News and Finance

Japan’s economy is far from achieving self-sustained growth as the export-led recovery fails to spur spending at home, according to Kazuo Momma, the Bank of Japan’s top economist.

“The risk that the Japanese economy will fall off from a cliff is small, but there is still a long way to go,” before the expansion becomes sustainable, Momma said in Tokyo today. “Even if the global economy continues to recover, the spread of that to capital spending and the labor market will be limited.”

More than $2 trillion in global stimulus spurred demand for Japanese exports last year, helping pull the nation out of its worst postwar recession. Momma said there’s no “magic” solution to stamp out deflation and that overcoming price declines is the central bank’s top priority, echoing remarks made by Governor Masaaki Shirakawa last week.

“Japan’s economy can probably avert a double-dip slump, but the pace of expansion won’t gather momentum as deflation lingers,” Hiroaki Muto, a senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, said before Momma’s speech.

Since lowering its benchmark interest rate to 0.1 percent in December 2008, the central bank has increased its purchases of government bonds and made it easier for companies to obtain funds. It unveiled a 10 trillion yen ($111 billion) lending program for commercial lenders in December, a facility Shirakawa has said the bank can expand if necessary.

Momma said capital spending won’t show signs of a clear rebound until the year starting April 2011. Companies “remain under pressure” to fire workers, underscoring the weakness of domestic demand, he said in a speech at the Japan National Press Club.

Record Drop

Core consumer prices, which exclude fresh food and are the central bank’s preferred measure of inflation, slid 1.3 percent in December. Prices minus food and energy, which economists say reflect the trend of prices more accurately, dropped a record 1.2 percent.

“Data underscores that deflation is entrenched in the Japanese economy,” said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. Ueno doesn’t expect the central bank to raise rates until July 2011 at the earliest.

Bank of Japan board members last week affirmed their forecasts that they expect prices will keep falling through the year ending March 2012, the third consecutive year of declines.

“As for beating deflation, there are no concrete policies with which we can do one or two things and be able to resolve all problems at once,” Momma said. “We would have taken those steps already if they existed.”

Momma said the global economy is recovering, though many countries continue to struggle with high unemployment, which poses a risk to the outlook. Such uncertainties could spur market volatility, and policy makers need to monitor developments until the global recovery gains stability, he said.

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Toyota’s recall troubles continue to grow, with the total number of vehicles affected by two recalls involving gas pedals growing to at least 5.3 million.

The latest addition to the recalls was announced Wednesday, with 1.1 million vehicles added to the 4.2 million recalled in November to fix a problem in which the gas pedal can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat. That problem can cause the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably.

A separate recall of 2.3 million vehicles announced last week — involving accelerator pedals that can stick on their own — is being expanded to include an undisclosed number of vehicles in Europe.

In most cases, the same vehicles are involved in both recalls. It was not immediately clear how many different vehicles, in total, are part of the two actions.

The vehicles being added to the floormat-related recall are the 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

General Motors’ Pontiac car is included in the recall because the Vibe and Toyota’s Matrix are similar vehicles that were produced under a partnership between the two companies.

The vehicles originally included in the floormat-related recall were the 2007-2010 Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2004-2009 Prius, 2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2007-2010 Lexus ES350, 2006-2010 IS250 and the 2006-2010 IS350.

Most, but not all, of the vehicles involved in the stuck pedal recall are also involved in the other recall. They are the 2009-2010 Toyota RAV4, Corolla and Matrix and the Pontiac Vibe; the 2005-2010 Avalon; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia; and some 2007-2010 Camrys.

Toyota has been working with the pedal supplier and is close to having a new pedal design ready for approval by regulators, a Toyota spokesman said Thursday.

In the meantime, owners who experience sticking or slowness in the movement of their car’s gas pedal should stop driving the car and call a Toyota dealer immediately.

Rental car companies Avis, Hertz and Enterprise are removing the recalled vehicles from their fleets until they can be fixed.

"We recognize that these actions will inconvenience a number of our current rental customers and may impact the availability of vehicles in the coming weeks," Matt Darrah, executive vice president of North American operations for Enterprise Holdings, said in a statement. "We are moving as quickly as possible to minimize any disruption to our customers."

The stuck pedal recall is being expanded to Europe, Toyota announced late Wednesday. The numbers of vehicles involved in the European recall is not yet known.

"A running change in production using different parts has already been implemented model-by-model in the European production," Toyota said in a statement. "Therefore there is no need or intention to stop production in Europe." 

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Burger King Corp. said Friday it plans to open a Whopper Bar in the South Beach area of Miami next month.

To keep up with Miami’s night life, Burger King (BKC)’s new Whopper bar will offer American beer and Whopper sandwiches around the clock, staying open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It will be the chain’s first U.S. location to sell beer, and the restaurant will offer a delivery service for local customers, a walk-up window for orders on the go and an outdoor dining area.

"Not only is South Beach in our backyard, but the warm weather, famous nightlife and colorful personality of the destination make it a great fit for a Whopper Bar restaurant," Chuck Fallon, Burger King’s North America president, said in a company statement.

Burger King’s bar will offer variations on its traditional Whopper sandwich, including an exclusive addition: the Black & Bleu Steakhouse XT. Customers will be able to choose from 20 sauces, displayed in a "visible toppings theater."

And when South Beach locals pick up a 4 a.m. burger, they will also have their choice of Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beer, including Budweiser, Miller Lite and Budlight Lime at a cost of $4.25.

"That adds a new element to the Burger King brand," said Tom Forte, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group no fax needed payday loans. "It also creates a different mystique for going to a Whopper Bar versus a traditional restaurant."

The Whopper Bar concept was introduced in March 2008, and the first bar opened a year later at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. Burger King has also opened bars in Munich, Singapore and Venezuela.

Las Vegas, New York City and Los Angeles could be some of Burger King’s next Whopper Bar targets, the company said.

Forte said he won’t be surprised if beer pops up on the menus of other fast food restaurants as well.

"In the restaurant industry, if it works for one, others will try," said Forte. "Other operators are watching from the sidelines to see how effective this is for Burger King and then may consider it."

"Edgier" restaurants with the same core demographics as Burger King — such as Carl’s Junior and Jack and the Box — may be next to jump on the bandwagon, he said. 

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Belleville-based Taylor Roofing Inc. recently installed a "green roof terrace" at Rendleman Hall at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The terrace garden, installed on the flat roof, now includes a variety of native plants, selected to keep color on the rooftop through all seasons.

The terrace garden project includes a roof garden drainage system, root barrier, protection fabric, aluminum roof garden edging and aluminum drain boxes us fast cash. The benefits include improved stormwater run-off management, year-round energy efficiency and reduced rooftop noise infiltration.

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A scenario: One spouse in a dual-income marriage receives a job offer in a distant town or city. Suddenly, it’s crunch time.

Does the other spouse stay behind to continue working in a position that pays well and is professionally gratifying? Or should he or she follow, settling into a job that fails to meet personal standards for salary, potential and intellectual challenge?

Finally, add this to the mix: a recession that has placed nearly 15 million Americans on unemployment and sends an average of 6.4 potential applicants scrambling for every job that does become available.

"It creates a double challenge, and it’s extremely difficult, especially now," said Laurel Sgan, director of the St. Louis Regional Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, based at Washington University.

The consortium is part of a national jobs network that matches candidates with positions at area colleges, universities and health care providers.

Decisions with the potential to value one spouse’s job over the other can also stretch a marriage to the limit.

"It goes straight to the question of family roles," noted Brett Newcomb, a therapist and instructor in the graduate counseling program at Webster University. "What is your role? What is my role? Who is the provider?"

Yvonne McNulty’s experiences makes her somewhat of an expert on the subject.

An academic and Ph.D. candidate now living in Australia, career decisions by McNulty and her husband have resulted in the couple criss-crossing the globe over the course of an 11-year marriage.

So frequently, in fact, that McNulty now hosts a website on the subject — TheTrailingSpouse.com.

"Being a trailing spouse is not for the fainthearted," she wrote in an e-mail response to questions. "Particularly if you are a career-oriented person where meaning and purpose in life drives you."

Sgan dislikes the term "trailing spouse," in no small part because she is in a unique position to resolve issues that arise over job relocation.

In a subsidiary role as the Dual Career Couples Support Director at Washington University, it is Sgan’s mission to assist better halves (whichever half that happens to be) to find gainful employment when the arc of a spouse’s career lands the family in St. Louis.

The program served just three couples in its first year of operation, 2008. The client base jumped to 15 in 2009.

Justin Bittner and his wife, Tricia Hendricks, were among those who took advantage of the program in their move last year from Chicago to St. Louis.

"Big planners," the couple nonetheless weathered a period of uncertainty when Hendricks "left a job without a job" after Bittner received an offer to work as an assessment coordinator Fontbonne University.

"That was tough for us," Bittner recalled. "We were not in a position where I was making so much that we could make it work."

Through Sgan’s efforts, the couple had a relatively brief stay in employment and economic purgatory. A month after Bittner started at Fontbonne, Hendricks reported for her first day on the job as a fundraiser for a local nonprofit.

Higher education, Sgan says, had a vested interest when it initiated programs aimed at easing the transition for couples and families on the move.

"Success at home can affect success in the classroom and the research lab," she pointed out.

Brown Shoe Co. believes the same holds true in the corporate sector.

When the firm folded the operations of its Famous Footwear division in Madison, Wis., into the St. Louis headquarters in 2008, Brown Shoe adopted a comprehensive plan to assist spouses and families through the transition.

Spokeswoman Erin Conroy said the company contracted with an outside management team to provide spouses of Brown Shoe employees with career counseling, networking opportunities and r

Greece won’t default on its debt or abandon Europe’s single currency, said Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-area finance ministers.

“Two things won’t happen: Greece won’t go bankrupt; but it has to make enormous efforts,” Juncker said at a press conference in Luxembourg today. “The second point is that the hypothesis that a country will leave the eurogroup or euro zone is not a question. It’s absurd.”

Greece today presented the European Commission with a three-year budget plan that includes more than 10 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in deficit-reduction measures for this year to bring down Europe’s biggest budget shortfall. Concern about the deficit led rating companies to downgrade the country’s debt last month, sparking a rout in its bonds.

The government’s budget proposals for this year are “a right step in the good direction, but it’s in need of additional reductions,” Juncker said.

The cost of insuring against a Greek default rose 2 basis points today to 340 points, near the record 344.5 basis points set yesterday, CMA prices show. Greece’s benchmark 10-year bond gained, snapping three days of declines and narrowing the premium investors demand to hold the debt instead of benchmark German bunds to 272 basis points from more than 277 earlier, which matched a 10-month high on Dec. 21.

Greece’s Creditworthiness

“If financial markets are of the impression that Greece can tackle its budget deficit there would also be another valuation of Greece’s creditworthiness,” Juncker said.

Concern about Greek finances is weighing on the euro, which dropped 0 guaranteed online personal loans.84 percent to $1.4378, the biggest decline since Dec. 17. The Greek deficit plan didn’t do enough to convince investors that the government could rein in the shortfall, Themistoklis Fiotakis, a London-based analyst at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a research note today.

The plan “still leaves a number of sources for uncertainty, which could aggravate a nervous market,” Fiotakis wrote. “Part of the euro underperformance can be linked back t the evolving pressures around Greece’s fiscal challenges.”

Leaving the euro region would “cause unmanageable problems for a country,” Juncker said. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday also called the notion of Greece leaving the euro “absurd.”

The so-called eurogroup of finance ministers from the 16 nations using the euro will discuss Greece at a meeting on Jan. 18 in Brussels.

‘Important Steps’

“We will on Monday, as we have done for a few months already, alert the Greek authorities that they have to put forward a credible re-consolidation plan of their public finances,” Juncker said. “Greece has taken important steps in this direction; more have to follow.”

Greece shouldn’t count on its European allies to bail the country out if its finances deteriorate, Juncker said. “It would be wrong to imagine or let Greece believe that the other countries could solve the problems for Greece,” he said.

Juncker says that the Maastricht Treaty that led to the creation of the euro bars any bailout of a member state.

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In the strange but true department, a recent securities filing by Kraft Foods seems to stretch the value stock investors are willing to place on the company.

A proxy statement filed with regulators last month presents a statement of Kraft’s (KFT, Fortune 500) financials as of the end of the third quarter. Near the bottom of that table, on page 16, the company lists its period-end price-to-earnings ratio as 17.

That calculation reflects the Northfield, Ill., company’s Sept. 30 closing stock price, $26.27, divided by its per-share earnings, $1.56, for the first nine months of the year.

But wait — aren’t P/E ratios usually calculated using annual earnings, or the equivalent, for the purpose of comparing the stock price to the company’s annual profitability?

Indeed they are. And because Kraft made 43 cents a share in last year’s fourth quarter (this year’s numbers haven’t yet been reported), the company’s earnings for the last 12 months are $1.99 a share.

That puts Kraft’s P/E at a more pedestrian 13 — which is below its level of previous years (see chart above) and below the multiple of the S&P 500 index of big companies.

Investor discontent over Kraft’s slow growth is no secret. Indeed, CEO Irene Rosenfeld alluded to those concerns in September, when the company launched a $17 billion bid for U.K. candy maker Cadbury (CBY).

"This proposed combination is about growth," Rosenfeld said.

But Kraft’s slow growth isn’t the only thing chafing some investors. Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), released a letter this week objecting to Kraft’s plans to issue hundreds of millions of new shares in the deal.

Buffett, whose firm owns 9.4% of Kraft (purchased mostly at higher prices than prevail now) and is the company’s biggest shareholder, said he views Kraft shares as undervalued and thus unsuitable for heavy issuance in a merger.

Oddly, Kraft seemed to concur. The company announced plans this week to sell its frozen pizza business to Nestle in order to raise cash that will be used instead of stock should the Cadbury deal come to fruition.

That move surprised some analysts.

"While a divestiture is not a complete shock, we admit to being caught off guard by the nature of this specific transaction," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Growe wrote in a note to clients this week. "The frozen pizza business was widely regarded as a key growth pillar for Kraft, one of the company’s fastest growing businesses in our view and thus likely not the first choice for sale."

What’s more, Kraft called its stock "undervalued" in a press statement and added that "its share price is depressed as a consequence of a number of short term factors which it believes will dissipate once the uncertainty surrounding its Offer for Cadbury is resolved."

Though it seems clear Kraft has been feeling pressure on its valuation, the company says the calculations in its filings weren’t tweaked for the sake of presenting a rosier picture.

"It is simply a nine-month number, like all the other numbers presented for 2009," said Kraft spokesman Mike Mitchell. "There’s no sense of manipulation."

The strange P/E calculation comes in a proxy filing that was mailed last month to shareholders who will soon vote on plans tied to the Cadbury bid.

Misstatements in proxy filings can attract the interest of securities lawyers and regulators, though there is no sign as yet that anyone is objecting to Kraft’s figures.

That doesn’t make the whole episode any less odd, however.

"It does seem out of the ordinary," said Eleanor Bloxham, who runs the Value Alliance corporate governance watchdog in Westerville, Ohio. "This is an M&A issue so it’s a bigger deal." 

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The Toronto stock market registered a solid advance Friday despite employment reports for December from Canada and particularly the United States that widely missed expectations.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 66.32 points to 11,953.83. The main index ran up 1.76 per cent this week with investors satisfied that the general trend shows economic conditions are improving. They're also hopeful that the weak data means the U.S. Federal Reserve will be in no rush to raise interest rates.

New York markets also had a muted reaction to the U.S. Labour Department report showing that the American economy lost another 85,000 jobs last month. Economists had expected a flat showing, or perhaps a slight job loss of around 1,000. A sharp drop in the labour force, a sign more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work, kept the U.S. unemployment rate unchanged at 10 per cent.

Revisions to the previous two months' data showed the U.S. economy actually generated 4,000 jobs in November, the first gain in nearly two years.

"If what we had seen was a surprising amount of job growth, then you might have actually seen the market sell off because then people would say, 'Well, maybe the Fed is going to change and be forced to change its policy sooner,"' said Norman Raschkowan, chief investment officer at Mackenzie Financial Corp., adding that he was encouraged by a positive showing in hours worked data in the Canadian and U.S. reports.

"Overall, this quarter, it's not that bad and it's showing a steady improvement. The fourth quarter is turning out to be better than the third and the third was better than the second and you're seeing this sort of gradual steady improvement in conditions."

The Canadian dollar ticked 0.38 of a cent higher to 97 cents US as Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy shed 2,600 jobs in December, well below economists' expectations that 20,000 jobs would be created.

Economists pointed out that December's performance followed a huge gain of 79,000 jobs in November.

Still, BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist Doug Porter says the jobs report shows that "the economic recovery will be uneven, with overall growth likely to pale compared with past recoveries."

On the corporate front, investors took in news that Canwest Global Communications (TSXV:CGS) is putting its newspaper operations and related online operations under bankruptcy protection and up for sale. Its shares traded half a cent lower to 6 instant payday loans.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The base metals sector led advancers, up 3.21 per cent with March copper off three cents at US$3.41 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.B) advanced $1.20 to $41.79 while First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) climbed $5.40 to $91.95.

The TSX industrials sector ran up 1.77 per cent with Canadian National Railway (TSX: CNR) ahead $1.65 to $58.53 and Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD.B) up 13 cents to $5.18.

The consumer staples sector moved ahead as higher sales helped Quebec-based pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group Inc. (TSX: PJC.A) to a profit of $44.6-million or 19 cents a share in its latest quarter. That's a vast improvement from the year-earlier period when Jean Coutu lost $399.2-million, or $1.66 per share, largely because of writedowns of its investment in the Rite-Aid pharmacy chain in the United States. Jean Coutu shares advanced 32 cents to $10.05.

The TSX energy sector was ahead 0.37 per cent as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained nine cents to US$82.75 a barrel.

The TSX gold sector was ahead one per cent as the February bullion contract on the Nymex climbed $5.20 to US$1,138.90 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G) was up 59 cents to $43.80.

The TSX Venture Exchange was 13.57 points higher to 1,605.10.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 11.33 points to 10,618.19 for a gain of 1.8 per cent this week.

The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 17.12 points to 2,317.17 while the S&P index rose 3.29 points to 1,144.98.

Investors also took in news that UPS – the world's largest package delivery company – will cut 1,800 management and administrative positions to streamline its U.S. package segment.

UPS also said it expected to top its previously announced earnings prediction of 58 to 65 cents a share for the fourth-quarter of 2009. The company now says its hopes to see profits of between 73 and 75 cents a share when it reports Q4 earnings Feb. 2. It shares ran up $2.76 to US$60.17.

In other corporate news, shares in DragonWave Inc. (TSX: DWI), an Ottawa-based global supplier of packet microwave radio systems, ran up $1.34 or 10.6 per cent to $13.96 after the firm said it earned over $12 million in net profit in its fiscal 2010 third quarter. Revenues more than quadrupled on a surge of business from North American customers.

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Fox Networks and Time Warner Cable announced an agreement Friday that will avert the disruption of Fox network programming to 15 million subscribers of Time Warner Cable and an affiliated company.

The agreement, the terms of which were not disclosed, was announced several hours after a midnight deadline and just before Fox was to air the Sugar Bowl football game between Cincinnati and the University of Florida.

"We’re pleased that, after months of negotiations, we were able to reach a fair agreement with Time Warner Cable — one that recognizes the value of our programming," said Chase Carey, deputy chairman of News Corp., in a statement.

"We’re happy to have reached a reasonable deal with no disruption in programming for our customers," said Glenn Britt, chairman of Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner Cable and News Corp. (NWS, Fortune 500), Fox’s parent company, had been locked in a public battle over how much the cable giant should pay for the right to deliver Fox networks into its subscribers’ homes.

If a deal hadn’t been reached, all of the Fox-owned broadcast networks and some of its cable channels would have disappeared for most of Time Warner Cable’s 13 million subscribers, affecting broadcasts in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Also affected would have been 2 million subscribers of Bright House Networks, with operations in 5 states including central Florida.

News Corp. had wanted to charge Time Warner Cable (TWC) — which was spun off from CNNMoney.com parent Time Warner Corp. earlier this year — $1 per subscriber for airing its broadcast station, Fox. The contracts for six Fox cable channels — FX, Speed, Fuel TV, Fox Reality, Fox Soccer and Fox Sports en Español — as well as certain regional sports networks were also slated to expire. Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network were not affected.

Public officials weigh in

Fox refused an offer made by Time Warner Cable Wednesday to enter binding arbitration with the FCC. That offer stemmed from a suggestion made in a letter written Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communication, Technology and the Internet, addressed to both companies.

Kerry issued a statement Friday, before the agreement was reached, praising the two sides for continuing the talks.

"I am pleased that Fox has not pulled its programming and that the parties remain at the table," said Kerry. "I encourage a long-term, mutually agreeable solution that does not strip consumers of programming unnecessarily and believe that good faith negotiations should result in an agreement."

The dispute reflects television’s changing business model, as programming choices continue to expand and advertising revenues plummet, noted David Wertheimer, chief executive of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California high quality business cards.

Cable networks have always counted on revenue from both advertising and subscriber fees. So even as ad sales have declined, cable channels have stayed afloat on those fees, which Wertheimer says have remained steady. But broadcast networks that rely solely on ad revenue are casting about for new sources of revenue, which is likely what’s driving Fox’s bid for higher fees.

At the same time, providers like Time Warner Cable are in a costly battle to retain subscribers as they fend off threats from satellite TV and Web-based programming. Time Warner Cable argues that Fox is charging too much to renew the contract and that any cost increase would only hurt consumers.

End-of-year standoffs between cable providers and TV networks aren’t uncommon, since these deals typically expire on Dec. 31.

Cablevision drops Food, HGTV

In a separate dispute, Cablevision Systems, which delivers cable programming to homes in the New York metropolitan area, said Friday it was no longer carrying channels operated by Scripps Networks, including The Food Channel and HGTV.

"We are sorry that Scripps’ current financial difficulties are making it impossible for them to continue our relationship on terms that are reasonable for Cablevision and our customers," Cablevision said in a statement. "We wish Scripps well and have no expectation of carrying their programming again, given the dramatic changes in their approach to working with distributors to reach television viewers."

"Viewers love our talent and our shows, which is why Food Network and HGTV rank among the top networks in cable," said Kenneth W. Lowe, chairman of Scripps Networks Interactive, in a statement. "But our valuable networks simply are not being compensated like top ten networks by Cablevision."

Scripps says it has launched viewer Web campaigns aimed at getting the two networks back on Cablevision, which says it has 4.7 million customers in the New York area.

In a another cable retransmission negotiation, Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcasting said Thursday it has agreed to an 8-day extension of its agreement with cable operator Mediacom, to midnight ET on Jan. 8. The negotiations affect customers in markets that include Minneapolis-St.Paul. St. Louis, Milwaukee and Nashville, Tenn. 

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As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the Denver Business Journal is revisiting some of the biggest business-news stories of the last 10 years.

Here, we look at the growth of the renewable-energy industry in Colorado, a development that could transform the state’s traditional energy economy. (And click here to share your picks for the biggest business news of the last decade.)

The story: Colorado has long been a center of “new energy” research, as home of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden and other facilities. Also, its abundant sunshine and steady high-plains winds make its potential for solar- and wind-power development among the highest in the nation.

The state’s renewable energy sector has grown rapidly since 2004, when Colorado voters passed a measure mandating that more electricity come from the sun and the wind. In particular, progress toward making Colorado a clean-energy center gathered steam in 2007 and 2008.

A key development was when Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer, decided to make Colorado its major U.S. factory center. In 2007 it broke ground on a manufacturing plant for wind-turbine components in Windsor and then announced plans for two more plants in the state. And the company’s suppliers said they would follow Vestas to Colorado.

In 2008, energy giant ConocoPhillips bought the former StorageTek campus in Louisville for $58.5 million with plans to create a 2.5 million-square-foot renewable energy research and training facility by 2013.

Also that year, Germany’s Siemens Energy announced it would establish its U.S. wind research and development center in Boulder.

They were among several firms involved in new energy that announced plans in 2007 and 2008 to come to Colorado.

Meanwhile, Xcel Energy — the state’s largest power utility and rated the nation’s top investor-owned utility for wind power — took steps toward expanding its clean-energy capacity in Colorado, while launching its “Smart Grid City” demonstration project in Boulder, showcasing energy delivery and control technologies of the future.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has made the push toward a “new energy economy” a central element of his first term in office — and of his 2010 re-election campaign.

And President Barack Obama recognized Colorado’s emerging role in alternative energy when he chose to spotlight Blake Jones, president of Boulder’s Namaste Solar Electric Inc., at the February 2009 ceremony at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where Obama signed the federal stimulus program into law.

Before the bill signing, Blake gave Obama and Vice President Joe Biden a tour of the solar panels his company had installed on the roof of the museum.

The stimulus — which includes alternative-energy subsidies as well as funds for weatherization projects — “will help Colorado gain prominence in the renewable energy arena,” Jones said at the time.

Amid the excitement over wind and solar power, natural-gas producers in Colorado touted their product as another “flavor” of clean energy, noting that the Rockies supply about 25 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. every year.

Others in the state looked to more exotic potential energy sources, including underground geothermal steam as well as algae that can produce fuels.

Jim Welch, CEO of Louisville-based Bella Energy Inc. and president of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, says that today there are 10,000 jobs linked to the solar industry in Colorado, and 70,000 direct and indirect jobs dealing with all renewable industries.

Today: The path to a clean-energy economy in Colorado has not been entirely smooth. A proposal to run a $180 million power line, in part to carry solar-generated electricity, through Colorado’s San Luis Valley has met with strong opposition, signaling to some that even new-energy initiatives may be met with old-fashioned “not in my back yard” opposition.

Meanwhile, the credit crunch, rising unemployment and fears for job stability have for now sapped many homeowners’ interest in buying solar power panels for their roofs, even as the federal economic recovery act has raised incentives to cut the costs of the systems.

And on Dec. 7, Vestas announced it would shut down production at its factory in Windsor for an unknown length of time in early 2010.

Still, many experts believe Colorado is well positioned for new-energy growth again once a broad economic recovery takes hold.

Here’s a roundup of DBJ coverage of this key story of the decade.

• March 20, 2007 — Vestas to build plant in Windsor
• Jan. 25, 2008 — The New Energy Economy: What’s in it for Colorado?
• Feb. 20, 2008 — ConocoPhillips to build campus on former StorageTek site
• March 12, 2008 — Boulder named ‘Smart Grid City’
• March 26, 2008 — Texas wind-energy company RES-Americas moving to Broomfield
• June 3, 2008 — Siemens Energy picks Boulder for wind R&D center
• Aug. 22, 2008 — Colorado investing in ‘new energy economy’
• Aug. 26, 2008 — Vestas unveils Colorado plans
• Sept. 26, 2008 — Geothermal: Answer to energy needs may lie beneath our feet
• Oct. 10, 2008 — Bailout package includes R&D tax breaks, credits for alternative energy investments
• Feb. 16, 2009 — Stimulus package a ‘shot in the arm’ for alternative-energy industry, Colorado execs say
• April 18, 2008 — ConocoPhillips begins work on new home
• May 8, 2009 — Sundrop Fuels quietly chases energy solution
• July 21, 2009 — Ritter touts Colorado clean-energy companies before Congress
• July 31, 2009 — Renewable energy does have its price
• Aug. 11, 2009 — Xcel submits plan to boost renewable power, cut carbon by 10%
• Oct. 23, 2009 — Not in my backyard: Power line for solar tests ‘New Energy’ resolve
• Dec. 8, 2009 — Vestas eyes shutdown, ‘long weekends’ at Windsor plant
• Dec. 11, 2009 — Energy industry ready for recovery

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