Department of Energy Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) - funded grant opportunity through the Colorado Governor's Energy Office (GEO)
- GEO used funds for low population regions throughout state to create Community Energy Coordinators (CEC) and support development of Sustainability Action Plans and promote other actions/programs to assist with the state's New Energy Economy goals.
TNCC was awarded the EECBG grant in early 2010
- Part-time CEC position for 2 yrs to coordinate energy/sustainability efforts of Ouray/SMC
- TNCC worked on approving the Scope of Work with GEO, which includes:
Sustainability Action Plan development, communication & promotion of GEO opportunities/programs/grants, community education, energy building code work, facilitation of program implementation, Action Plan implementation...
Assembled Advisory Board - Western San Juan Community Energy Board (WSJCEB)
- Includes: elected officials, utility representatives, community participation, government staff
The WSJCEB followed the GEO's process for development of STRATEGY & Action Plan
- Mission/Vision statements, SWOT Analysis, Gap Analysis, Goals & Actions
- Outcome: Regional Objectives, Goals and Actions, with some jurisdictional specific actions. Plan for implementation focuses on regional collaboration among jurisdictions, utilities, and citizens... as well as individual actions.
Mission Statement: The Western San Juan Community Energy Board* will advance the New Energy Economy so that our communities will have economic opportunities related to energy efficiency and renewable energy and will develop and thrive in a sustainable manner.
The Vision of the Western San Juan Community Energy Board (WSJCEB) is to preserve our clean air, water, and natural environment for future generations. We will achieve this through being a leader in reducing the per capita consumption of valuable natural resources through education, efficiency, and the implementation of renewable energy projects.
Goals require a baseline of data from which to measure progress
- Data collected from SMPA & SourceGas has been valuable for understanding how we use energy in the region and guiding the process of Action Plan development
- Continued analysis will guide us with selecting priorities of actions to take, educating the communities about our energy consumption, and help determine best methods for engaging the different communities
Objectives:
- Community Engagement 1: Ensure that policy decisions at all levels (government, business, and individual) advance the New Energy Economy so that our communities will have economic opportunities related to energy efficiency and renewable energy and will develop and thrive in a sustainable manner. Implement a highly visual, public overall measure of progress.
- Community Engagement 2: Improve education of our regional population, both permanent and part-time, so that all are continually informed about actions they can personally take to reduce per-capita energy consumption, and understand the relationships between energy and water conservation, saving money, environmental preservation, and GHG reduction.
- Overall Energy Consumption: Decrease per-capita energy consumption in San Miguel and Ouray Counties 20% by 2020 from 2005 levels, defining "per- capita" as the total number of regional inhabitants, both full-time and part-time, and using Source Gas and SMPA utility data, through a broad-based, multi-sector, multi-disciplined approach that employs education and action focused on energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable resources.
- Renewable Energy: Obtain 20% of the region's electricity from renewable energy by 2020. Sources will include a mixture of local small and large-scale renewable energy projects and purchase of RECs for renewable energy produced outside of the region.
- Transportation: Reduce the overall amount of energy consumed per capita by ground and air travel.
- Water: Decrease overall water consumption community-wide in private and public sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental) by 10% below 2005 levels by 2020 through education, conservation, incentives, facilities management, and regulatory structure.
- Landfill Waste Reduction & Recycling: Divert 75% of overall waste from landfills by 2020, by reducing the amount of waste at the source, reusing materials, recycling, and composting.
- Agriculture & Forests: Utilize our regional natural resources wisely, increasing local food production utilizing available biomass wisely, and preserving our natural environment for future generations.
We have completed the STATEGY / Action Plan!!! We now have a working document from which to implement sustainability actions for Ouray and San Miguel Counties. Each jurisdiction has provided input to the STRATEGY and appointed an Energy Action Coordinator (EAC). EAC's will meet once a month to prioritize regional actions, discuss best methods of implementation, and collaborate on projects. They will implement actions on a jurisdictional level and assist TNCC with engaging the community in reducing our regional carbon footprint.
Download the final document: STRATEGY / Action Plan for Ouray & San Miguel Counties