Back to Services
Energy and Climate
Boulder County strives to conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources by promoting programs that help the entire community work toward energy efficiency and renewable energy use.
The county's current Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy Programs:
The county's Energy Tips, Policies, and Actions include:
What is Climate Change:
Evidence shows that human activity is largely the cause for the earth’s warming. Decades ago people began using fossil fuels (coal and oil) for factories, homes, and transportation. Using coal and oil for heating and transportation has released more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing the earth to warm more quickly than in the past.
Climate change caused by humans is the cause for extreme storms, unusual floods and droughts, intense heat waves, rising seas, and many changes in biological systems. The more dependent we are on carbon-emitting energy sources, the more our climate will change.
Why Does It Matter?
Non-renewable sources of energy impact land, water, and air across geographical scales. Locally, Colorado generates most of its electricity from coal-fired power plants which are one of the largest sources of air pollution in Colorado and in Boulder County; it is bad for health and it adds greenhouse gases to our atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
Climate Change
Air pollution is having a profound effect on our global climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 2007 report for policy makers, "Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis" (2.3 MB). The 21-page summary, based on the contributions of 2,000 scientists from 154 countries, states that evidence overwhelmingly indicates the climate is changing - more rapidly in the last 30 years than ever before - and that human activities are a primary contributing factor. Carbon dioxide emissions - from the fuels we burn for heat, electricity and transportation - and methane emissions from livestock, mining, and landfills are the main causes of climate change and the impacts are serious. Read more about the causes and consequences of Climate Change.
Setting a Path to Sustainability
In 2005, Boulder County joined more than 200 cities in the United States in making a commitment to address global change at the local level by passing a resolution adopting a Sustainable Energy Path (SEP) (29 KB) for Boulder County and a Climate Change Action Plan to achieve aggressive short and long term emission reduction goals. A key element of the resolution is the county's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to target levels specified by the Kyoto Protocol.
Boulder County's Climate Action Plan began with a Greenhouse Gas Inventory (221 KB) to assess current and historical sources of emissions. Based on this data, analysts drafted a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Report (PDF), which analyzes what effort would be needed to meet the Commissioners' goal of a 7% reduction below 1990 levels by 2012. The analysis informs us that achieving this goal will be a significant challenge. The Consortium of Cities Energy Strategy Taskforce developed a countywide SEP that provides specific, long- and short-term strategies to reduce greenhouse gas pollution across Boulder County communities. The Boulder County Commissioners approved adoption of the plan in January 2008 and the plan has been approved by the city of Boulder, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Lyons, Nederland and Superior.
The county is working cooperatively with other governmental entities to implement change in all the communities within Boulder County. As part of this effort, we are working closely with the City of Boulder, which already has a Climate Action Plan (5.9 MB) and passed a Climate Action Plan tax to support the city's effort to meet Kyoto Protocol goals for greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Individual Actions:
Business Solutions
Reports and Presentations
Top of page ↑