The City of Aspen municipal electric utility is on track to be carbon neutral by 2015. Currently, the utility produces 75 percent of its energy from renewable resources, harnessing power from wind (27 percent), hydroelectric (45 percent) and other non carbon (3 percent) sources. Over the next five years, more renewable sources will be added to the fuel mix to realize the maximum possible amount of carbon free energy while still meeting baseload needs. By investing in projects that avoid and offset carbon emissions, Aspen Electric will effectively be responsible for zero carbon emissions by 2015. This “avoid, reduce, offset” approach to addressing carbon emissions makes smart economic and environmental sense.
The City of Aspen tracks its internal greenhouse emissions annually, including emissions related to electricity and natural gas use in City-occupied/owned buildings and other facilities/operations (e.g. water pumps) and emissions related to ground transportation and air travel. The City as an entity and each department are given greenhouse gas emissions budgets, which currently decrease by 2 percent per year. From 2004 to 2009, the City reduced its internal emissions by 21 percent, thereby exceeding its target of a 5 percent reduction from baseline.
2004 Inventory Report
Executive Summary
2007 Inventory Report
Executive Summary
The City of Aspen tracks its internal emissions annually, including emissions related to electricity and natural gas use in City-occupied/-owned buildings and other facilities/operations (e.g. water pumps) and emissions related to ground transportation and air travel. The City as an entity and each department are given greenhouse gas emissions budgets, which decrease by 2 percent per year. From 2004 to 2008, the City reduced its internal emissions by 23.7 percent.
Aspen ZGreen is a three-part outreach program designed to reduce the environmental impacts of Aspen's citizens, visitors, businesses, and events. This unique program provides the community with effective ways to conserve natural resources and reduce waste, while providing a credible certification that recognizes individuals, businesses, and events that are engaging in meaningful environmental efforts.
Canary Tags is Aspen’s local carbon reduction program. Each Canary Tag represents an investment in a project that does one of or more of the following: avoids releasing greenhouse gases because they are powered with renewable energy, avoids releasing greenhouse gases because they conserve energy, or absorbs greenhouse gases after they are emitted. One Canary Tag is equivalent to displacing one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and thereby reduces the pollution that is causing climate change.
The City of Aspen supports Pitkin County's efforts to develop a “financing district” that would enable property-owners to easily borrow money for energy-efficiency and renewable energy improvements. The property owners can borrow money upfront for such projects and payback the loan through additional property taxes. This model has been successful in Boulder County, Colorado, and in Berkeley, California, and essentially provides a “no money down” solution to overcome the high initial costs of energy improvements. The debt remains with the property so that future owners would also bear a portion of the cost of energy improvements. In November 2009, voters approved bonding authority for Pitkin County to issue bonds to provide a loan pool for this program. For more information, click here.
The event on October 24, 2009, in Aspen was one of more than 5,200 around the world that day. Nearly 300 people dressed in ski and snowboarding gear gathered at the base of a snowless Aspen Mountain to spell "SAVE SNOW" to ask world leaders to create effective climate policy. The City's Canary Initiative partnered with other local organizations to organize the event. This photo, along with those from around the globe, was sent to world leaders before the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. For more information about the event or to learn why 350 parts per million of carbon is significant, visit www.350.org.