Third U.S. City Goes 100% Renewable Aspen is one of three U.S. cities to run on 100 percent renewable energy as of today, according to city officials. The Colorado mountain town is best known for its posh ski resorts, but this beautiful town also has established itself as a leader in environmental stewardship.
The city had been using about 75 to 80 percent renewable energy until Thursday when it signed a contract with wholesale electric energy provider Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, in order “to achieve this final leg of our goal,” David Hornbacher, utilities and environmental initiatives director, told The Aspen Times. The goal was proposed 10 years ago as part of the city’s Canary Initiative, which “identifies Aspen and other mountain communities as canaries in the coal mine with respect to their sensitivity to the effects of climate change.” The city’s “100 percent” goal is just one component of its larger strategy to reduce both operational and community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below 2004 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 2004 levels by 2050, said Chris Menges and Will Dolan from Aspen’s sustainability and utility departments. As of February, the city has reduced its operational emissions by 42 percent, while (as of July) community-wide emissions have been reduced by 7 percent (from 2004 levels). It was a very forward-thinking goal and truly remarkable achievement,” Hornbacher said. “This means we are powered by the forces of nature, predominately water and wind with a touch of solar and landfill gas.” “We’ve demonstrated that it is possible” and that a small, progressive community can work together to be a pathway for others, he said. “Realistically, we hope we can inspire others to achieve these higher goals.” The first two U.S. cities to reach the goal were Burlington, Vermont and Greensburg, Kansas, which decided to make the move after it was devastated by a powerful tornado in 2007. Aspen plans to celebrate with an “electric-pride party” and also wants to “launch a big national campaign” to show other cities that running a city on 100 percent renewable energy is possible. http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/03/city-goes-100-percent-renewable/
Burlington, Vermont Becomes First U.S. City to Run On 100% Renewable Electricity Burlington, Vermont is that state’s largest city, with a population of 42,000 people. It describes itself as “forward-thinking” which is what you’d expect from a city that once elected Senator Bernie Sanders as its mayor. So it’s no surprise that it recently became the first U.S. city of any decent size to run entirely on renewable electricity. “Climate change is the biggest problem we face, maybe the biggest problem we’ve ever faced,” University of Vermont environmental science professor Taylor Ricketts told NPR. “But there’s no silver bullet to fix it. It’s gonna be a million individual solutions from all over the place. And this is one of Burlington’s, right?” The city’s publicly owned utility, the Burlington Electric Department (BED), says in its mission statement, “BED will continue to be a leader in sustainability by producing power that is as clean and as locally produced as possible. BED will continue to treat the environment with the utmost
Third U.S. City Goes 100% Renewable respect and will continue to influence decisions and public policy that enhance environmental quality, the use of renewable resources, and the sustainability of Burlington.” The city lives up to that mission by acquiring its energy in diverse ways, including biomass, hydroelectric, solar and wind. Its biggest power generator is hydro, which the city acquires from dams both locally and elsewhere in the region. Its biomass facility, the McNeil generating station, provides another 30 percent of its power. It runs on burning wood chips, although it can run on natural gas or oil on an interruptible basis. The wood chips are the residue of the region’s logging industry and come primarily from within 60 miles of the city, reducing transportation costs. Wind turbines and solar panels provide another 20 percent of its electricity. In addition, BED says, “McNeil is equipped with a series of air quality control devices that limit the particulate stack emissions to one-tenth the level allowed by Vermont state regulation. McNeil’s emissions are one one-hundredth of the allowable federal level. The only visible emission from the plant is water vapor during the cooler months of the year.” Renewable electricity generation isn’t the only way this forward-thinking city is addressing climate change, the environment and sustainability. BED has aggressive energy efficiency programs and boasts that it uses less electricity now than it did in 1989. And despite its small size, Burlington already has nine charging stations for electric vehicles. And contrary to those who insist that renewably generated electricity is an expensive luxury that only a bunch of Phish-loving Vermont hippies will pay for, Ken Nolan of BED told NPR that the switch to renewables was initially driven by economic concerns and will likely save the city $20 million over the next decade. “Greenhouse gas reduction is a major thing that we’re concerned about and we are always trying to improve on,” he said. “But in looking at whether to buy renewable power, we really were focused on an economic decision at the time. Our financial analysis at that time indicated to our —actually, to our surprise–that the cheapest long term financial investment for us with the least amount of risk was to move in this direction.”
Dell Oklahoma City Goes 100 Percent Green A few minutes ago, our dedicated facilities team wrote the latest chapter in our effort to become the ‘greenest’ technology company on the planet. We’re partnering with Oklahoma Gas and Electric to power our our 240,000 square-foot campus in Oklahoma City with 100 percent wind energy. Anyone who has spent time in the Sooner State knows of its unrelenting winds, and as the United States embarks on a historic project to develop its green infrastructure and economy, regional features like Oklahoma's infamous gusts are now being recognized as valuable natural resources; ones that do not pollute and will not run out. The wind-powered campus is expected to avoid nearly 5,100 tons of CO2 emissions per year. With today's announcement, Dell now sources about 35 percent of its U.S. energy use from green power and approximately 20 percent globally. We also announced today a plan to reduce our facilities' emissions worldwide by 40 percent by 2015. This ambitious goal builds on our carbon-neutrality achievement last year and will be met by continuing our energy-efficiency efforts, investing in on-site renewable-energy projects and partnering with utility providers. We've said before that opportunities for greater efficiency exist within every aspect of our operations, whether they are immediately apparent or not, and we
Third U.S. City Goes 100% Renewable extend an invitation to join us in our green efforts. Let us know in the comments section of this blog or via IdeaStorm. It's the result of this collaboration and exchange of ideas with our customers that help fuel our green initiatives. With your continued input, our environmental programs will continue to grow and our business and the planet will be better off for it. Thank you for all the great ideas and keep them coming. We look forward to hearing from you. http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2009/02/24/delloklahoma-city-goes-100-percent-green