{"id":73919,"date":"2019-08-09T19:40:45","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T01:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-residents-call-for-100-renewable-energy-by-2050\/"},"modified":"2019-08-10T01:40:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T01:40:45","slug":"durango-residents-call-for-100-renewable-energy-by-2050","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-residents-call-for-100-renewable-energy-by-2050\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango residents call for 100% renewable energy by 2050"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A screenshot from Tuesday\u2019s Durango City Council meeting where dozens of residents brought signs and provided comments in support of the city meeting a 100% renewable energy goal by 2050.<\/span>Screenshot<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dozens of area residents are asking Durango City Council to set a goal of powering the city with 100% renewable energy by 2050, even if there isn\u2019t a clear path to achieve the objective.<\/p>\n

Community leaders, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Durango chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, Local First, former and current elected and appointed officials and members of the La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors \u2013 appearing in a personal capacity \u2013 brought signs and provided comment at Tuesday\u2019s regularly scheduled City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

At least 14 residents spoke for a maximum of three minutes each about issues related to climate change and renewable energy, taking more than 40 minutes to express their collective views.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnthropogenic climate change is real and we are at a crisis, and I recognize that,\u201d said City Councilor Barbara Noseworthy on Tuesday. \u201c\u2026 I see so many activists here in the room, and we\u2019re so fortunate to have you here, but we all have a responsibility because climate change is at a crisis now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A letter sent weeks ago to City Council alerted the city staff that the activists planned to express their views during the public participation period.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouthwest Colorado is particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental change, including reduced snowpack and stream flows, reduced agricultural and rangeland yields, larger and more intense wildfires, heat threats and damage to year-round tourism,\u201d San Juan Citizens Alliance and Local First executive directors wrote to City Council. \u201c\u2026 Durango has a responsibility to mitigate these climate impacts by honestly assessing our carbon footprint and taking aggressive action toward curbing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durango Sustainability Coordinator Imogen Ainsworth<\/a> presented the city\u2019s efforts to measure and curb greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

Ainsworth worked with academics from Fort Lewis College and the University of Colorado, Boulder providing pro bono work to analyze carbon emissions in \u201cthe Durango community as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preliminary findings show the city produced 354,374 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the draft document.<\/p>\n

Carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e, is a standard metric used to measure the amount of CO2 emissions \u201cwith the same global warming potential as 1 metric ton of another greenhouse gas<\/a>,\u201d according to the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

All the carbon produced in Durango in 2016 is equivalent to consuming about 40 million gallons of gasoline or burning 1,933 railcars\u2019 worth of coal, according to the EPA\u2019s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator<\/a>. It would take 75 wind turbines running nonstop for a year to offset the amount of CO2e Durango generated in 2016, calculations show.<\/p>\n

Capturing, storing and reusing the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by Durango in 2016 would require 5.9 million tree seedlings growing for 10 years to make the city carbon neutral, according to the EPA\u2019s calculation.<\/p>\n

The draft study, once completed, is intended to serve as \u201ca benchmark to inform plan updates and goal-setting,\u201d Ainsworth told City Council on Tuesday. The department hopes to complete a detailed audit of greenhouse gas emissions in Durango by early 2020, she said. The document will give decision-makers the metrics they need to determine how best to curb or sequester greenhouse gas emissions in each city department, she said.<\/p>\n

One way to address energy efficiency is through what is known administratively as energy performance contracting. EPCs offer state agencies, higher education institutions and local governments a means to finance energy-saving facility improvements through guaranteed future cost savings.<\/p>\n

EPCs require a public entity to hire a qualified energy service company to audit facilities and recommend potential improvements that would guarantee future cost savings. The guaranteed future cost savings realized in subsequent years repay the contractors for the work done. After the financing period ends, the public entity accrues all cost savings.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no clear path forward to reaching renewable energy goals, but Ainsworth said EPCs may be a way for the city to get started.<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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