Colorado’s uniquely temperamental climate can make it hard to plan for spring and summer planting. The dry heat and abundant, intense sunshine of the summer months isn’t exactly ideal for many of our favorite warm-weather blooms, but that doesn’t mean your yard has to look barren this season. If you’re wondering what plants grow in […]
Love Where You Live: Looking Through the Window of Opportunity
May 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
When selling a home, cleaning your windows is an important step in the staging process. Sparkling clean windows will immediately brighten up any room and do more to take advantage of the natural light your home can offer. Even if you’re not looking to sell, you should still be sure to clean your windows regularly. […]
Smart Phone for your Smart Home
August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Technology has already become an integral part of our lives, and now it is entering the home. Homes today can be equipped with different monitoring and control systems to allow owners to close blinds, lower heat, lock doors and more from their mobile phones. Thermostat – It is easy to forget to turn the thermostat […]
Wind Generation Records
November 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Xcel is the nation’s largest utility wind power provider and has set new records for single-day and one-hour wind-energy production in Colorado. For the first time on October 2, wind generation supplied more than half of its Colorado customers’ energy, averaging 54 percent. Almost all of that wind energy was produced within Colorado. Xcel also set a new […]
Solar Power Rankings
October 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
According to a new report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association, the United States solar power market passed the 20 gigawatts of capacity milestone during the second quarter of this year. New installations of solar power during the second quarter nationwide totaled nearly 1,400 megawatts. Overall, the U.S. installed 2.7 gigawatts of […]
Colorado’s Wind Power Rankings
October 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
According to new reports from the U.S. Department of Energy, Colorado ranks 7th nationally for wind-power generation capacity installed in 2014, and 10th for total wind power installed through last year. Colorado had 261 megawatts of wind-driven energy production capacity installed last year, roughly the equivalent of the power needed to serve 69,600 typical homes. […]
Solar*Connect Shutdown
October 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Solar*Connect (XCEL’s solar power program that would have allowed customers to pay a premium on their monthly utility bills to support solar energy) has officially been shut down by Colorado utility regulators. The utility planned to allow customers to buy blocks of solar power equal to a percentage of their monthly power usage, from 25 […]
Solar Loan Market Exploding
October 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
According to a new study by GTM (Greentech Media) Research, thousands of solar power panels were installed on home rooftops in 2014, but very few of them were owned by the homeowners. About 72 percent of the 1.2 gigawatts worth of solar power panels installed on residential rooftops were owned by third parties, with homeowners […]
Solar Rewards Update
October 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Xcel Energy is adding nearly 30 megawatts of solar power to its Colorado operations via its Solar*Rewards Community program. These projects are larger, commercial-sized solar power projects that allow individual businesses, nonprofits or people to buy or lease a portion of the project and get credit for the solar power on their monthly utility bills. […]