Energy, Environment, and the Green Future

The public trust doctrine’s foundation lies in English common law and was initially established to protect public commerce along navigable waterways. It has since been recognized in the United States in the landmark case, Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Illinois. In this case, the Court determined that all navigable waters in the United States and land under them are held in public trust by the government for the public interest. “Water is a ‘commons’ good that no single person government should keep for their own.”

Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories constitute at least 28% of the global land surface. Indigenous people represent 5,000 unique cultures worldwide, and they protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. At the same time, despite having contributed the least to climate change, many indigenous people will experience the most drastic impacts from it if humans don’t ramp up renewable energy production rapidly and worldwide. Yet is it possible to do so without repeating the atrocities of the past or worsening indigenous peoples’ circumstances in the present?

From record heat waves to hurricanes to unprecedented wildfires, the devastating consequences of climate change continue to ravage our cities. One of the most recent examples of these impacts is the Lahaina wildfire.

Water and solar energy are the building blocks of life—especially in the arid West. An emerging technology takes advantage of both has the potential to provide 50% of the world’s ongoing energy needs through a clean, green new technology: Floating photovoltaics (FPVs). Alternatively known “aquavoltaics”1 (AVs), “floating solar arrays,” or “floatovoltaics,” FPVs can increase sustainable energy production while decreasing the costs and ecological concerns related to terrestrial solar arrays.

Thinking about the utility companies that bring electricity and gas to your house may be among the least interesting ways to spend your time, but increasingly, people around the country are more focused on who their utility provider is. Utility companies have been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, like causing forest fires, price manipulation litigation, and grave warnings about steep price increases. With all this bad press, the question arises, what is going on with these companies?

If you’ve ever joined a grocery store co-op, you are familiar with the cooperative as an organizing structure. Co-ops have deep roots in American rural society and the populist movement of the late 19th century, which led to the development of decentralized organizations like The Grange. The Grange supported rural communities by communally organizing sales and profits of goods including wheat, wool, and tobacco, and created communal stores for their members.

Water and solar energy are the building blocks of life—especially in the arid West. An emerging technology takes advantage of both has the potential to provide 50% of the world’s ongoing energy needs through a clean, green new technology: Floating photovoltaics (FPVs). Alternatively known “aquavoltaics”1 (AVs), “floating solar arrays,” or “floatovoltaics,” FPVs can increase sustainable energy production while decreasing the costs and ecological concerns related to terrestrial solar arrays.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is a colorless, odorless gas that has been brought center stage in the debate around renewable energy.

“It’s like Dr. Seuss down there,” according to Diva Amon, a scientist who studies the marine floor, describing the incredible sea life and geologic formations in an area known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), which may soon be opened to the first-ever deep sea mining of polymetallic nodules.

Greenwash is a verb defined by the Marriam-Webster Dictionary; “to make (something, such as a product, policy, or practice) appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is”. The environmentalist Jay Westervelt, coined the term in a law review article in 1986 describing marketing that intentionally deceived consumers into thinking a product or company was sustainable. Today, Greenwashing has become part of the colloquial language, especially used in response to companies that utilize green slogans and advertising to attract sustainability conscious consumers.

Climate activists gained a major victory in the fight against climate change this year in the case Held v. Montana. This case was the first of its kind to reach trial in the US and could pave the way for future climate litigation. The case hinged on the right to a clean and healthful environment, which is protected as a fundamental right in Montana’s Constitution.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently conducted a hearing for an ongoing climate litigation case that may have significant impact around the world. The case was brought by six Portuguese youths against the 33 member states of the Council of Europe, and accuses the governments of failing to protect against the increasing impacts of climate change. Complainants assert that this failure to address human-caused climate change has violated their fundamental rights as guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”). Respondents have challenged the admissibility of the case, as well as the Complainants’ status as victims of climate change.

The prospect of deepsea mining provides a predicament for environmental activists and policymakers globally. It has largely been accepted that a transition from gas to electric vehicles would help decrease the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Despite this fewer than one percent of vehicles on the road today are electric vehicles.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is a colorless, odorless gas that has been brought center stage in the debate around renewable energy.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a technology that has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities. Colorado has been identified as one of three places in the southwestern United States with possible geographical sequestration formations that would allow it to serve as a regional sequestration sink. There are numerous risks that carbon sequestration carries.

Adaptive reuse is the process of modifying an existing building to serve new uses. This form of redevelopment presents an exciting opportunity to adapt existing properties to meet the current needs of the community. Adaptive reuse could promote sustainability in Denver by redeveloping empty office space as housing.

While Colorado is known for its unique landscapes and environmentally conscious approach to climate-related issues, Denver ranks #6 in the nation for being one of the most polluted cities by ozone, following California and Arizona. Even more concerning, the US EPA has classified the Denver metropolitan area and North Front Range area as being in severe nonattainment for ozone and ground level ozone.

When imagining vast, biodiverse, tracts of land in the United States it is easy to imagine the expansive rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, the hard-to-reach peaks of the Rocky Mountains, or maybe even the sprawling deserts in Arizona and New Mexico. However, the southeastern United States from Texas to Georgia and Florida up to Virginia can claim a spot on that list . . . or least they used to.

Chemicals have been incorporated into daily life as they serve many advantageous uses. Over time, and with rapid technological advances, it is difficult to identify items in our day-to-day lives that do not utilize or benefit from the addition of chemicals. Despite their advantages, these chemicals can pose serious hazardous risks that consumers are unaware of.

The Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) is a metric used to determine the economic value of one ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This metric is an important tool for estimating the broad economic impacts of each additional ton of GHG emissions that are released into the atmosphere.

A Colorado watchdog group has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the construction of the Rocky Flats Greenway due to the risk of plutonium contamination. The Greenway would connect Westminster Open Space to Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

Both surging interest and investment in nuclear energy as a way to meet net zero goals and to diminish the worst effects of climate change, as well as the US commitment at COP28 to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, are reasons to pause and examine how “green” nuclear power really is. It is important to consider the carbon life cycle of a typical, light-water reactor nuclear power plant (NPP). If nuclear energy is not truly lower in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over that life cycle than other power sources, then nations choosing it as a way to meet legally-binding Paris Agreement NDCs regarding GHG reduction requirements may open themselves up to climate litigation.

Geothermal energy in Colorado has gained traction through innovative initiatives like the “Heat Beneath Our Feet” campaign and notable projects such as the Mt. Princeton geothermal plant. These endeavors signify the state's commitment to exploring and leveraging its abundant geothermal resources for sustainable energy production.

Heat pumps are revolutionary devices that leverage the principles of thermodynamics to transfer heat from one location to another. Contrary to traditional heating systems that generate heat, heat pumps extract warmth from the environment – air, ground, or water – and channel it into buildings for heating purposes, this can lead to 2 to 3 times the efficiency of ordinary heaters. Operating in a manner akin to a refrigerator, they use a refrigerant to absorb heat from a low-temperature area and release it at a higher temperature.

The loss of wetlands within the continental United States is not a new phenomenon; still, little has been done to slow the progressive loss of wetland habitats successfully. Since the 1780s, the continental United States has lost nearly 50% of its wetlands, and since 2009, the rate of wetland loss has increased by another 50%. Much of this historical loss was due, in part, to a misunderstanding of the significant roles wetlands play in filtering pollution, providing habitat for numerous plant and animal species, and providing natural flood control.

Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 24-005 into law on March 15th, 2024, which prohibits landscaping practices for water conservation. The bill prohibits nonfunctional turf, artificial turf, and invasive plant species from being planted on applicable property.

The public trust doctrine’s foundation lies in English common law and was initially established to protect public commerce along navigable waterways. It has since been recognized in the United States in the landmark case, Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Illinois. In this case, the Court determined that all navigable waters in the United States and land under them are held in public trust by the government for the public interest. “Water is a ‘commons’ good that no single person government should keep for their own.”