Denver targets global warming

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Denver targets global warming
Goal is equivalent of taking 500,000 vehicles off road

Denver is gearing up to fight global warming, and residents may soon be asked to make personal sacrifices to help save the planet.

The new plan is aimed at making Denver a national leader in reducing gas emissions that have been linked to global warming, giving a major push to alternative energy, stepping up recycling and changing building codes to encourage energy conservation.

But the proposal also contains some ideas that may be unpopular, such as penalizing heavy users of electricity and natural gas and basing auto insurance premiums on the number of miles traveled.

The ambitious goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.4 million metric tons by 2020, the equivalent of eliminating two small coal-fired power plants or taking 500,000 cars off the road.

Mayor John Hickenlooper has made the "climate action plan" a centerpiece of his second term in office. More than two dozen people from business and community groups met for several months with city staff to hammer out the plan. Many of them fear Colorado will be slammed hard by global warming, with more droughts and forest fires.

"There was a sense we have to be bold," said Beth Conover, director of Greenprint Denver, the city office that coordinated the plan. "What's the cost of inaction to our water supply and tourism industry?"

Much of the city's plan involves finding ways to encourage energy conservation by mandating efficiency standards for new construction and setting standards for older homes that would be enforced when the home is sold.

The city also would give incentives for car pooling and the use of hybrids and other low-polluting vehicles, possibly by giving them priority in parking.

To cut back on use of landfills - methane gas from landfills is a major contributor to global warming - the plan would encourage recycling and charge residents for the amount of trash they throw away.

Denver may ask voters to approve higher rates for "excessive" use of electricity and natural gas. The plan also floats the idea of using insurance premiums to penalize people who drive long distances.

"You can think of them as penalties or you can think of them as market signals," said Conover. "There's some choice involved."

$10-a-month trash

Recycling plays a crucial role in Denver's plan. It would join other Colorado cities that already have moved to aggressively to foster recycling.

Fort Collins, for one, has set an ambitious goal of diverting 50 percent of its waste from landfills. As part of the effort, the city recently banned throwing away old computers, TVs, cell phones and other electrical items, requiring that they be recycled instead.

Fort Collins also has mandated that people who leave extra bags of trash for pickup be charged by the bag.

"The most remarkable difference is that you used to see people with 15 bags of lawn clippings on the street; you don't see that anymore," said Susie Gordon, senior environmental planner for the city.

Gordon said the city estimates that almost 30 percent of its waste is now being recycled.

Currently, Denver doesn't charge for trash collection. The plan suggests a $10-a-month fee per household that would fund the replacement of alley trash bins with garbage cans. That would allow the city to charge households for extra garbage pickup.

The climate action plan is just a proposal, but Denver hopes to start putting it in place by the end of the year. Much of it promises to be controversial.

"I want to hear more about how they expect this to play out," said City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz. "When government mandates the stick on private industry it concerns me. I'm not sure you have to manipulate markets to bring about desired results."

But others say the time has come for Denver to do its part to avert a potential disaster that could affect every human being.

"This is not a trend or a city competition," said Benita Duran, a CH2M Hill executive who co- chaired the group that put together the plan. "It's a global matter of serious concern."

'Era of denial over'

Denver is joining a host of cities that are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including Seattle, Portland and Chicago. More than 525 mayors - including Hickenlooper - have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, frustrated with the Bush administration's opposition to ratifying the international Kyoto treaty on emissions, began the effort two years ago.

"There was an absence of federal leadership on the issue," said John Healy of the Seattle office of sustainability and environment. "Now the era of denial is over and we're entering the era of action."

Denver's plan is similar to Seattle's, which was adopted last year. Seattle is aiming for a 7 percent reduction in global warming pollution by 2012. But thus far, Seattle has chosen not to impose penalties on heavy users of fossil fuels.

Seattle's publicly owned electric utility was able to achieve a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions, mainly through the use of hydroelectric power from the area's many dams.

The city also has encouraged residents to use biodiesel fuel - made from soybeans - in their furnaces, and biodiesel is being used in buses and at the airport.

In Portland, Ore., officials estimate per capita emissions have fallen 12.5 percent since 1993, the year Portland became the first American city to adopt a goal of reducing greenhouse gases.

The Denver plan will be considered by the City Council this summer, and the Greenprint Denver advisory council will spend the next several months talking about the plan with local business and environmental groups. So far, they say the reception has been mainly positive.

"It's a fast-moving issue that's gained a lot of support," said Duran. "More people are paying attention than ever before."

Points in proposal

Denver may ask residents to make personal sacrifices to combat global warming. Ideas being considered:

• Making heavy users of electricity and natural gas pay more

•Charging residents who throw away a lot of trash

• Setting energy-efficiency standards for new construction

• Giving carpoolers and hybrids priority for parking

What's next?

The plan will be presented to community groups in the next several months, and the City Council will hold hearings this summer. Denver's goal is to have the Climate Action Plan in place by the end of the year.

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Denver Sees Coldest June Morning In Over 50 Years


Did you have frost on your windows this morning? It felt more like March or early April along the Front Range.

The temperature at Denver International Airport fell to 31 degrees at 5:44 a.m. Friday, setting a new record low for the date.

This shattered the old record of 37 degrees, last set in 1974.

The new record low will also become the latest freeze on record for the city of Denver. The previous date of latest freeze ever recorded was June 2, 1951.

Temperatures have only dropped below freezing two other times during the month of June; in 1919 and 1951.

The coldest June temperature ever recorded was 30 degrees on June 2, 1951.

Every time there is a new weather record set for the city of Denver, the debate about where the official weather station is located arises.

It is a known fact that in most cases, temperatures are cooler at DIA than in downtown Denver.

However, weather records are only 100 to 150 years old in most cases, and there are't any other sources of data prior to the mid-1800s to use as a comparison.

So when a weather station in a city moves, regardless of where, it is still considered one continuous climate record.

The Denver station has moved from 17th and Arapahoe to Stapleton to DIA over the course of the past 100 years.

A new record low was also set in Pueblo on Friday morning. The temperature dipped to 37 degrees, breaking the old record low of 41 degrees, last set in 1890.

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Every time man tries to control God's work God shows that He is still in control.

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Some see red on Denver's green plan

Proposals called radical, 'loony' after hitting Web

People around the country accused Denver on Monday of embracing a "crackpot" scheme to fight global warming after the city's plan drew widespread attention on the Internet.

The reaction was to a Rocky Mountain News story that detailed some of the proposals in Denver's Climate Action Plan, which aims to cut the city's output of gas emissions linked to global warming.

The plan includes several controversial ideas, including making residents who use large amounts of electricity and natural gas pay higher utility fees, boosting insurance rates for people who drive long distances and mandating that homes be energy efficient before they can be sold.

After the online RockyMountainNews.com version of the story was posted as the lead item on Drudgereport.com, the phones started ringing at Mayor John Hickenlooper's office. Many of the calls were from people accusing the city of embracing a radical environmental agenda.

"We've gotten a bunch of phone calls, but nothing like a good snowstorm," Hickenlooper said.

E-mails to the city and the Rocky from around the country called the plan "crackpot," "loony" and even "stupid."

Hickenlooper said the proposals are just ideas.

"According to most polls, 70 percent of the people in Colorado recognize there is global warming," he said.

The mayor said he would listen to public reaction before moving ahead but he aims to have a plan in place by the end of the year.

Some of the proposals in Denver's plan that might sound radical to residents are already in place in other states. California, for example, charges heavy users of electricity higher rates.

Denver City Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie said she admires Hickenlooper for pushing the plan.

"The mayor is willing to use his popularity to ask people to do difficult things," she said. "I hope people are ready to take this on."

A spokeswoman for the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver said that group hasn't taken a position on Denver's proposal to enact energy efficiency standards for new homes.