Political leaders have Colorado on the fast track to electrify everything. If they are serious, state legislators will pass House Bill 23-1080 and consider a new asset for our energy portfolio.

The House Energy and Environment committee will discuss the bill Wednesday and decide whether to learn more about modular nuclear energy with a state-conducted study.

Legislators advocating science and affordable, all-the-above energy will vote “yes.” A “no” vote favors ignorance, fear of the future and scarcity.

We hear about the need for more electrons every day from well-informed, educated leaders.

Former Boulder Mayor Will Toor, who runs the Colorado Energy Office, wants a future of “electrifying the heck” out of most economic sectors.

“Who else is ready to electrify everything?” asked a Nov. 14 Facebook post by U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, who began his career in the energy sector. The audience was neither inspired nor amused, with responders asking “Who’s going to pay for it?”

“Electrifying cars, buses and trucks not only leads to cleaner air and improved public health but reduces greenhouse gas emissions from one of our top-emitting sectors,” said Gov. Jared Polis, regarding transportation. By 2040, the governor wants an electric grid powered 100% by renewables. It’s not going to happen, and the governor knows it.

Those who understand the important role energy plays in human survival and progress want more electricity to complement fossil fuels and provide consumers with the low prices that result from competition and abundance. Others, with less socioeconomic sophistication, think one energy source should negate all others.

New and emerging policies carelessly incentivize or mandate transitions away from coal, natural gas and motor vehicle fuels.

Government leadership wants the public to quickly embrace electric cars, furnaces, ovens, water heaters and more at an irrational pace that ignores choice and fundamental economic principles.

Despite the insiders’ language of the green revolution, electric cars will not be “emission free” in our great-grandchildren’s lifetimes and beyond. One cannot make tires, batteries, paint or most other components of electric cars without fossil fuels. That said, battery cars could lower carbon emissions if powered by the sun and wind.

There’s an ugly roach in the all-electric stew. Limitations of the sun, which creates the wind, are obvious.

Clouds often block the sun around much of the globe. In two major regions, the sun barely shines half the year. In other locations, the wind stands still for weeks on end. These irreconcilable facts make this all-electric agenda look and feel like one big pipe dream with a lofty price.

For a semblance of viability, we need battery storage of wind and solar electrons. This creates a litany of serious dilemmas. Batteries consume scarce metals mined by child slaves in poor countries.

Metal mining consumes and pollutes water needed for survival in arid regions. It leads to geopolitical, national security and supply chain conflicts that could make oil seem peaceful.

For all their faults, electric appliances and automobiles are not all bad. Electric furnaces and stoves reduce on-sight gas emissions. Electric cars offer unparalleled acceleration. Properly generated, electricity could prove less expensive – in the distant future – than fossil fuels.

Bringing to fruition the goal of an all-or-mostly electric society requires a great increase in the power transported by the grid. The fastest and safest means of pursuing an electrified “everything” dream might include the acceptance of small-scale, modular nuclear reactors. They use fission to generate power – exactly like the sun – and will never want for fuel.

Modular reactors are not like the 98 full-scale reactors in the United States or the 439 worldwide. They pose nowhere near the risk we witnessed with Three Mile Island – exactly 44 years ago Tuesday. If we’re wrong, the HB-1080 study would let us know.

Today, the average modular reactor is less than 10% the size of electric power plants run by gas, coal or traditional reactors. We can make them in factories and move them to their final destinations.

“Advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are a key part of the department’s goal to develop safe, clean, and affordable nuclear power options,” says the U.S. Department of Energy’s website.

“The advanced SMRs currently under development in the United States represent a variety of sizes, technology options, capabilities, and deployment scenarios.”

HB-1080 would require the Colorado Energy Office to conduct and deliver a study on modular nuclear reactors – “as a source of carbon-free energy” – by July 1, 2025. It would tell us if, and to what extent this technology might have a role in the future – a future that demands all-the-above safe energy options.

Politicians want to “electrify everything,” knowing full well they cannot meet their aggressive goals without causing more harm than good.

For Coloradans to take this more seriously, the General Assembly should pass HB-1080. Sound policies are built on information and cold, hard facts. HB-1080 promotes scientific knowledge and potential progress toward a future of all-the-above surplus power.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board