Colorado College survey finds westerners want more wind and solar, less coal, oil and gas

By David O. Williams
Real AspenFebruary 25, 2011
A phone survey of 2,200 registered voters in five Western states, conducted by both Republican and a Democratic polling firms for Colorado College, found that a majority of Western voters think the amount of their state's electricity being produced by renewable energy sources should “dramatically increase,” even if it means paying more on their utility bill.

A bipartisan poll produced for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project, the “Conservation in the West” survey found that voters thought the average percentage of their state's electricity coming from renewable resources should be about 65 percent.
Generally expressing more positive impressions of solar and wind power than coal or oil (with the exception of Wyoming residents), 77 percent of all those surveyed felt environmental standards and a strong economy can co-exist. And 65 percent said they disagree that renewable energy is “too unreliable to be a significant part of our energy supply.”

And a majority of voters in all five states (70 percent), which also included New Mexico, Montana and Utah, said it's “time to start replacing coal with other energy sources like wind and solar power.”

The poll was conducted Jan. 23-27 by Lori Weigel at Public Opinion Strategies (a Republican firm) and Dave Metz at Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (a Democratic firm). An executive summary is available by going to the Colorado College State of the Rockies website.

“This research underscores an interesting and important trend in these five states,” said Walt Hecox, Ph.D., professor at Colorado College and director of the State of the Rockies Project. “While there are differences of opinion on a range of issues, there are true common values shared between each state, including a commitment to protect the important natural resources that make this region so unique.”

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents said they would rather spend a day outdoors than in a city, and nearly 90 percent said it's very or extremely important to have “clean water, clean air, natural areas and wildlife as fundamental ingredients in the good quality of life in their state.”

“Particularly interesting is the emergence of renewable energy sources – such as solar and wind power – as a much more attractive option over traditional fossil fuels,” Hecox said. “Voters see renewable energy as producing jobs, and they have ambitious goals for using more of these sources to supply their states' overall energy needs.”

The survey contacted a total of 2,200 registered voters, including 600 in Colorado and 400 each in New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.


comments: 0 Comments on "Colorado College survey finds westerners want more wind and solar, less coal, oil and gas"

Be the first to comment below.

COMMENT
Comment Form Info  Comment Information
Real Aspen encourages you to post comments on our articles and blogs. Logged in email is required for monitoring purposes. Your email will not be published and will not be distributed to any third-party. Abusive, obscene, profane, threatening, libelous or defamatory comments are prohibited. By posting a comment, you agree to this policy and our terms of use. To report an abusive posting, please contact us.

To make a comment, please log in or create an account. This helps us prevent spam and other malicious attacks.

Please log in to comment

 

Create a user account to comment

Snow Report

  24hr snow mid dpth snow cond.
A-Basin n/a n/a
Aspen n/a n/a closed
BC n/a n/a closed
Breckenridge n/a n/a closed
Buttermilk n/a n/a closed
Copper n/a n/a closed
Crest. Butte n/a n/a closed
Eldora n/a n/a closed
Heavenly n/a n/a closed
Highlands n/a n/a
Howelsen n/a n/a closed
Keystone n/a n/a closed
Kirkwood n/a n/a closed
Loveland n/a n/a
Monarch n/a n/a closed
Northstar n/a n/a closed
Powderhorn n/a n/a closed
Purgatory n/a n/a closed
Silverton n/a n/a closed
Ski Cooper n/a n/a closed
Ski Granby n/a n/a closed
Snowmass n/a n/a closed
Steamboat n/a n/a closed
Sunlight n/a n/a closed
Telluride n/a n/a closed
Vail n/a n/a closed
WinterPark n/a n/a closed
Wolf Creek n/a n/a closed
More Weather Reports
VIDEO GALLERY
Vail powder day snow snake
Airing it out at Crested Butte
Feb. 17, 2011 Surprise 14 inches of Fresh Powder