The City of Boulder is currently in the design phase of a climate action plan called “Two Techs and a Truck,” which is intended to reduce emissions and promote sustainable energy.
The program, expected to be implemented in May, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, said Yael Gichon, residential sustainability coordinator for the City of Boulder.
“Two Techs and a Truck” is designed to help residential and commercial property owners reduce emissions through focusing on altering residents’ behavior by means of waste reduction and practicing sustainable energy.
The program aims to increase the sustainability and efficiency of Boulder homes by reducing waste in-house.
Gichon said that some of the changes the city hopes to make include cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the heat demanded from drafty windows, enforcing the use of more sustainable light bulbs and heaters, and reducing waste from electric dryers by installing drying racks in laundry rooms.
“The program is aiming to create a one-stop delivery service,” Gichon said. “Literally two technicians in a truck will go door-to-door to residential houses in Boulder, one tech will install low-cost measures for sustainability while the other does audits and analysis.”
The goal is that by the end of the visit, the house will either already be practicing more sustainable solutions, or will have plans to do so in the near future.
Kevin Doran, a 35-year-old research fellow and professor at the CU law schools who works with many sustainability programs in Boulder, and who is an expert on the subject, said he thinks it will still be hard to get residents to participate in the program.
“Two Techs and a Truck” is funded through the Climate Action Plan Tax, a tax that provides funding for sustainability programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Gichon said. Homeowners are taxed according to how much energy they use.
“The infrastructure of the program is paid for by city subsidies,” Gichon said. “But personal improvements would be paid for by homeowners. And if you don’t have cash to lay out [but want to participate in the program], grants can hopefully help finance personal needs.”
The funding plans for the program have not yet been finalized.
“We are still working out logistics and funding for the program,” Gichon said. “It is hard to figure out exactly how much of the [Climate Action Plan Tax] will go towards the program.”
Savannah Krieg, a 19-year-old sophomore sociology major, said she thinks that the easier city officials make it, the higher participation they will get.
Krieg, who lives in a house off campus, said she “recycles because it comes with the trash pickup on the Hill.”
Although Krieg said that she would participate in “Two Techs and a Truck,” she doesn’t think that Boulder is as sustainable a community as it is perceived to be.
“Boulder isn’t as green as they say it is,” she said. “Many students, especially from out-of-state, don’t show an interest in the environment and drive big, gas-guzzling trucks.”
Gichon said that one of the main goals of the project is to make it was easy as possible to participate.
“We have identified barriers to people implementing energy efficiency, and we need to scale up the impact of efficiency very quickly by removing barriers like time, uncertainty of who to call, not knowing if you are participating in quality work, and not understanding if you are actually saving money,” Gichon said.
Gichon said that the program makes the job easy for Boulderites in order to help make the city as sustainable and efficient as possible.
“We are trying to take the complexity out of everything for residents,” Gichon said. “The tech doing the initial visit will have you ‘sign on the dotted line,’ and we will do the rest for you, taking away the confusion and complication.”
Sean Scully, a 20-year-old junior environmental studies major, said he is in favor of the project and thinks it will be successful with CU students living on the Hill.
“If the city makes it easy for college students, they will do it,” Scully said.
Homeowners can even get rebates, tax credits and incentives for participating, Gichon said.
Some students say they agree with Doran.
“Look around the Hill on a Saturday morning,” Scully said. “As easy as it is to recycle, students are too lazy to recycle while cleaning up from a party.”
Krieg said something along similar lines.
“Boulder tries so hard, but people just don’t do it.”
Even in a city as “green” as Boulder, experts and city officials say it is often hard to get residents to participate in these types of programs.
“City programs must have economic signals,” Doran, a Boulder resident, said. “Each person wants to know if it will benefit me, or save me money.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jessica Freeman at Jessica.freeman@colorado.edu.
