Well, transitioning away from dirtier fossil fuels toward cleaner renewable energy is a tough balancing act for the U.S., but many states aren't waiting for federal policy; they've forged ahead on their own. Among the most active, Colorado, a state rich in fossil fuels but also pioneering in renewables, led for the last four years by Governor Bill Ritter. He leaves office this week after deciding not to run for a second term, but before leaving, he talked to "energyNOW!" about his energy legacy.

Colorado's vast landscape embodies a massive wealth of natural resources, and when Governor Bill Ritter talks about his four years leading Colorado, it's clear the realities of governing haven't dimmed his passion for transforming Colorado's energy picture.

[RITTER] I think people knew it coming in, that we were very serious about changing the energy culture in Colorado.

[McGINNIS] Changing it for the next generation.

[RITTER] Just use the sun as long as it shines. In Colorado, it shines 360 days a year.

[McGINNIS] While adults in Washington sat in stalemate over energy issues, Ritter spent four years pushing his state ahead. Among his proudest accomplishments, signing a record number of energy bills in one term.

Fifty-seven energy bills. Not a bad record for clean energy.

[RITTER] That's not a bad record. It was over four years.

[SUITERS] Among them, the landmark Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act, requiring utilities to move away from coal and toward lower-emitting sources.

Now, that ended up shutting down or trying to transition some of the oldest coal plants.

[RITTER] That's right; there will be three or four of the oldest inefficient coal plants that will transition to natural gas.

[McGINNIS] Another groundbreaking piece of legislation -- he increased Colorado's RES, or Renewable Electricity Standard, requiring utilities get more of their electricity from renewables by the year 2020.

[RITTER] You know, when we signed the first bill that took our renewable energy standard for investor-owned utilities to 20%, that was in the first 100 days that I was governor.

[McGINNIS] He later bumped that RES up to 30%, a move not hailed by all. In fact, Jon Caldara of the Colorado think tank the Independence Institute describes it as...

[CALDERA] Purely miserable and that he really has put the state at a huge competitive disadvantage. And he's really set off a time bomb for expensive energy here in Colorado.

[McGINNIS] How so?

[CALDARA] What he's done is he's taken what was a modest mandate, 10% renewables, and bumped it up to 30%. And we have about 10 years to meet those unreasonable goals.

[McGINNIS] But Ritter maintains that move and others encourages renewable energy firms to locate here. Like wind turbine maker Vestas, which brought 2,600 jobs and a billion dollars in investment. And others, like Namasté Solar.

[RITTER] When Colorado voters became the first in the country to pass a renewable energy standard in 2004, Namasté did not exist.

We have it on the solar front. We have it on the research and development front. Conoco Phillips is building its global research facility for renewable and alternative fuels in Colorado, because we've built this ecosystem. And I'm just ticking off a few.

[McGINNIS] There's Abound Solar, and Germany's SMA Solar.

[RITTER] When they looked in the United States and asked, where were they going to locate their manufacturing plant, where were they going to create jobs, it was Colorado.

[MAN] This is a shaft and rotor assembly.

[McGINNIS] Part of the motor?

[MAN] Yep.

[McGINNIS] And it was Colorado for UQM Technologies. That's a maker of hybrid and electric vehicle motors.

[WILLIAM RANKIN, CHAIRMAN, CEO, UQM TECHNOLOGIES] The new energy economy as he's described it is real. I think the state's well positioned. We've got a technology base which I think is on par with anybody in the country.

[McGINNIS] Colorado is also home to major energy research centers, including NREL, a national lab fully devoted to alternative energy.

GEORGE DOUGLAS, SPOKESPERSON, NREL] Solar, wind, biomass, energy-efficient buildings. We do some geothermal work, some hydrogen work.

[McGINNIS] And have you noticed the governor's support of the renewables industries over these four years of his term?

[DOUGLAS] We absolutely noticed the governor's support of renewables and of the laboratory itself.

[McGINNIS] But ask Caldara about the clean energy jobs Ritter helped recruit and he asks...

[CALDARA] What about the jobs lost? When you are punishing coal companies, when you are raising the prices of electricity, when you're making it so that manufacturing cannot happen in the state because it will be too cost-prohibitive, you're hurting jobs.

[McGINNIS] Ritter agrees some jobs will go away in a transition like this.

[RITTER] If there is no way for us to burn coal and do it in a way that reduces the emissions that we presently experience, then the industry is going to likely suffer. So that's one industry.

[McGINNIS] The number of jobs is larger than those being lost?

[RITTER] Absolutely, absolutely.

[McGINNIS] But all told, Ritter leaves believing he's made a difference.

[RITTER] I think we've left a lot to build upon, where it's a completely different place than where we started. And we've made the case that you can really achieve energy security in this country by looking at domestic sources, including a more serious attention paid to natural gas and renewables, and energy efficiency. If you do that, then you can create jobs, and you can, and a residual benefit, a big residual benefit is you wind up addressing climate issues and environmental challenges. And you can get it all -- with one focus on a clean energy economy, you get all of those things.

[McGINNIS] Things he hopes will make a difference in Colorado's future.

[RITTER] But over time, in your lifetime, we're going to transition to a lot of other ways to use energy and to emit, and you're going to be a part of that.

[McGINNIS] Governor Ritter is headed for Colorado State University where he'll be director of the Center for the New Energy Economy. He says he'll build on his internationally leading clean energy accomplishments of the past four years.