Moving to a new and clean energy economy is now more important than ever. As costs for renewable energy and storage come down, and innovative solutions for grid modernization and transportation increase, our Center continues to work with government and industry leaders to advance the equitable transition to a clean energy economy. – Bill Ritter Jr., 41st Governor of Colorado and Director of the Center for the New Energy Economy
We are pleased to highlight some of our favorite achievements from the last eight years:
8 Founded in February of 2011 as a department of Colorado State University, CNEE has spent the last eight years helping policymakers and stakeholders across the nation advance the transition to a clean energy economy.
7 CNEE hosted Energy Symposiums for seven years, first as the Natural Gas Symposium and more recently as the 21st Century Energy Transition symposium. The goal of this symposium is to bring stakeholders and energy leaders together to discuss broad impacts and solutions in energy. This year’s 21st Century Energy Transition Symposium, now hosted by the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory, will be held this April, in Denver.
6 The Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker has tracked legislation introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for six years. The database continues to expand, is updated daily, and information related to over 20,000 bills (to date) is publicly available for free.
5 It has been five years since CNEE released the Powering Forward Plan for the Obama administration. The report offered more than 200 recommendations for his administration to move the clean energy economy forward.
4 CNEE’s State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) for Clean Energy has allowed users to search across five key energy policy areas to see how their state is doing on various energy policy issues compared to other states for four years running.
3 The Repowering the Western Economy project has worked with western states to develop energy and air quality policies for three years. Work with western states includes convening utilities, meeting with local stakeholders, and conducting emissions and relevant policy research.
2 CNEE has hosted two annual Clean Energy Legislative Academies. These events bring together state legislators from around the nation to learn about, discuss, and collaborate in a non-partisan way on the development of clean energy policy solutions.
1 The Center for the New Energy Economy has one incredible team! Impactful clean energy policy change is needed now more than ever as scientists predict we have only 12 years left to prevent irreversible and decades-long damage. We are very proud of what we have accomplished thus far and are excited for the coming years.
In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
