Not long ago, we took a peak inside the labs at Golden's
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a principal
research facility for the U.S. Department of Energy, and made an
interesting discovery: NREL scientists are researching the
possibility of using algae as a petroleum substitute to fuel
vehicles such as jets. More recently, the Leed School of
Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder, examined the
lab in an altogether different context and found that NREL
provided about $815 million in economic benefit to Colorado in
2012. In particular, for the past four years, construction of a
new flagship building at the NREL facility has buoyed the
state's ailing construction industry. NREL has spent about $363
million on construction projects in four years, according to the
report, much of which stayed in Colorado. U.S. Representative Ed
Perlmutter—whose district contains the NREL facility—commented
on the news: "The important research and development taking
place at NREL will change the way we fuel our