Boulder County is the first Colorado jurisdiction to take advantage of a new state law that offers homeowners an innovative, low-cost way to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

When residents of the county go the polls in November, they can approve a $40 million bonding program to finance residential renewable energy systems and efficiency improvements. If adopted, the program will allow homeowners to borrow funds for the installations and repay the money through a property tax assessment.

The "clean energy options" program will allow homeowners to avoid the high up-front costs of installing solar or wind powered electric systems.

"We know that there are many people throughout Boulder County who are interested in making improvements to their properties to make them more efficient and to add renewable energy," said Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor. "We also know that for many of these folks, the upfront investment that's required poses a significant barrier to being able to make these investments that have such great benefits...."

The new approach to financing small residential clean energy systems was made possible by legislation adopted this year by the Colorado General Assembly. It was sponsored by Rep. Alice Madden, board chairman of Western Progress.

Voter approval would make Boulder County one of the first locales in the nation to use its bonding authority to finance renewable energy systems for homeowners. Last fall, the city council of Berkeley, California approved a similar financing program, and a pilot effort is expected to be launched this fall.

The analysis by the department of economics and Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst predicts that the proposed program would inject $5.3 billion into five western states – Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico. It would also create more than 105,000 new jobs and reduce those states unemployment rates by between 17% and 31%. The study did not look at effects in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.

The green recovery program advocates investing in five areas: retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, expanding mass transit and freight rail, building “smart” electrical grid systems, wind power, solar power and advanced biofuels.

Our own research supports the economic benefits of conservation and renewable energy, and adds restoring natural forests and cleaning up brownfieds to the list.  Putting it all together, it's what we call the Restoration Economy.

As Barrack Obama was accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in Denver yesterday the air above him had a hint of haze to it. It was blowing over the city from fires in northwestern Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.

They're part of a surge in fires across the Rocky Mountain West over the past month. A quick scan of our Western News feed (on the right) shows the scope of them.

Outside of Billings, Montana 50 mph winds are driving the Dunn Mountain fire beyond the 60,000-acre mark after firefighers thought they had the upper hand on it just a few days ago. By Townsend winds grounded helicopters and air tankers leaving ground crews to fight the Bear Gulch Fire. It's already blackened 750 acres and it's threatening five homes.

In Boise disaster cleanup workers are hoping to have 10 families back in their homes between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Oregon Trail Fire swept through their neighborhood after hot metal from a power line fell on tinder

In Utah investigators suspect sparks from vehicles, guns or other sources of human activity set off four big fires over the last three days. Forests and grasslands are so dry the state's BLM fire manager says Utah is in “an explosive fire situation.”

Near Cody, Wyoming disappointed fire crews are seeing ash falling from the sky instead of the rain they'd been hoping for. They spent more than a month and more than $7 million trying to stop the Gunbarrel fire burning between Yellowstone and Cody. It's burned 90 square miles of fire is still threatening homes and tourist lodges.

There are always wildfires in the west, but a Western Progress Issue Brief this month explained why they could become bigger and more numerous over the next decade. It discusses the importance of keeping forests healthy and how the fires could affect the restoration economy.