5 Utah counties rate high in energy report

Five counties in Utah recently received high marks from Colorado College for their potential to provide renewable energy resources.

Eight states in the Rocky Mountain region were graded in a report titled "Renewable Energy in the Rockies," which is part of the school's larger 2008 Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card.

In Utah, the best potential for solar energy appears to be in Box Elder and San Juan counties, which earned A's, followed by Duchesne, Millard and Uintah counties, which were given B's in the report.

Utah's geothermal potential lies most in Box Elder and Cache counties and then in San Juan, Millard, Iron and Tooele counties, according to the college, which said Utah scored the highest among the eight states in this category.

In the area of wind power potential, there were no A's in Utah, and the only B was scored by Piute County.

The report says that biomass energy, which comes from sources like urban wood waste, methane emissions from landfills and manure management, has the most potential in Salt Lake and Beaver counties, both getting A's, followed by B grades in Utah, Box Elder and Davis counties.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. recently formed a task force designed to map out Utah's most likely zones where clean, renewable energy sources might be found. His goal is to have 20 percent of the state's energy needs being met by renewable sources by 2025.