SIGNED! Five Clean Energy Policies Become Law

DENVER, CO – Today, the governor signed five landmark clean energy bills into law that will accelerate progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals, work toward a regionally connected electricity grid, and set green building standards.

“In 2019, Colorado made historic progress in establishing greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and paving a pathway toward a net-zero emissions energy economy. However, the work has only just begun,” said Senator Chris Hansen (D-Denver). “I am so proud of the progress we made this session to help fill in the blanks in our greenhouse gas reduction roadmap, and these laws will bring the reality of a clean energy future closer than ever before.”

Specifically, SB21-072 will transition Colorado toward a regional transmission organization while simultaneously interconnecting the grid, enhancing grid reliability, decreasing costs for utilities and ratepayers, and increasing capacity for renewable energy that will help us reach our statewide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

SB21-264 will establish a clean heat standard and encourage natural gas utilities to capture and utilize methane that is currently being leaked from agricultural operations, landfills, wastewater plants, and coalbeds, which will simultaneously reduce the amount of methane leaking into our atmosphere and offset the need for additional fossil fuel extraction.

HB21-1284 is a bipartisan bill that seeks to reduce the barriers and costs to solar energy installation, which is critical to our long-term energy independence, sustainability, and stability and allow Colorado to continue to foster an environment where renewable energy technologies can be deployed easily and effectively.

HB21-1238 directs the Public Utilities Commission to set energy savings targets for gas utilities to expand energy efficiency programs and help more customers cut energy waste. Additionally, this bill takes a major step in accurate greenhouse gas accounting by setting the social cost of methane and requiring the PUC to consider it in evaluating the cost-benefit ratio of natural gas utilities

Lastly, HB21-1286, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senator Brittany Pettersen, would require the owners of certain large commercial buildings to collect and report energy use to the Colorado Energy Office, and by 2026, to demonstrate that they have met new energy efficiency performance standards. 

“As we work to address economy-wide emission reductions, we must be calculated and purposeful in tackling sector-specific emissions as well,” said Senator Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood). “The building sector has long been an overlooked component of our statewide emissions, even though it contributes to 20% of our greenhouse gas pollution. This law will make substantial progress toward benchmarking building sector emissions which will create good jobs, save businesses money on their energy bills, and advance Colorado’s commitment to climate action.”

This policy will help tenants and businesses save money on their energy costs while creating jobs for workers skilled in energy efficiency retrofits, mechanical system upgrades, electrical work, engineering, and recommissioning.