Clean and Equitable Energy Future
Jeffrey Ackermann is the soon-to-be former Chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. He has engaged in the pursuit of better energy policy and utility practices from several perspectives: cabinet officer; low-income advocate/service provider; utility product developer; PUC advisor/policy research chief; and whatever comes next.
As we enter 2021, I will conclude my term as Chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. It has been an honor to serve on the Colorado PUC for four years, and concurrently serve two years as chair of NARUC's Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment.
My Commissioner life was preceded by a stint as Colorado's Energy Office director, six years as Colorado PUC policy research and advisory Staff, all within nearly four decades engaging in utility issues from numerous perspectives: low-income energy efficiency services provider; fuel fund-based consumer advocate; and utility company product developer.
It is from this perch I wish to share with you a few thoughts and insights on the pursuit of a clean and equitable energy future. My comments have two general objectives: to sharpen our collective focus for the balance of this critical decade and begin building some of the new framework that will be imperative to successfully reversing our trajectory toward climate catastrophe.
Framing Our Challenge
Based upon Colorado-specific data and analysis, it is clear that attaining an economy-wide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (relative to 2005) of fifty percent will require an eighty percent reduction by the electric utility sector.