It’s that time of year again where we welcome another cohort into the MENV community! Similar to the years before students have come far and wide to seek professional skills through the four different tracks that MENV has to offer: Environmental Policy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Sustainability Planning and Management, and Sustainable Food Systems. Here are a few notable attributes of the fourth MENV cohort. This cohort contains 75 students, one of our largest cohorts to date. Most of our students are coming from outside of Colorado, with transplants coming from California, Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington. There are also a few international students from Peru, Mongolia, and Cuba. The median age of the cohort comes to 28, with ages varying from 22 to 37. Each and every student has a personal story of how they arrived here in �鶹ӰԺ, Colorado for their master's degree. Here are three in-depth looks at students in the new cohort:

Alexis Harper

Alex hails from the great state of Washington. She attended the University of Washington and received her Bachelors of Science in Oceanography. During her years in undergrad, Alex found pockets of time for travel and to capture her experiences through the lens of her camera. Last week she received the news that her photo “Her: I” won her the title of . She will receive the International Photography Awards Trophy for the "Best of Show" exhibition at Splash Light Studios in New York on October 21st. She is also a finalist for the 2019 Lucie Trophy and will attend the on October 22nd, at Carnegie Hall to find out if she won. The photo that has given her this recognition is a beautiful shot taken in Trolltunga, Norway after a 20 mile trek up the mountain with a pink dress that was thrifted in Hungary stuffed into her pack.

Alex was drawn to the MENV program because she aspires to use film to encourage others to connect to nature and environmental issues. She has really fallen in love with the community here. She was even inspired to name her new sprinter van, that she lives out of full time, Pachamama, after the community she found traveling abroad and here in �鶹ӰԺ. Alex has many dreams ranging from writing a novel, to completing a PhD, to traveling to all 7 continents and filming her experiences. Whatever comes next in Alex’s story we are sure it will be vivid, wonderful and full of adventure. You can find more of Alex’s work and the story behind her winning photo visit her website .

Byamba Chuluunbat

Byamba is one of our international students coming to our cohort this year and is pursuing the Renewable and Sustainable Energy track. He is originally from Mongolia, where he studied at the National University of Mongolia. Byamba worked for a coal company for many years and saw the effects that this major Mongolian export had on the air quality and health of his country. After visiting a wind farm in 2015, Byamba felt the need to explore alternative energy solutions more in depth. He then started a job with the Ministry of Energy where he worked on a project focused on energy efficiency. 

While in Mongolia, Byamba applied for the for three years straight hoping to study abroad. The Fulbright program is one of the most prestigious and competitive fellowship programs in the world. The program enables international professionals to study at graduate institutions in the United States. Byamba’s perseverance paid off when we finally received the scholarship and looked into various schools across the United States. He decided on the MENV program and looks forward to building his professional skills in the area of energy efficiency and making connections through his future Capstone project. Byamba is interested in a variety of energy related initiatives but primarily in energy storage. He isn’t ruling anything out after graduation, he will keep his options open but does plan on eventually returning to Mongolia to continue his career in renewable energy and change his country’s reliance on coal.

Dani McLean

Dani McLean is one of our local students, who studied at the University of Denver just 45 minutes south of �鶹ӰԺ. While she primarily studied French and socio-legal studies, she also spent a fair amount of time studying sustainability and psychology. After graduation she felt that MENV was the ideal program to pivot into environmental work. She felt that the program would allow her to apply environmental science to various collaborative decision processes and systems thinking, both of which could be improved within the discipline of sustainability. Dani’s specialization is in Sustainability Planning and Management but she enjoys getting to mix a variety of classes together to create a program that suits her interests the best. She plans on dabbling in policy classes, as well as sustainable food systems classes. 

Dani has also been working hard at her full time job with Community Food Share, while also working at a startup called Infinity Goods. is Denver’s first zero-waste grocery service. Their goal is to empower consumers to fight plastic pollution—while saving time and lowering their carbon footprint. Dani and her partner, Ashwin, were inspired to create the startup to help fight the intense eco-anxiety people are starting to feel about plastic waste. Infinity Goods also prioritizes and sources items from local farmers and artisans as much as possible. Infinity Goods was selected as a finalist moving forward in the , which, if won, would provide funding for the startup. They will be pitching Infinity Goods at the second round in December.

The Class of 2020 is a truly inspiring and passionate group of people and we welcome them to our community with open arms. We are excited to see what the class of 2020 creates and accomplishes over the next couple years and beyond. Stay tuned here to the MENV webpage to see what partners and capstone projects students form over this semester! 

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Anna Kaelin and Jeremy Stefek, from the very first MENV cohort, have worked hard over the past three years studying the economic impacts of the Rush Creek Wind Farm. This research originally stemmed from Anna and Jeremy’s capstone with NREL. Along with their colleagues, Suzanne Tegen, Owen Roberts, and David Keyser, their work was published this past week. The article about their work, written by NREL, has been posted and linked below:

Colorado Case Study Demonstrates In-State and Rural Economic Impacts from Wind Manufacturing and Plant Construction

Sept. 16, 2019

In-state wind turbine manufacturing and installation support both short-term and long-term jobs and account for other economic impacts, according to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) case study of Xcel Energy’s 600-MW Rush Creek Wind Farm—Colorado's largest wind energy project. NREL researchers who conducted the study also gained a deeper understanding of how wind plant construction impacts the economies of rural communities, where wind plant construction often occurs.

The recently published report, , provides the results of quantitative and qualitative analyses. By using modeled and empirical data, the NREL team developed an informative picture of the economic impacts of wind energy development in rural Colorado—results that could apply to other states as well.

Highlighting the importance of domestic manufacturing, the study focused on the economic impact of jobs, earnings, gross domestic product (GDP), and gross economic output during the relatively short construction phase and the longer-term operation and maintenance phase.

“Rush Creek is unique because its 300 2-megawatt (MW) wind turbines were all manufactured in Colorado facilities,” said Jeremy Stefek, NREL researcher and lead author of the report. “This gave us the opportunity to study the jobs and economic activity supported by wind energy’s manufacturing and supply chain in Colorado.”

The Rush Creek Wind Farm spans four rural counties on the Colorado's eastern plains (see Figure 1). Installing wind turbines manufactured in the same state increased the farm’s economic impacts to Colorado. Using an in-state manufacturer also decreased transportation time and costs, as wind turbine components were delivered to the installation site by truck rather than rail. Wind turbine components, such as the blades, towers, and nacelles, were manufactured and assembled in Colorado using several in-state suppliers for subcomponents. Some parts and materials, however, were sourced from out of state. For example, nacelles were assembled in Colorado, but the subcomponents within the nacelles (such as generators and electronics) were manufactured elsewhere.

Quantitatively, NREL’s  Wind Energy Model was used to estimate the gross economic impacts from the Rush Creek Wind Farm. JEDI models are user-friendly screening tools that estimate some of the economic impacts of energy projects.

Using empirical data, modeled data, and market research, NREL researchers created a set of assumptions to represent the economic scenario for the Rush Creek Wind Farm. Based on the analysis, the Colorado statewide economic impacts from Rush Creek are shown in Figure 2. Another JEDI analysis estimates the economic impacts of Rush Creek in the area where the development is located.

The JEDI analysis shows that it's not just the construction phase of a wind plant that creates economic impact. The Rush Creek Wind Farm will support 180 long-term jobs and $20 million in GDP in Colorado annually throughout the operation and maintenance phase of its anticipated 25-year lifespan. In addition, Rush Creek will provide an estimated $45 million in landowner lease payments and approximately $62.5 million in property taxes during the 25-year life of the project.

Qualitatively, researchers interviewed 39 community members near the Rush Creek Wind Farm to collect empirical economic data as well as first-hand knowledge of community-level impacts during wind farm construction. Interviewees included local business owners, managers, employees, county commissioners, and economic development office representatives. Providing insight into actual effects of the wind farm on the local people and economy, most interviewees stated that the Rush Creek Wind Farm is one of the reasons business had increased over the past year.

"Our research into economic development from wind energy in rural communities can inform other communities across America as they consider future wind development,” Stefek said. “The idea of engaging communities to understand the on-the-ground effects of wind development makes this research unique and offers a powerful message about wind energy’s economic impact.”

 The empirical research found that:

• 67% of businesses experienced increases in revenue from the previous year—and 11% saw significant increases
• 28% of respondents hired new people in the previous year
• 56% of employees worked more hours than the previous year.

Although interviewees were overall supportive of wind development, many reported challenges from wind farm construction stemming from the influx of temporary workers to their communities, including:

• Local housing shortages
• Increased housing prices
• Lack of infrastructure to house temporary workers
• Inability for some local businesses to keep up with increased demand
• A small pool of qualified local candidates from which to hire.

However, even in the face of these challenges, community members indicated that local businesses and business development organizations support wind construction.

By considering the results of this Colorado case study, rural communities can be better informed and prepared to maximize local economic benefits of future wind development and address the challenges as well

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