"This is like a land rush with a whole bunch of people running side by side," said David Christensen, one of the gurus of new electricity technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the Colorado foothills.

The winners, he said, will find "huge pots of gold at the end."

Kansas and Missouri leaders are joining many other states scurrying to stake claims in the energy gold rush.

President Barack Obama is encouraging this renewed interest in renewable energy by pumping more than $60 billion in federal investment toward stimulating the economy, creating jobs and advancing the nation's ability to generate energy from wind, sun and plants.

By making substantial investments of their own in renewable energy research and commercialization, various states aim to emerge as leading hubs able to attract federal backing and increasing attention from companies considering expansion sites.

Although states such as Colorado, Minnesota and Iowa may have an early edge as renewable energy leaders, Kansas and Missouri have projects, expertise and other assets that could make them strong contenders.

One of the area's key allies is Kansas City's Midwest Research Institute, a nationally prominent expert on renewable energy.

The nonprofit institute, known widely as MRI, is a co-manager of the Department of Energy's Colorado laboratory in the Denver suburb of Golden. Researchers in the sprawling complex are working with companies to make solar, bioenergy and other technology more efficient and cheaper to produce.

ENERGY LAB'S STRENGTH

Steven Chu, the U.S. secretary of energy, is an advocate of renewable energy.

The secretary visited the lab last month to check out robots and other systems developing a new generation of high-tech solar power materials.

One machine appears particularly promising. Using a process much like an inkjet printer, the technology could be used to crank out sheets of photovoltaic cells as efficiently as other assembly lines mass-produce screen-printed T-shirts.

Scientists are making great strides in improving the ability to transform sunlight into electricity. All of this work must proceed so that solar power also becomes a more economical source of energy, Chu said after strolling through the labs and chatting with top researchers.

The lab complex is a frenetic hive of expansion. Crews and cranes are building new offices and labs. Officials are on a hiring binge, striving to add 150 highly trained professionals to the current staff of about 1,300.

Chu told lab leaders to ratchet up these efforts yet again. He said the federal economic stimulus initiative would pump $100 million into the lab for facility and infrastructure improvements.

"This is one thing we should be investing in to prepare our economy for the future," Chu said.

MRI researchers in Kansas City are collaborating on other promising projects, including one with University of Missouri scientists who produced new technology to power vehicles with natural gas.

The institute has experience in managing vast research initiatives involving many organizations. With energy expertise at the region's universities, local companies and other agencies, MRI leaders are interested in helping to put all of the pieces together, said Stan Bull, the institute's director of energy programs.