Boulder's Energy Future:
Creating the Electric Utility of the Future

BoulderEnergyFacts.com - June 7, 2013

Flow Chart and Detailed Information About City's Modeling 

 Boulder's energy supply is one of the most carbon-intensive in the nation.

In 2002, Boulder became one of the first cities in the nation to pass a resolution in support of the Kyoto Protocol establishing the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012.

Since adopting this goal, our community has worked hard to get there. In 2006, Boulder voters approved the Climate Action Plan tax, the nation's first "carbon tax." We have created innovated, nationally acclaimed programs that help our community reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions such as Energy Smart, curbside composting, and expansion of our bike trail system.

But, as 2012 approached, it became clear that we were not going to meet our Kyoto goal just by changing the way we use our power, even though  most of the programs had been very effective. We realized we had to shift our dependency away from carbon-intensive coal and change the source of our power in order to meet our carbon goals.

Through the approval of ballot measures 2b/2c in 2011, voters asked the city to explore different options that could deliver our community clean, reliable, low-cost, local energy.

Over the past year, teams of world-class consultants and community stakeholder working groups began an unprecedented analysis of the challenges and opportunities of possible solutions - including creating a local power utility.

We are excited to share what we've learned.

Sign-up for our Energy Future Email List and follow the conversation on Twitter #BldrEnergy.

The Resources tab to the left contains in-depth information including links to city analyses, assumptions and data, consultant reports and council memos.

This video offers a quick look at the city's work and findings -

And this is the video that kicked-off the study in 2011 -

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 June 2013 09:24