Renewable Energy

Since 1985, the City of Boulder has been generating electricity from clean, renewable sources.  Boulder currently has a two-part renewable energy program that includes:

Cogeneration and Hydroelectricity

Although a lesser-known component of the city's water and wastewater utilities, the renewable energy program has direct impacts on the Boulder community, the state of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.

Cogeneration

Cogeneration at the Wastewater Treatment Plant produces an average of about 2.1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year when methane, a natural byproduct of wastewater treatment, is used to produce electricity.

Learn more about cogeneration.

Hydroelectricity

Boulder's eight hydroelectric facilities convert the energy in falling water into over 42.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.  These hydroelectric systems make use of energy from water that is also used to meet the city's water needs;  the energy would be wasted if it was not converted to electricity.  Nothing else is consumed or emitted in the process.

Learn more about hydroelectricity

Amount of Renewable Energy Produced

In 2004, the renewable energy program generated just over 41 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.  To put this into perspective, an average Boulder County household uses about 7,600 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.  This means that in 2004, enough electricity was produced to meet the needs of thenew Lakewood plant, Boulder expects to produce renewable energy equivilent to the annual needs of about 6,800 Boulder County households.

Each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated at a coal-fired plant requires the consumption of about one pound of coal and results in the release of two pounds of carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas - into the atmoshpere.  In 2004, Boulder's renewable energy production displaced the need to burn 20,500 tons of coal and eliminated the emission of 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide.  The environment impacts associated with mining and transporting over 200 railroad cars of coal were also avoided.

The total renewable energy produced over the city's 20-year program (over 328 million kilowatt hours) has displaced the need to mine, transport and burn over 160,000 tons of coal!

Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2007 05:47