A new low on the Colorado River
The Colorado River has two big reservoirs, Mead and Powell. The amount of water they contained on Sunday was the lowest ever recorded since 1957 — before there was a Lake Powell.
Water trial of the century
An aquifer in Colorado’s San Luis Valley keeps dropping. A plan to address this has been challenged. A Q&A with native son Chris Lopez about why he thinks this is the water trial of the century.
The day that Joe Biden toured NREL
Ed Perlmutter tells about having to lay down the law to the vice president. Aviator glasses wouldn’t cut it. Not if wanted to see the renewable energy experiments.
Colorado’s energy milestone (elevator-ride version)
State got 53% of its electricity from renewable sources in first quarter of 2026. We will go much higher, but for an affordable 100% we still need some answers.
Colorado’s milestone of 53% renewables (cup of coffee version)
More than half the state’s electricity came from wind, solar and hydro during the first months of 2026. Higher levels yet are coming, but should 100% be the goal now?
A wrong turn at the renewable energy laboratory
Former staff member explains what NREL accomplished and why the United States has wrongly ceded leadership in the energy transition to China
What if next year looks like this one?
The nagging, unanswerable question as Colorado River states struggle to share the diminished river
Should feds permanently buy down Colorado River demands?
Dust Bowl caused federal government to buy 1.1 million acres. Climate change could justify federal aid to reducee demands on the Colorado River.
Will El Niño ride to the Colorado River’s rescue?
Maybe but don’t count on it. But have you heard the latest on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation? Not good!
Xcel Energy’s worries about short-term resource adequacy
Why the company wants to spend $77 million-plus to shore up generating capacity during for 2027 and 2028
A doctor, the data & Colorado’s White River
The river carried peaked early this year and with little water, part of a clear pattern during the past 25 years documented by Bob Dorsett.
Closer to the ending than the beginning
The Colorado and the Republican rivers differ greatly in fundamental ways but they share a critical challenge. More conservation will be crucial. It needs to happen very quickly.
Xcel takes it on the chin in public comments
Two speakers, one from Minturn and the other from Boulder, have hard things to say about monopoly utilities
A more appropriate geography for Mike Kruger
States and provinces in the Western electric grid have many common challenges. Can the Institute for Western Energy that he will oversee help them formulate solutions?
Elbert County asking court to block Xcel’s transmission line
Says PUC approval of 48 miles of transmission line was ignored, disregarded and determined to be insignificant local input
A smarter way to bring data centers to Colorado
Texas — yes Texas — may offer an approach that could best serve Colorado’s needs for clean energy and low-water impacts
Behind-the-curtain politics of a Colorado River conference
Doug Kenney, principal organizer of annual gathering in Boulder, talks about how the growing tensions among basin states pose challenges in setting the agenda
Along the Elk River, earlier springs and more uncertainty
Jay Fetcher faithfully records the date the last snow disappears from the ranch meadow. This year was the earliest by a matter of weeks.
100% for Holy Cross during March
Colorado electrical cooperative has delivered 92% emissions-free energy this year through April to members in its Vail-Aspen-Parachute service area
The Colorado River and reckoning time for the Front Range
Dissonance exists between life-close-to-normal policies regarding urban water use and the growing crisis on the river
