In the summer of 2010, Boulder’s innovative Climate Smart Loan Program screeched to a halt, because the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) decided that the property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing mechanism amounted to a lien on any property enrolled in the program (read FHFA’s statements, and Boulder County’s response, both as PDFs).  Because of this, they said they were unwilling to purchase and securitize PACE encumbered mortgages.   In case you don’t remember, the FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government sponsored mortgage consolidation giants, through which nearly all consumer home loans pass at some point in their existence on the secondary market.  And if they won’t buy your mortgage, then you’re not going to get a loan.  This is unfortunate, since PACE financing programs had proven an effective way to get homeowners to make sensible long-term investments in energy efficiency and renewable generation, without having to take on the risk that future buyers would inappropriately undervalue the resulting savings.

However, the FHFA made this rule without engaging in any public process, and they were subsequently sued by the State of California and several cities and counties.  The case has finally made it to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and while they have yet to make a ruling, the Court has directed the FHFA to begin collecting public input on the proposed rules.  The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has been involved in the suits and has had good ongoing coverage of the case:

• After the Earthquake and Before the Hurricane (8/29/2011)
• Be a part of PACEs revival (1/25/2012)
• PACE Lives! (1/26/2012)

The outcome of this case and the nature of the rules which are eventually adopted may have big effects on Boulder.  Energy efficiency retrofits and local small scale renewable energy installation are high-quality local job producing industries.  They allow our community to develop expertise that we can only hope will be in great demand in the near future.  They’re absolutely vital to meeting our climate action plan goals.  We have the financing mechanism in place to do this work; all we need is the go-ahead from the FHFA to get it underway.  We should comment on these rules loud and clear.

The notice of the proposed rulemaking has been posted in the Federal Register, in all its gory detail.  Details on how to submit comments can be found here.  The easiest way is to e-mail Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel: RegComments@fhfa.gov.  You must include “RIN 2590-AA53″ in the subject line of the message.  All comments must be received by March 26th, 2012.

Another resource to keep an eye on is PACE Now, a bi-partisan group advocating for PACE programs in congress.  They’re developing talking points, and have been working to get legislation passed which would protect PACE programs introduced in congress (like H.R. 2599, the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2011… which unfortunately didn’t get very far).

It’s not crazy to think that the FHFA or some other federal agency might have a useful role to play in the regulation of PACE programs.  It’s important that the financing be set up to incentivize the most cost effective improvements first so as not to unduly burden future property owners, and to save as much energy as possible with a finite pool of funding (e.g. attic insulation and air sealing before solar panels…), but the outright ban is clearly far too broad.

Below is what I sent.  Post what you send in the comments if you feel so inclined!

Property Assessed Clean Energy financing programs, as have been initiated by many states and local governments, are a potentially transformative financing mechanism, enabling property owners to make good long term investments in energy efficiency and behind-the-meter renewable energy production.  They address a market failure, in that buyers often do not appropriately integrate a property’s energy costs into their price assessment.  So long as the state and local PACE programs are performance based, and incentivise both efficiency and renewables, preferring those investments which have the greatest (positive) net present value, given the financing rate which is available to the government entity sponsoring the program, they do not pose a significant risk to mortgage holders, and should be allowed in FHFA held mortgages.  Additionally, local energy efficiency and solar power installation provide high quality, skilled jobs which cannot be exported, stimulating the economies of the localities implementing the programs.  These types of energy efficiency and local renewables programs can go a significant way toward reducing the energy intensivity of our existing building stock, and help insulate the US economy from fluctuations in fossil fueled energy prices.

FHFA’s previous ruling has directly affected my community, stalling out energy efficiency programs here in Boulder, CO.  Rather than effectively banning these programs, I encourage the FHFA to work with the building retrofit industry and the state and local governments which have instituted these programs to develop guidelines which ensure the most cost effective use of PACE financing, including the use of before and after energy audits, and other energy efficiency retrofit best practices.

For 15 years, Kempton, who directs the University of Delaware’s Center for Carbon-Free Power Integration, has pushed the idea that fleets of electric vehicles — rather than being another big draw on the electric grid — could provide valuable backup power on demand to utilities. This would reduce the need for costly new generating plants, and help ensure a reliable supply of electricity.

Utilities pay each other billions of dollars a year for such backup power through wholesale electricity markets, and Kempton believes that a hefty slice of that pie could be paid to electric-vehicle owners instead. Some industry analysts agree that the approach, known as “vehicle-to-grid,” could take off; a December 2010 report from the business research firm Global Data conservatively projected a global market for vehicle-to-grid that would pay $2.3 billion to electric vehicle owners by 2012 — and $40 billion by 2020. Kempton and his colleagues have made some influential converts in policy circles, too. Marc Spitzer, a commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has described the plan as “the salvation of the automotive industry in the United States.”

Read the entire article at Miller-McCune:  Vehicle-to-Grid: A New Spin on Car Payments.

Leslie Glustrom (photo by Doug Grinbergs)

On June 3rd in Fort Collins, CO, Leslie Glustrom of Clean Energy Action was awarded Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s (CRES) most prestigious award, The Larson-Notari, for her exemplary contributions in the field of renewable energy. Glustrom joins the ranks of leaders such as Governor Ritter and Amory Lovins in the receipt of this award.

“I am thrilled to receive the Larson-Notari award, and I know the honor is a reflection of the team effort that has made our work for renewable energy in Colorado so successful.  I accept this award on behalf of many passionate allies and friends,” said Glustrom.

Becky English, chair of the energy committee for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Sierra Club, and chair of the legislative committee of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, along with 23 other CRES members co-signed the nomination.

Glustrom’s tireless work on clean energy began in 2004 when she left her paying job in a CU biochemistry research lab and devoted herself full-time-plus – and without pay – to fighting climate change. Specifically, she targeted coal-fired power plants, because they are the largest single source of CO₂ and account for some 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

In Colorado, the state generates significantly more than half of its electricity from coal with less than 10% of the state’s electricity coming from clean renewable energy. Glustrom recognized that decarbonizing the state’s power supply is critical to fighting climate change and repowering for the 21^st century. Key to her approach – then and now – is a dedication to uncovering and disseminating the facts on all the costs of our fossil fuel dependence and the abundant potential and cost-effectiveness of deploying clean energy solutions.

Within months of leaving her paid employment in 2004, Glustrom joined the ranks of citizens working to achieve passage of “Amendment 37,” the country’s first citizen-initiated renewable energy standard in the country.  Shortly after this landmark victory in Colorado, it became apparent that the state’s largest utility was planning to build a coal-fired power plant (Comanche 3 in Pueblo, CO) and Glustrom, with a small, but committed, team of activists took the charge against the plant’s construction.

Leslie applied for formal intervenor status at the CO Public Utilities Commission, representing herself. She is one of only a few citizens to intervene in formal PUC proceedings. Over the years, she has provided testimony in numerous proceedings involving resource planning, rate increases, solar energy incentives, transmission planning, “Windsource” and the “Smart Grid City” project, as well as many others.

In addition to the extensive work at the PUC, Glustrom was one of the founding members of the Boulder-based non-profit group Clean Energy Action which has combined forces with many other groups to challenge the current fossil-fuel paradigm.

These days, Leslie and Clean Energy Action continue to fight for a clean energy future at the local, state and national level. As part of this work, Leslie began an intensive analysis of US coal supplies beginning in 2005 and in 2009 published the report, “Coal: Cheap and Abundant…Or Is It? Why Americans Should Stop Assuming that the U.S. Has a 200-Year Supply of Coal.”  She has spoken around the country on the issues of coal costs and coal supply constraints and in 2010 she was a co-author on the “True Cost of Coal” study led by Dr. Paul Epstein of Harvard Medical School.

Leslie forges strong relationships and knows the value of coordinated and collaborative strategies to make positive change happen.  The Larson-Notari award is a testament to the amazing efforts of Leslie and her many allies working for a clean energy future for Boulder and beyond.

photo by Roger Wolvington

Dennis Eastman, chief executive officer of ENCO Utility Services, declared at a forum sponsored by Clean Energy Action on the evening of June 1 that a municipally-owned electrical utility in the City of Boulder “would be fundamentally better period” than an investor-owned one. He asserted that it would be more efficient, as or more reliable, and allow for infinitely more local control over subjects such as the mix of renewable energy and burying of transmission lines than would an investor-owned utility.

ENCO Utility Services manages the electrical distribution systems for five municipally-owned electrical utilities in California, Arizona, and Florida. Before working for ENCO’s immediate predecessor, Eastman had been vice president for electric distribution for Southern California Edison, which serves over 11 million people.

Several dozen people, including five Boulder City Council members, attended the forum, which was held at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Boulder. The audience was generally very receptive to Eastman’s presentation.

Eastman recounted that he and some colleagues had spent a couple of days examining the electrical distribution system for the City of Boulder. He commented that its substations are well-located, the poles seemed relatively old but generally in good shape, and its overall condition is good. He declined to give an estimate of the value of the system, but asserted that well-established methods exist for appraising its fair price. He claimed that the trickiest issue if the city were to take over the electrical distribution system from Xcel would be how to apportion the electricity flowing into and out of the Niwot substation — one of six that are part of the Boulder system — which serves IBM, among other customers.

Eastman proclaimed that a municipally-owned utility in the City of Boulder would be “a great size,” large enough to generate ample revenue, but not so large as to be difficult to manage. He asserted that Xcel’s overall system does not benefit from economies of scale beyond what a local Boulder electrical distribution system would experience. In fact, he said that Xcel’s system may suffer from “diseconomies of scale.”

Eastman said that if Boulder created its own electrical utility, initially Boulder would have to agree with its new electricity supplier on how to feed the electricity generated by the city’s eight hydroelectric plants and the co-generation plant at the sewer treatment facility into the system. He claimed that such technical issues should be relatively easy to manage. He also predicted that the reliability of the electrical distribution system in Boulder would probably increase — although he did not claim that it is currently unsatisfactory — because the city would control a maintenance staff that was solely devoted to Boulder. He also commented that combining billing operations for the city’s existing water utility with the billing for an electrical utility would probably save on expenses.

Eastman spoke at length about the electrical utility of Winter Park, Florida, the electrical distribution part of which has been managed by ENCO since 2005. He said that Winter Park decided to start its own electrical utility because of dissatisfaction with the reliability of the service provided by the prior investor-owned utility and with the pace of its program for burying distribution lines. He reported that reliability has increased dramatically since Winter Park took over the system, as has the rate of burying the lines. The costs of undergrounding, he said, have been funded by part of the proceeds of a $17-18 million municipal bond issue. Prices for electrical service in Winter Park have stayed about the same as those charged by the local investor-owned utility, he reported. Such parity, he said, was one of Winter Park’s original goals for its utility. The utility is governed by a city board consisting of appointed citizens, Eastman noted.

Eastman remarked that he had not encountered other municipalities that had contemplated forming their own electrical utility primarily in order to increase the proportion of electricity generated by renewable sources. “You people are just cutting, bleeding edge here,” he proclaimed with more than a touch of admiration in his voice.

A Public Forum

When: Thursday, June 2
Time: 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Where: East Boulder Community Center, 5660 Sioux Drive

Boulder’s 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy expired last year, giving our community a chance to determine the best path for achieving its energy goals, including: cleaner energy that makes more use of renewable sources of power; as much local generation as possible to stimulate Boulder’s economy and drive competition; reliable power at affordable, stable rates; and more local control of energy decisions and investments.

This meeting will provide an opportunity for the community to be informed and engaged in the decision about the future of Boulder’s energy supply and for the city to listen to feedback.

Speakers:

Tom Plant: Former director of the Governor’s Energy Office.

Kurt Haeger: Managing Director of Resource Planning at Xcel Energy.

Steve Catanach: Light & Power Manager for the City of Fort Collins.

City Presentation

Briefing on the city’s research including a feasibility study and consultant reports.
Community Forum

Join a discussion of Boulder’s Energy Future!  For more information call:  303.441.1880

At a PLAN-Boulder forum on the evening of May 16 two members of Professor Bruce Goldstein’s graduate planning studio class at the University of Colorado-Denver summarized case studies it conducted of three energy localization programs in various parts of the country and the lessons the class drew from them.

Kristine Chan-Lizardo and George Patten talked about the Cape Light Compact in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the Marin Energy Authority in Marin County, California, and Solarize Portland in Portland, Oregon.

Cape Light Compact was formed in 1997 as a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) by two counties and 21 towns. (“Community Choice Aggregation” refers to the legal ability of certain governmental entities in some states to buy electricity from sources other than the local investor-owned utility and to have that electricity delivered through the investor-owned utility’s lines and equipment. Colorado has not authorized CCAs.) Its primary purposes were to reduce electricity rates, which had been among the highest in New England, and to keep electrical utility profits in the local communities. It has succeeded in fulfilling those purposes and in undertaking aggressive energy conservation measures. However, Chan-Lizardo and Patten noted that it has lagged in developing or purchasing renewable energy—in part due to concerns about costs, and significant opposition has developed to large-scale wind and solar energy projects on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

The Marin Energy Authority (MCE) was created in 2008 as a CCA by Marin County and seven municipalities after four years of studies and community planning processes. The concept was first proposed and promoted by a citizen. The local investor-owned utility, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), did not oppose the California state legislation which authorized CCAs, but fiercely fought  MCE’s efforts to secure customers and energy supplies. Strong public support enabled it to overcome those challenges. MCE currently offers its customers two options: “light green,” which provides 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources at rates equal to or below PG&E’s, and “deep green,” which provides 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources at a rate seven percent above PG&E’s. Once MCE is fully implemented across its coverage area, it is expected to cut county-wide carbon emissions by up to 500,000 tons, or 13 percent.

Chan-Lizardo and Patten recounted that in 2002 an effort occurred to municipalize Portland General Electric (PGE), which was then owned by Enron and served the Portland metropolitan area. Increased energy rates and the indifference of PGE’s management to local concerns precipitated the campaign. It failed, in part due to resentment in surrounding counties of perceived political domination by the City of Portland. Subsequently, however, neighborhood associations coalesced to install photovoltaic equipment collectively under the banner of Solarize Portland. Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has provided technical support and marketing funds to Solarize Portland.

The students identified the following general lessons of relevance to the City of Boulder’s current attempt to democratize, decentralize and decarbonize its energy supplies:

• Engage the community and build strong networks
• Develop credibility with and trust from the public
• Be open and transparent in making decisions
• Develop regional allies and participate in decision-making at the state level
• Develop and support alternative supply options
• Anticipate changes and uncertainties in the energy industries
• Organize your public energy provider so that it can adapt to change

Local renewable energy activist Leslie Glustrom, who attended the forum, observed that in the last ten years 13 successful attempts to municipalize electrical distribution systems have occurred in the United States. She also claimed that the 500 municipal electrical utilities in this country usually have a better record of reliable delivery of power than investor-owned utilities.

Copies of the class’ case studies and a summary are available at http://cudenverenergystudio.weebly.com/.

photos courtesy Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez

This is Xiuhtezcatl – I am 11 years old. With the help of my mom, Tamara, I am writing to let you know about a very urgent matter.

I am an Earth Guardian Leader, and my mom, well she is the backbone of our organization.  Our future is in jeopardy beause of our Environmental and Climate Crisis.  We are at a tipping point, eco-systems are starting to collapse everywhere, 70 percent of our rainforests are gone, species are disappearing, weather patterns are changing dramatically, 50 percent of our coral reefs are on the verge of complete collapse and that isn’t all.

The Proof is in the Science.  This crisis is a human rights issue and every child deserves a clean, healthy, habitable planet. How can we blindly let this happen? How can people, parents, and our government know what is going on and not protect the children who will be left here to clean up this mess?  We have to Wake Up Now before it’s too late.

The author with Mayor Osborne and PLAN-Boulder guest speaker Van Jones

We hear our parents talking about this crisis, we see it on the news, we see it in papers, we hear about it in school, but we don’t hear what we can do about it.  Why aren’t the adults uniting to stop this?  We the youth, are beginning to unite together all over the planet to respond to this Crisis, because we will be most affected by it. We are working side by side with environmental organizations who have been fighting for our future for over 20 years.  We need YOU to help! We need to insure the children have an Earth Worth Inheriting.

Youth all over the planet are uniting, with those who care about our future, for “iMatter Marches” starting May 7th and leading up to the biggest U.S. iMatter march in Denver this weekend May 14th.  If you care about your children’s future – stand and march with us on Saturday!  There are over 107 iMatter marches around the world with millions of youth, and those that care about us, standing up to say “We Matter” and we deserve a better world  then the one you are leaving us!

We want to see at least 10,000 in Denver, but anything is possible – even 20,000 or 50,000. There is power in numbers. Come and show your commitment. We want this Wake Up call to ignite the passion in people to start living, leading and governing as if our future matters, because it does!

We can’t sit back any longer and pretend that everything is OK.  It is not OK!  Do the research – check the science! Even us kids are figuring it out.  We have Power if we Unite NOW!  We have Power if we STAND together NOW!  If we can’t answer the Earth’s Call to help her, if we can’t start respecting her, if we can’t start living with less, if we can’t start relating without greed – then we are headed for a complete catastrophe, and the children, your children and our children, will suffer greatly in the years to come.

Join us on May 14th for the iMatter March in Denver.  Go to www.iMatterColorado.org for all the details and information to march with us.  We have Youth Leaders, State Leaders, Celebrities, Hiphoppers, Poets, Schools, over 40 organizations marching.  Be prepared to be inspired! Be prepared to get ready to change your life for your Children and their Future! They are counting on you!  Be ready…

Let’s Rock Denver and the World!  All our Prayers go out for Marches that are Happening Right Now! You can check them out right now at the national website: www.iMatterMarch.org.

For the Planet and those that will inherit it!  Please spread our message.

Attending Power Shift 2011 in Washington D.C. was an empowering and unforgettable experience for me and the 32 students and campus affiliates from CU Boulder.  Power Shift is a clean energy and climate justice convergence that attracts over 12,000 like-minded young people, united in creating a more sustainable future through our actions today.   Together, students from the University of Colorado in Boulder independently organized to raise money to fund the entire trip.  Christina Gosnell, our Power Shift coordinator, believes that we couldn’t have had such success in sending 32 students without the power of the combined efforts of our entire group.  We were all motivated from day one to get to Power Shift and we succeeded.  Now that we are back, we are armed with the tools for creating change.

Sarah Inskeep Muller, a CU student who attended Power Shift believes that student and community involvement is a crucial element for a sustainable future. “We are at a point that being informed is not enough. We must be involved, and due to Power Shift, I have the building blocks to bringing change in my community and country,” said Muller.

Throughout the course of the weekend, we attended panels on many critical issues regarding environmental degradation, carbon-based energy systems, poverty, and human rights abuses.  Many of the panels highlighted solutions or new technologies being developed to alleviate the burdens of these issues.  CU student Zach Dunlop said that he felt the panels were very beneficial and reminded him of the Conference on World Affairs that takes place annually on the CU Boulder campus.  Student Sarah Inskeep Muller also attended several different panels and workshops during the weekend.  According to Muller, the most notable panel topic was on fracking: “It gave me many ideas, as well as people resources in order to start my own campaign back in my home town of Grand Junction, Colorado.”  Many students like Muller are coming up with bold plans for changing their local communities now that they are back in their hometowns.  Power Shift was successful in igniting a spark in so many students to begin taking action and organizing others to be active participants in their community.

Each night, we heard from multiple powerful keynote speakers.  Van Jones, Al Gore, Lisa Jackson, and Bill McKibben were just a few of the people addressing our generation as young powerful individuals.  Hearing their story of HOW they have gotten WHERE they are today was truly inspiring.  Overall, their message emphasizes that we, as students, are powerful and it is us who will determine the future of our environment.  As young people, we have a comparative advantage.  We have time.  With time, knowledge, and motivation we will foster change!

On the final day of Power Shift we participated in a rally/march from the White House to the Chamber of Commerce.  Our voices rose in protest over the large oil companies recently responsible for the gulf oil spill.  The passionate voices of thousands crying, “Ain’t no power like the power of the people because the power of the people won’t stop” was remarkable.  We felt like we were getting our voices heard and stating our role as the united youth of America.

As a clean energy conference, Power Shift brought an array of students concerned about numerous issues who are already reaching out to create change in their local communities.  Helen Katich, a sophomore and engaged community activist with CoPIRG was especially focused on human rights issues at Power Shift.  She believes that Power Shift has given her a whole new perspective on the interconnectedness of all the issues facing society. “We all have different passions, different ideas, but the one thing we all share is what we are all standing on, our planet Earth.”  In that aspect, Power Shift really made us realize that the repercussions of our actions affect everyone and are not just limited to our community, state, or nation, but the world as a whole.

The students who attended power shift from CU Boulder are truly dedicated to challenging the status quo.  “With the campaign organizing toolsneeded for successful change, we are united to catalyze a clean energy economy and sustainable future.  We are bringing that movement home to Boulder and the West to create a lasting coalition of well-informed students who are dedicated to take action on climate change and environmental injustice,” said Gosnell.  “We plan to keep the momentum that was gained at Power Shift and use the tools that we learned to make the change that students want to see on our campus, the community, and all of Colorado.”

Among the many grants and donations received, the Student Environmental Action Coalition at CU Boulder contributed a significant amount of funding for our initiative.  Other generous contributions were made by the Arts and Sciences Student Government, the University of Colorado’s Environmental Center, the Office of the Vice Chancellor, the Indigenous Student Network, the Multicultural Affairs Board, the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, Clean Energy Action, Communication and Social Engagement for Sustainability, 180-11, and friends and family members of students.  Without this support from both the public and private sectors, student groups, local organizations and the community, we couldn’t have attended the conference.  Our gratitude for these generous donations cannot begin to be expressed in words.  Our actions will reveal our capability to engage students to act now on environmental issues.  Now that we are back in Boulder, we are dedicated to creating this change on a local and national level.

Read the entire article at The Colorado Independent:  Dems blast bill that would make dramatic changes to Governor’s Energy Office.

“The reality is that all forms of energy are subsidized. Some are subsidized through tax credits. Some are subsidized through their externalities,” he said, citing the pollutants of nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide and mercury, all of which are produced by burning coal and some of which are unleashed in the burning of natural gas. Modern methods can remove some or more of these pollutants.

Read the entire article at the Colorado Independent:  Renewable energy falling in price and becoming more readily available.