This week the Boulder-based marketing communications firm Sterling Rice Group announced that it’s offsetting 100% of its electricity use by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from Renewable Choice Energy, also based in Boulder.

RECs are a popular way for people and organizations to shrink their carbon footprint. One reason why RECs (and a similar kind of offering, carbon offsets, which help fund other kinds of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions) are popular is that all the buyer has to do is write a check. That’s certainly much easier and faster than trying to make your home or building more energy efficient, or rearranging your life so you can drive less. And if these programs are properly audited (for instance, Green-E certifies the RECs sold by Renewable Energy Choice), chances are good that buyers’ dollars are yielding measurable greenhouse gas reductions.

Still, some people question whether buying RECs and carbon offsets are the best use of the money people want to spend to help mitigate climate change.

Here are some issues commonly raised by critics of RECs and carbon offsets…
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On Tuesday, April 8, the Boulder city council held a study session to get up to date on the city’s progress toward meeting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol and Boulder’s climate action plan.

This was a great opportunity to see what each council member thinks of how Boulder’s doing so far on addressing climate change. I took lots of notes, and will be presenting in a series of posts what each council member had to say at this meeting.

First, here’s the big picture:

Falling far short, so far. According to presentations by Jonathan Koehn and Sarah Van Pelt of the Dept. of Environmental Affairs (backed up by the memorandum they submitted with the study session materials), as things now stand Boulder will not meet the Kyoto Protocol goals by 2012. In fact, at this pace we’ll miss it by nearly half (48%).

That explains why the council has been nudging the Climate Smart program team to get more aggressive.

Memorandum, Boulder city council study session, Apr. 8, 2008

At the current pace, Boulder will fall short of its Kyoto Protocol goal by 48%.

The good news is, DEA staff presented a catch-up plan intended to bring the city much closer to meeting the Kyoto goals, and council seemed mostly supportive…

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This evening the Boulder City Council will hold a study session on the city’s climate action plan, transportation and renewable energy strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I’ll be attending.

A study session is a meeting of city council members and staff to go over current and upcoming issues, discuss topics, and give staff/consultants direction. The public is welcome to observe, but no public comments, questions, or statements are taken. However, the public may be asked questions. No formal voting takes place.

According to the 65-page memorandum from the Boulder Dept. of Environmental Affairs to the City Council, this session will provide an update on initiatives undertaken as part of Boulder’s Climate Action Plan (CAP, see backgrounder), and the Transportation Master Plan’s FasTracks Local Optimization (FLO) initiative (a planned transportation system in Boulder that will integrate regional rail and bus rapid transit, expected to be implemented around 2014-16).

Also tonight, Environmental Affairs will introduce its draft renewable energy strategy for the city.

Apparently, council has been pushing the city’s Climate Smart program to pursue emissions cuts more aggressively….

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Yesterday I wrote about how a remark at a meeting by Boulder Environmental Affairs spokesperson Beth Powell implied that the city might be considering options for not meeting the Kyoto Protocol goals. I called Powell to ask for clarification on this.

In a voice mail, Powell explained that in fact the Climate Smart team is still committed to its original plan of meeting the Kyoto Protocol goals:

“There is definitely no intention to backpedal at all. We want to increase our aggressive approach to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. That said, the Climate Smart team doesn’t have any unilateral decisionmaking power. We aren’t necessarily even going to recommend to council a new goal. We’re just going to ask them if they would like to see another goal. The study session is when all the details will be revealed. We’re writing that council memo now, and are willing to share information on that.”

…I’m relieved to learn that I misunderstood Powell’s remarks in the context of that event — and to get a clear statement that the city (at least at this point) does not intend to take advantage of the apparent wiggle room in the language of the 2002 council resolution that committed the city to meeting the Kyoto goals. Clarity about targets and achievements would seem to benefit everyone involved in this issue, in Boulder and elsewhere.

Many thanks to Powell for clarifying this matter.

(UPDATE Mar. 21: The city has clarified that it does not intend to backpedal on Kyoto.)

Last night’s Climate Smart community meeting at the West Boulder Senior center was well attended, energetic, and constructive. Over 40 community members and city and county employees attended. I took extensive notes and will be writing much more about the event later.

But first, I was a bit surprised to hear city Environmental Affairs spokesperson Beth Powell note that her department may recommend to the City Council, “that we go beyond Kyoto to a 2020 or 2050 goal.”

…A little bit of background: Boulder’s major municipal efforts to address climate change began in 2002, when the City Council passed resolution 906 adopting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol — which would require the city to cut its greenhouse gas emissions reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7% below the estimated 1990 level. The Kyoto Protocol calls for that goal to be met by 2012 — which is when the current carbon tax sunsets.

Actually, the wording of the resolution included some wiggle room…

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Last week Xcel Energy announced that Boulder is about to become the nation’s first “Smart Grid” city. What could this mean for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission programs in Boulder — and will it take effect in time to help the city meet its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol goals, due in 2012?

Smart Grid is Xcel’s program to try to make the electric power grid more efficient and resilient through the use of information technology. According to the utility’s Smart Grid strategy and vision, “Our long-term smart grid concept imagines an evolved energy grid with layers of functional, sophisticated intelligence built in intelligence that will foster communication and integration among the grid’s various components and processes. This would enable the grid to better monitor, manage, and even balance itself.”

…Not a bad idea. In recent years, problems with how the national and regional power grids operate have caused or exacerbated major blackouts.

Locally, this could mean that Boulderites might be able to access richer information about their information use, so they can make smarter decisions about when and how to use power…

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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…
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One of the lucky ones: I’ve got my Ecopass. Where’s yours?

I’ve been chatting with Boulderites about energy, transportation, and CO2 emissions issues, and I keep hearing a recurring plea: “I’d love to get an Ecopass. I’d use it. Why can’t I get one?”

The attraction of an RTD Ecopass, which provides a lower-cost annual pass good for unlimited rides on all regular RTD transit services, is obvious. The cost savings are enormous.

How cheap is it? My neighborhood (Greenbelt Meadows, in the SE corner of Boulder), participates in the Neighborhood Ecopass (NECO) program. This year I contributed $120 for my pass, since I’m car-free so my RTD usage is high. My neighbors contributed an average of about $75-85/household. If I was to buy 12 one-month RTD passes (at $144/each, to cover the same transit options as Ecopasses), I’d pay a whopping $1728 per year!

The catch: Currently, Ecopasses are available only to employees of participating companies, or to neighborhoods that can generate sufficient participation among residents. Unfortunately, most Boulderites are not eligible for Ecopasses — which has led to significant levels of “Ecopass Envy” in some quarters.

This program appears to have succeeded in generating significant interest in using public transit more. However, if so many of the people whose interest has been piqued by Ecopasses cannot get them, the question becomes: Is this program undercutting RTD’s mission by creating more frustration than ridership?

Conflicting priorities at RTD may be hobbling the Ecopass program — thus preventing it from achieving its full potential to cut carbon emissions, relieve traffic congestion, and other benefits.

Here’s what I’ve learned about this problem so far, and what some Boulderites are doing to try to expand access to Ecopasses…

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Colorado.gov

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.

Last Thursday, the University of Colorado, Boulder, was one of more than 1,000 colleges, universities, high schools and other educational institutions around the U.S. to participate in Focus the Nation’s national teach-in day.

Despite morning transit hassles caused by very icy roads after the mini-blizzard of the night before, I was able to make it over to the campus to check out a couple of CU’s events. (Here’s the full lineup of CU events.) I was a little late getting to Governor Bill Ritter’s kick-off talk, but I did catch most of his remarks.

As expected, Ritter touted the state’s Climate Action Plan, blue ribbon panel on transportation, his 2007 executive orders on greening state government, and (of course) the CU student government’s recent decision to shift $50,000 from wind energy credits to as-yet-unspecified carbon offset projects to be funded by the newly unveiled Colorado Carbon Fund.

The Governor’s Q&A was a bit more revealing…
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• FACTBOX-U.S. candidates Obama, Huckabee on key issues | Reuters
  Huckabee: Backs an unspecified cap on carbon emissions and 35 mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency standard by 2020; favors alternative energy and energy independence. Obama: Wants to lead an effort to impose caps on carbon emissions and prompt U.S. automakers

  (tags: carbon+tax , carbon+offsets, fuel+efficiency, Huckabee, Obama, elections)

• Paying People for the Costs of Climate Control (Part 2) - Dot Earth - Climate Change and Sustainability - New York Times Blog
  Peter Barnes cites problems with a straight tax on carbon content of fuels.

  (tags: carbon+tax tax)

• What America Must Do: Step on the Gas
  The first thing the next American president should do upon taking office is to insist that the U.S. Congress pass a huge increase in gas taxes. (Subscription)

  (tags: carbon+tax elections president) (more…)