Darcy Varney for Bella Energy

Bella Energy installer Kim Derhammer installs a 5-kilowatt solar system at the Antonito Elementary School in Colorado’s san Luis Valley.

America’s current lifestyle largely depends on some form of energy, but what would happen to our economy, key services or way of life if we experienced major energy shortages?

Three Democrats – Jared Polis, Will Shafroth and Joan Fitz-Gerald – are running in 2008 for the party’s nomination in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District. The three will face off in the Aug. 12 primary, and the winner will go up against Republican Scott Starin and Bill Hammons from the Unity Party of America in the Nov. 4 general election.

The Daily is running in its print version a weekly series of Democratic candidate answers to topical questions, and this week’s question is:

What strategies do you believe will realistically provide the greatest net energy benefit (supply or conservation) for the nation in the near term?

Due to print space constraints, we are not running responses in the paper from candidates who are not in the primary, but we will run responses from Starin or Hammons on our Web site, www.coloradodaily.com, as we receive them.

For more about the candidates, visit Web sites for: Fitz-Gerald at www.joanfitz-gerald.com; Shafroth at www.shafrothforcongress.com; Polis at www.polisforcongress.com; Hammons at www.bill-for-congress.us; and Starin at www.starinforcongress.com. The voter registration deadline for the primary is Monday, July 14. For more information on voting, visit the Boulder County Elections site www.VoteBoulder.org or call (303) 413-7740.

Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126, or valenty@coloradodaily.com.