As we enter the last five weeks of the year, 2007 is turning out the tipping point for investment in new energy alternatives. How ironic it is then to be the year also that Dominion Power has been best known for proposing one of the nation’s most antiquated approaches to power generation and transmission.

Yes, the company continues to throw a few dollars around and posture, somewhat weakly, about its environmental strategies. We wrote about it yesterday, on the opinion page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in letter to the editor titled “Is Dominion Committed to Carbon Research?”

In the paper, we said:

"Virginia Tech has undertaken a $14.3-million research project to capture carbon dioxide from power plants. Now Dominion Virginia Power is saying it will fund 3.5 percent of this project, even though Dominion is almost certainly the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in Virginia, and it wants to become an even bigger emitter with its proposed coal plant in Southwestern Virginia. Carbon sequestration shows promise as a way to keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but it is still being tested, by Virginia Tech and others, and is several years away from full-scale commercial application.

"At the same time that Dominion is making this small contribution to research in carbon sequestration, it is proposing to invest a far larger sum in a project that will encourage the burning of even more coal to the west of Virginia so that power can be transported to Northern Virginia and out-of-state."

We wake up this morning to find the Washington Post describing how mainstream energy companies and Wall Street investors are pouring money and talent into new energy-related businesses. The article highlights one technology that we’ve talked about extensively here on our site: demand-side management. Dominion Power has consistently scoffed at the idea while its peers in the industry pursue it aggressively. No doubt Dominion Power will embrace demand-side solutions enthusiastically someday in the future – just not while it fundamentally interferes with the company's public relations strategy to push the transmission line proposal through the SCC process.

It’s no surprise then that the region’s most dominant power company is nowhere to be found mentioned in the Post story, while AES, Duke Energy and others figure prominently. What a shame. As a region we are so proud of our robust economy and modern technology-based industries. Couldn’t we have an energy supplier more in step with the progress we continue to make?

It is Day 11 of Virginia’s Commitment’s “Where’s Dominion?” Watch.

Have you seen Dominion today?