Steve Pomerance

Many claims have been made about what Boulder’s recent survey really means regarding attitudes toward growth. Just looking at the survey responses gives one impression, but carefully reviewing the survey document itself to see whether it provides accurate and complete background material gives quite another. Unfortunately, much of the material for the growth questions was simply inadequate, and, as a result, respondents would likely choose answers that were more pro-growth than if they were given better information. It’s not that what the survey said was wrong, but, in many instances, what was missing was far more important than what was included. Here are some examples; see what you think: The “Background” for the growth management questions states that by 2040 we may see an additional 18,000+ more residents and a similar number of more jobs. But these numbers are not even close to what Boulder could be if fully built out. How would survey respondents know this, since the “Backgro...

Last week, I heard about a radical improvement to battery storage. These “flow batteries” are much cheaper than the current technology, with costs expected to drop by half or more. Commercial production is anticipated within a few years. Less expensive batteries will allow wind and solar energy to serve our demands much more cost-effectively, because they allow us to match this variable supply to our relatively inflexible demand by storing renewably generated energy when supply exceeds demand and then using it when demand exceeds supply. This would be in addition to our current ability to manage demand by, for example, cycling cooling loads at peak times, creating ice at night (using the excess wind energy that occurs then) to do cooling during the day, or running clothes dryers at off-peak hours. Not only do batteries allow a utility to flatten its demand curve, but they may allow the utility to avoid having to contract for committed backup power adequate for its peak load. When a...