Boulder and Denver Show They're Ready for 100!

Colorado demonstrated its progressive leanings once more when on August 31, the City of Denver invited residents from around the state to an event celebrating Denver’s and Boulder’s commitment to a clean energy future. As part of the celebration, the Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter, Environment Colorado, Google’s Project Sunroof, Climate Reality Project, and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives(ICLEI) hosted a media event, aerial action, and a job fair. Fourteen speakers gave their perspectives from the environmental, energy justice, business, and advocacy standpoints. This announcement is in keeping with the Centennial State’s 2004 move as the first in the nation to directly implement energy standards that required utility companies to use clean energy.

The proposed clean energy plan, which would allow the City of Boulder to reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2030, makes the city the 17th in the Sierra Club’s  Ready for 100 campaign that have made strong moves to divest. Though Boulder’s public transit system would still run on fossil fuels--a move that will hopefully be addressed in coming years. Electricity generation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases in the United States and accounts for 30 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.

Aspen, Colorado, became the first city in the state to reach the 100 percent clean energy threshold, and the third in the country; Burlington, Vermont, and Greensburg, Kansas were the first two.

Nearly 5,000 people are currently employed at over 300 solar companies in the state—nearly twice as many people as in the coal mining industry. Prices for solar energy have fallen by 80 percent in recent years. In 2012 alone, private investment for installing solar on Colorado homes and businesses totaled $187 million.

Bryce Carter of the Rocky Mountain Chapter gave an overview of the impetus for the statewide gathering.

“Colorado has been embracing a variety of solutions for clean energy for years but no one has brought together the stories behind those solutions. We wanted to change the narrative to show the progress we've made across the state and point us to the goal of a 100 percent renewable electricity state.  We strategically targeted our event to be held in Denver to help pressure the administration to take on the challenge, which they have committed to exploring within our message frame, and support Boulder in crossing the finish line with their ongoing comprehensive work toward achieving a 100 percent goal. 

Carter says the Sierra Club plans to build and strengthen its relationships with a variety of organizations and businesses and will host a similar event annually to assess progress toward moving Colorado to 100 percent.

Boulder mayor Suzanne Jones issued an announcement that came after the city council directed staff in May to develop an implementation plan, which is slated to be formalized later this year.

"Boulder is committed to achieving 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, as part of our strategy to achieve 80 percent greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050. Climate change is the issue of our time, threatening to fundamentally change the way we live our lives.

“We are already experiencing increasingly intense and frequent wildfires, declining snow packs, droughts, and more extreme weather events,” she says. “It is increasingly clear that Congress is not going to address climate change; cities like Boulder need to take the lead. We can act as a model for cities across Colorado to craft a sustainable future by shifting our energy model from the dirty fossil fuels of the past to clean, renewable energy.”

In tandem with Boulder’s move to clean energy, Denver also will follow the same lead, as stated by Thomas Herrod, Denver’s Climate and Greenhouse Gas Program Administrator, who works with the city and county’s Department of Environmental Health.

"Denver recognizes that our goal of 80 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 will require big shifts in how we power our buildings, homes, and transportation sector”, says Herrod.  We are committed to exploring efforts like 100 percent renewable electricity as part of our ‘80x50’ process and look forward to having our partners here today help us take on this challenge, immediately initiating that work with a draft of results by mid-2017."

Xcel Energy, one of the state’s major power suppliers--not only in Colorado but also North and South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Texas, and Minnesota--has entered into a “landmark settlement with various clean energy and environmental advocacy groups that will provide Colorado consumers with greater energy choice and access to renewable energy like rooftop solar,” says Hillary Larson of the Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Ken Berlin, CEO and president of the Climate Reality Project, says that a world powered by 100 percent renewable electricity is getting closer every day. “Cities across the U.S.—including Salt Lake City and now Boulder—are making widespread renewable energy a bold new reality.”

With Boulder’s historic announcement, seventeen cities, including San Diego and Salt Lake City, have announced commitments to 100 percent clean energy. In fact, five cities in the U.S. have already achieved 100 percent clean energy and are powered today with entirely renewable energy sources. Boulder’s pledge to 100 percent clean energy also includes a commitment to derive energy from local renewable energy resources. The Sierra Club and its partners are currently campaigning in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Pueblo to urge business and civic leaders to commit to powering local communities with 100 percent clean energy.

“The cities of Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Aspen have all made bold progress and commitments towards that goal,” says Jim Alexee, director of Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter. “It’s critical that we come together in our hometowns as individuals, businesses, and community leaders, to assure that this transition happens as quickly and equitably as possible.”