Proposed legislation can help Coloradans utilize clean energy

Protecting our climate is critical to protecting our future. As residents of Louisville, and survivors of the Marshall Fire, we know this all too well.

We were fortunate that our home was left standing in the aftermath of the fire, but our neighbors just 1,800 feet away weren’t so lucky.

Governor Polis and legislative leaders understand the urgency of this moment, and we were proud to join them recently as they unveiled a new package of climate legislation that will continue moving Colorado closer to our climate goals and making it more affordable for Colorado families like ours to adopt more efficient, clean energy in our homes.

In the aftermath of the fire, we decided that it was time to make a transition. Our old furnace was pulling in ash-filled air, and we knew we had to find an alternative that was more efficient and more affordable.

We did a lot of research and ultimately decided to switch our evaporative cooling to a heat pump last summer, knowing that it would be effective in extremely cold weather.

Through the new legislation being proposed, Coloradans could save anywhere from $500 to $3,000 on heat pumps like the one in our home. That’s in addition to new federal rebates and tax credits that reduce costs up to thousands more. This would help people save on upfront costs, as well as on the long-term costs of home heating.

During the cold snaps we’ve experienced this year, not only has the heat pump been incredibly efficient in heating our home, making it more comfortable for us, but we also avoided the astronomical spike in home heating costs that so many other people around the state were forced to pay.

While other people’s bills went up by hundreds of dollars, our bill was only slightly higher than what we paid the year before.

If more people had heat pumps in their homes, they would’ve saved hundreds or thousands of dollars on their heating bills these last few months.

These new tax credits can break down barriers to access for more Coloradans,

and raise awareness about the alternative options Coloradans have to heat and cool their homes.

We don’t have to be reliant on expensive fuels and pay high costs to be comfortable in our homes, and this package will make it even easier for Coloradans to make that change.

If there’s anything we’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that climate change is a real threat to our communities. We can’t sit idly by as it worsens, and we must take action to address the crisis now.

We are proud to do our part to help make our air a bit cleaner and support our climate, and we are proud to have leaders at the Capitol who are taking action to address this crisis.

The governor and legislators are making it more affordable for Coloradans to utilize clean energy resources. Whether that is heat pumps like ours, electric vehicles, e-bikes, electric lawnmowers and more.

Together, we can protect our climate and our future.

Errin Weller and Jeffrey Franklin live in Louisville.

MARK THIESSEN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE An ice-covered Conocophillips sign is displayed at the Colville-delta 5, or as it’s more commonly known, CD5, drilling site on Alaska’s North Slope, in February 2016. The Biden administration’s approval of the massive oil development in northern Alaska on Monday commits the U.S. to yet another decadeslong crude project even as scientists urgently warn that only a halt to more fossil fuel emissions can stem climate change.