Author Archive
Xcel’s Municipalization Offer: Heads They Win, Tails We Lose
Two weeks ago, Xcel made a set of 11th hour electricity provision offers to Boulder, a so-called “partnership,” and a buy-out option. Readers should understand that Xcel’s offers are not what the city asked for; they are only what Xcel is [...]
Co-op Ordinance—Boon or Boondoggle?
For the past 8 months, City Council has been developing an ordinance to expand the permitting of co-operative houses into low density, single family neighborhoods. This has caused a lot of pushback from neighborhoods. City’s zoning map, [...]
Ballot issue 302: Raising Barriers to Democracy
In this time of disaffection with government and the political process, populist ideas and candidates like Donald Trump are getting traction with promises of making broken things great again with illusory solutions. Issue 302 fits that mold. [...]
Going Down With the Xcel Ship
As the Boulder City Council considers the merits of municipalization and Boulder’s carbon reduction goals, it is essential to recognize that there are opportunities and risks with EITHER path going forward—establishing a muni or establishing a [...]
Brother, Can You Spare Some (Climate) Change? Carbon Emission Reduction Targets for Boulder
Lake Mead (by dameetch, flickr commons) 2°C! Two degrees centigrade (3.6°F) is the aspirational limit set in 2009 by the “Group of Eight” (G8) nations for global temperature rise as a consequence of greenhouse gas emissions. What does the G8 [...]
Dithering Against Climate Change
In the US, buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of annual greenhouse gas emissions; globally, the percentage is even greater. Since all of the buildings in the entire world are existing, if we do not make significant reductions to [...]
