Living in a Natural Resource Economy
By Emilene Ostlind
What can Wyoming learn from studies of the “natural resource curse”?
Wyoming has long produced the most coal of any US state and lands in the top ten states for natural gas and oil production. In a fossil fuel driven economy, all that mineral wealth should make Wyoming rich, and sometimes it truly does. Consider the first decade of the 2000s when hydraulic fracturing opened up previously inaccessible natural gas reserves. In 2008 Wyoming’s economy—as measured by gross domestic product, personal incomes, state revenues, or number of jobs—flourished. State coffers were overflowing and citizens across the state benefitted from the bounty.
A New Lease on State Land
By Birch Malotky
How Conservation is Hoping to Buy a Seat at the Land Management Table
After the Road
By Tessa Wittman
How to restore sagebrush habitat on decommissioned roads
In the natural gas fields of western Wyoming, innumerable dirt roads cut through the sagebrush steppe, connecting gas wells and carrying heavy equipment.
Net-Zero Energy Homes in Wyoming
The next frontier?
On an unseasonably warm day last October, Richard Fox pulled up to the construction site of his future home near Pavillion, Wyoming, in an old Toyota pickup.
Doing More with Less
How energy efficiency and conservation can decrease UW’s utility bills
Keeping the lights and heat on at the University of Wyoming is a challenge.
Community Solar
Community solar—sometimes referred to as a solar garden or virtual net metering—is when several households, businesses, or other entities invest together in a solar installation and share the electricity it produces.
Net Metering
Net metering lets customers tie small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar panels into the grid to offset their energy bills.
Turbines on the Horizon
How the western grid could unleash Wyoming wind energy, for better or worse
California and Wyoming make strange bedfellows, but when it comes to sharing electricity, the two states have been flirting.
The Most Complicated Machine Ever Built
How to modernize the power grid
Renewable energy is on the rise in the western United States, and the world.
Wyoming’s Wind Tax
Wyoming’s strong, predictable, consistent winds are a world-class resource. Ranchers and farmers have harnessed the wind to pump water since Wyoming was first settled, and small-scale commercial wind projects started in the 1970s.
Renewable Portfolio Standards
Several states have implemented Renewable Portfolio Standards in an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector.
A “Just Transition” for Fossil Fuel Workers
The search for a jobs-positive shift to clean energy
Nearly 500 Wyoming coal miners were laid off last spring, and in the past two years roughly 5,400 oilfield workers lost their jobs in the state.
Energy Transition
Our world needs more energy and less CO2
The world needs more energy. More than 1.4 billion people live without access to electricity.
Small-Scale Hydropower
Wyoming’s streams and irrigation ditches are an untapped clean energy source
“If we disconnected that 14-inch pipe and pointed it upward, the water would blast nearly 600 feet into the air,” says Les Hook
Case of the Missing Otters
UW researchers search for answers in the Green River Basin
Brady Godwin was on the lookout for river otters.
Carbon Capture
Wyoming could lead the world toward a cleaner energy future
This December, five international research teams will converge at the outskirts of Gillette, Wyoming, to compete for a $7.5 million Carbon XPRIZE.
Energy in the West
Over the last quarter century, the western states’ energy portfolio has shifted. Coal used to produce far and away the largest share of electricity, but recent advances in hydraulic fracturing and demand for low-carbon fuel have bumped natural gas to first place.
Scenarios Planning
An oil major considers possible futures to prepare for a changing world
Royal Dutch Shell’s primary business is the discovery, extraction, refinement, transportation, marketing, and selling of oil.
The Clean Power Plan
When Congress failed to enact legislation to address climate change, President Obama vowed to take action himself. “No challenge poses a greater threat to our children, our planet, and future generations,” he said.
