Guest Column

As a conservative and a recovering legislator, I’ve always believed that public policy should be based on facts, not feelings. Laws, regulations and spending decisions from elected officials and executive branch agencies should be driven by science, economics and other relevant fields of research — not ideology or special interests.

It’s simple really: Ignore the facts when making policy and the policy won’t work. As founding father John Adams famously quipped: Facts are stubborn things.

But that raises the question: Where do we find the facts to create rational and effective public policies?

In the area of energy policy, the network of 18 national labs – including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden — is a great place to start.

For example: Some supporters of renewable energy try to argue that wind and solar can take over the whole energy system more or less immediately. But the experts at NREL will be the first to tell you that’s just not possible right now.

In reports that are easily accessible on the website, NREL experts share the facts about the power grid, including the fact that variable sources like wind and solar need some form of backup power, whether it’s a natural gas-fired power plant or a large-scale battery.

NREL researchers also respond to the myths that are sometimes used to oppose renewable energy projects. For example, concerns about electromagnetic fields from solar arrays don’t have a factual basis. Those fields are “similar to household appliances within close proximity, which dissipate with increasing distance and pose no health risk to neighboring residents,” according to NREL.

Another myth is that reflected sunlight from solar panels can pose a safety risk for passing motorists or even aircraft. Again, NREL sets the record straight: “[Solar] modules use non-reflective glass and are designed to absorb rather than reflect the light that hits the panels in order to convert solar energy into electricity. PV modules are generally less reflective than windows and are installed at numerous airports.”

To be sure, there are real challenges associated with renewable sources of energy — just as there are with traditional sources of energy. But NREL also provides the context that is often missing in political arguments.

Case in point: The controversy over what to do with old wind turbine blades when they’re decommissioned.

NREL estimates that between 2025 and 2040, between 10,000 to 20,000 blades each year will reach the end of their useful life. Based on current practices, almost 80 percent those blades will end up in landfills.

Wind industry critics have jumped on this practice, claiming it shows that renewables are actually bad for the environment. But NREL’s research provides an important reality check. Even if nothing is done to make use of the materials in retired wind turbine blades, they would only represent about one percent of the nation’s total discarded waste by 2050.

A challenge, yes, but hardly a reason to claim that wind farms are bad for the environment.

NREL researchers are investigating new practices for recycling these blades, which are typically a mix of steel, plastic and composite materials. One solution being explored is shredding the blades in order to make them less bulky and cheaper to transport from where they are currently in operation to industrial plants that can turn those materials into something useful.

Reducing transportation costs by just one third could prevent 50 to 90 percent of discarded wind turbines from ending up in landfills, NREL researchers have concluded.

It should be noted that NREL’s contribution isn’t just about research. Because the lab is literally in our backyard, Colorado sees important economic benefits as well. More than 2,000 staff work at NREL, making it one of the five largest employers in Jefferson County, and its annual economic impact is estimated at $875 million per year.

As a farmer, I’ve witnessed the tremendous economic contributions of renewable energy in Eastern Colorado. But I recognize there are limits and tradeoffs associated with any form of energy, whether it’s wind and solar or oil and gas.

The key, as I see it, is making smart decisions about which technologies make sense in some settings and don’t make sense in others. To have any chance of making those smart decisions, we need good information grounded in science.

Facts matter and Coloradans should be proud to know that many of the world’s leading experts on renewable energy live and work in our state.

Greg Brophy is a former state senator and farmer from Wray. He is the Colorado Director of The Western Way.