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    1. Energy Efficiency

    City of Boulder Council, Voters considering changes to Climate Action Tax funding Carbon Reduction efforts

    Feb. 22, 2022
    The Climate Action Plan Tax has funded nearly $2 million in community work toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The CAP tax is set to expire in March 2021.
    Image credit Lee Edwin Coursey at https://flickr.com/photos/73543141@N00/3571409847.
    Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Photo courtesy Wikipedia
    Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Photo courtesy Wikipedia

    Nestled and yet bustling in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the University of Colorado campus city of Boulder has intiated and completed many energy sustainability initiatives over the years.

    The Boulder City Council is considering a crucial path forward as it mulls the fate of a Climate Action Plan Tax which has funded nearly $2 million in community work toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The CAP tax is set to expire in March 2021.

    City councilors are evaluating two options to maintain funding for Boulder’s climate work. One is to extend the CAP tax in its current form, while the other is to modify it and align to community needs.

    Voters also will have a say in possible changes to climate funding in Boulder this year.

    Since 2007, this tax and other funding has helped city leaders institute numerous climate initiatives. These improvements include $2 million in residential rebates for homeowners who upgraded heating, cooling and energy efficiency services.

    See EnergyTech's full coverage of Energy Efficiency projects in the C&I Energy Transition

    Denver Municipal Leaders approve $26M Community Solar Project

    More than 7,000 residential rental units have been upgraded to meet Boulder’s SmartRegs energy efficiency requirements, lowering utility bills for both renters and property owners.

    Other energy efficiency upgrades have impacted commercial buildings in the city, according to the Boulder city website. More than 1,200 business have shifted to electric heating, replacing outdated lighting and upgraded other equipment.

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    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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