Happy Wednesday, Colorado, and welcome to another edition of The Temperature, where spring has sprung and we have two great stories of hope for you today — one about solar power and another about food allergies.
But let’s turn to the world of sports for the most hilarious story of hope that we’ve seen lately: large adult basketball leprechaun Nikola Jokic’s attempts to get half-hearted full-court heaves called as shooting fouls. He did it again the other night in a game against Memphis when he intercepted a pass, pirouetted like a moose on roller skates, jumped 0.0001 of an inch off the ground and tried to flick the ball down court in a vaguely shooting-like motion while drawing contact.
Hey, you miss out on 100% of the fouls you don’t comically try to draw. And you miss 100% of the news we have to share by listening to us blather on in the intro, so let’s get to it.
Reporter
TEMP CHECK
CLIMATE
Rooftop solar: A story of growth and unfulfilled potential
45%
Portion of electric need U.S. states could generate from just rooftop solar
1.5%
Actual rooftop solar generation as portion of 2022 electric use
Colorado’s rooftop solar energy generation leapt ahead more than 2 1/2 times over five years, but cities should take advantage of new state grants to speed up permitting and close the gap with states developing solar even faster, a new nonprofit study says.
Colorado ranked 11th among states in growth of the home rooftop solar category from 2017 to 2022, according to the nonprofit research and advocacy group Environment Colorado. Colorado was ninth in total capacity of residential roof solar in 2022.
But we don’t do as well in the other two categories measured from Energy Information Administration data: commercial rooftops and installations at industrial sites like mines, landfills or factories. And despite rapid growth in states led by California, we’re still generating only a tiny portion of potential rooftop energy.
The report puts numbers to the musings of green-minded Coloradans who pass by the massive rooftops of Amazon warehouses, Walmarts and other major commercial buildings and wonder why everything isn’t covered in cheap, energy-producing panels. So much real estate baking unproductively under our alleged 300 days of annual sunshine.
“Every roof without solar panels is a wasted opportunity,” said Alex Simon, public health advocate with an Environment Colorado affiliate, the CoPIRG Foundation.
Clean energy advocates are urging Colorado cities to apply for a share of $1 million in solar permitting grants the state Energy Office is launching in April. The noncompetitive grants help cities acquire and learn fast-permitting software developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.
Cities demonstrating the software, including Denver, say it allows solar installation contractors to get near-instant permitting revisions and final permits, rather than waiting days or weeks under older systems. Denver’s planning office said solar permit reviews had averaged 30 days before the city adopted the new Solar APP+ software.
Applications for CEO grants start Tuesday.
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
MORE CLIMATE NEWS
HEALTH
New hope for people with food allergies
Carly Edwards found out at just about the worst time possible that her oldest daughter is allergic to eggs.
It was Elsie Jane’s first birthday. And shortly after the birthday girl dived head-first into her smash cake, the allergic reaction hit: hives, vomiting.
“So that was fun for my whole family to watch,” Edwards, who lives in Denver, said. “That was a pretty low moment.”
The birthday revelation kicked off months of trying to understand what had made Elsie Jane sick — while she can tolerate eggs that have been sufficiently baked, it was egg whites in the frosting that triggered the reaction. Then, once Edwards and her husband learned the parameters of Elsie Jane’s allergy, came the obstacle course of trying to avoid exposure out in the world.
While manufacturers must list common allergens on the label of food sold in stores, eggs can ultimately hide in many things. Restaurant menus can be particularly opaque, and that’s before you consider the risk that bits of egg might accidentally end up in menu items that aren’t supposed to have them.
“We didn’t eat out for a whole year of life because we were so concerned about cross-contamination,” Edwards said.
Edwards and Elsie Jane worked with doctors at National Jewish Health in Denver to gradually build up Elsie Jane’s tolerance to eggs through what are known as food challenges. But the risk still remains. Recently, Elsie Jane, now 3, had an allergic reaction while at school from a cross-contamination of a food containing egg whites.
“It’s just little things like that,” Edwards said. “It’s just when you let your guard down.”
But a newly authorized treatment could help take the stress out of everyday eating for Elsie Jane and millions of people like her across the country. The federal Food and Drug Administration last month gave approval to a drug called Xolair to help people with certain types of food allergies avoid severe reactions from accidental exposure.
The drug, which is injected once every two to four weeks, is not a new medicine. It has previously been approved to treat asthma. It works by binding to an antibody called IgE, which triggers the allergic immune response when it detects the allergen. By tackling IgE and preventing it from binding to receptors, the drug stops the allergic reaction from flaring up.
Xolair is not a cure for food allergies — it must be taken regularly to remain effective and, even then, it doesn’t allow people with food allergies to eat as much as they like of the thing they’re allergic to. But it can help people avoid the worst when they are accidentally exposed, and that’s a breakthrough.
“I could not be more excited,” Edwards said.
Much of the research for this breakthrough happened at National Jewish or its predecessors. Read more about this in the coming days on ColoradoSun.com.
John Ingold | Reporter
ABORTION ACCESS
Checking in on the Colorado abortion pill “reversal” lawsuit
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case seeking to severely restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone. (Most justices didn’t seem all that convinced by the plaintiffs’ arguments, according to various reports.)
But in Colorado, you’ll remember that we have our own lawsuit dealing with mifepristone — specifically, whether the state can ban the practice of medical providers trying to “reverse” its effects through high doses of progesterone. Lawmakers passed a bill effectively banning the practice last year, but a federal judge blocked the law in October while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality goes forward.
That lawsuit is still moving, just slowly.
In December, a magistrate judge laid out a schedule running all the way until September for the parties to file motions. But that magistrate, S. Kato Crews, has since been confirmed as a federal district court judge, meaning the case had to be re-assigned earlier this year to a new magistrate judge, who will handle all the case’s preliminary matters.
After those motions have been debated and ruled on, the case will finally go to a five-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico.
That is, unless it is settled. But in a recent status report, there’s no indication of that.
“The parties have discussed settlement and do not believe it is an option at this time,” the status report, filed jointly by attorneys for the state and for the plaintiffs, an Englewood-based Catholic health clinic, states.
Instead, the sides have been sharing relevant documents and pieces of evidence — what is known as “discovery” — to prepare their respective cases. And there doesn’t seem to be much to report there, either.
“The parties have no pending or unresolved discovery disputes at this time,” the status report states.
We’ll check back in on this one in another six months or so.
Section by John Ingold | Reporter
MORE HEALTH NEWS
CHART OF THE WEEK
We’ve written a lot about the rising popularity of e-bikes, thanks in part to lucrative government instant rebates that sharply draw down the cost. But we forgot to ask what that means for pedal bike sales, until we saw this chart from an industry news site. Bicycleretailer.com shows us how fast this revolution is happening. What are the implications from this rapid technology change? Are the cities like Denver pushing e-bikes fully prepared for the results? Will thefts of $2,000 commuting bikes rise? Do higher speeds of battery-assist e-bikes mean more injuries? We’ll explore some of these questions in the near future.
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
HEAT MAP
CLIMATE
HEALTH
What’s your biggest just-crazy-enough-to-work idea? Let’s seize the day and try to make it happen. Mine is to spend the day napping while convincing my editors that I’m doing reporting for a sleep story.
Let us know how your plan goes and we’ll see you back here next week.
— John & Michael
Corrections & Clarifications
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