The Colorado Carbon Fund (a new carbon offset program from the Governor’s Energy Office that will fund energy efficiency, renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation projects throughout the state) is ramping up. On Feb. 14 the state issued a request for proposals seeking a “third party administrator” — a company that will manage the CCF on behalf of the state.

Interested parties will have to move fast. Inquiries are due 5 pm, Feb 29 (this Friday).

Recently I spoke with CCF program manager Susan Innis, who explained the process of deciding which projects will get funded — and who will buy the offset credits to pay for the projects…

According to Innis, getting the administrator is a key starting point. “Once we have our third-party administrator, we’ll probably sit down to discuss who will be most interested based on purchasing carbon offsets.” Once they know who’s most likely to participate, they’ll be able to estimate how much funding likely will be available for projects.

Earlier we reported that the University of Colorado’s student government was the first to chip in for the fund, pledging $50,000 in student discretionary funding.

According to Innis, the plan is that individuals as well as organizations would be able to purchase offset credits through the CCF.

Unlike Xcel Energy’s Windsource program, CCF-funded projects will be new projects. “We’re really interested in making residential and commercial buildings more energy efficient,” said Innis.

For renewables, the program will likely focus on emerging technologies not yet well commercialized, such as solar thermal, anaerobic digesters that produce electricity from hog and dairy waste, and methane capture for the state’s burgeoning oil, gas, and mining industries. “We really want to go beyond business as usual on that front,” Innis said.

The GEO is examining several existing certification protocols, such as Green-E, to verify the carbon-reduction impact of CCF-funded projects. Verification is the crucial part of any carbon offset program, since it’s the only way to find out what kinds of environmental benefits your dollars are really buying.

What could the CCF program mean for Boulder? The obvious connection is that Boulder citizens and organizations could purchase offset credits through the CCF — although it’s unclear at this point whether such credits would “officially” count toward meeting the city’s Kyoto Protocol goals. Also, it’s possible that one of the many energy consulting firms based in and around Boulder may bid for the administrator job.

However, CCF dollars could provide direct funding for much-needed facility upgrades in and around Boulder. Currently, the vast majority of carbon tax revenue collected by Boulder funds public education efforts rather than actual energy-saving projects.

What do you think? Could CCF funding be one way to bridge this gap to get more long-term energy saving projects done faster in Boulder? What local buildings (or types of buildings) do you think are most in need of energy overhauls? Please comment below.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 7:10 am and is filed under CU, Follow the money, Government, renewable energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.