fossil fuel free project. The Greening of America isn't a cost or technical issue, it is a political issue.

I wish I could find something good to say about the government's environmental agenda, but five council members that ran to protect the environment voted to harm it. I offered the two new council members, "I would like to invite both of you to my home to show you what I'm doing," and they declined. As part of HB19-1261, The State Climate Action Plan, I made my state legislators the offer, "Let me know if either of you would like a tour of my house and detailed presentation," but they too declined. With Climate Advocates like these, the Climate Deniers can retire.

I would like to thank CFORCE for understanding how my solution represents the moderate middle by giving the right the lower cost they want and the left more renewables sooner. Tired of waiting for the government to embrace renewables? Tired of hearing how it will cost more? Then, do your part to support residential rooftop solar for less by becoming a PruzLabs member today.