On the surface, Boulder, Colorado seems to be an environmentally-conscious city. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “it was the first to levy a tax to protect open space” and approved “the nation’s first ‘carbon tax’ to fund energy-conservation programs.” But despite the city’s efforts to promote these programs and subsidize efforts like energy audits, Boulder’s residents don’t seem to be taking as much action as the city would have hoped for. The energy audits provide homeowners and business owners with recommendations for how to be more energy-efficient, yet the city has discovered that very few people are implementing the suggestions.
As a result, Boulder is planning to take its efforts one step further and actually do the work for residents through programs like “Two Techs in a Truck”. Boulder “plans to spend about $1.5 million in city funds and $370,000 in federal stimulus money to hire contractors to do basic upgrades for residents”. The city has chosen to promote these efforts by showing residents the financial benefits of saving energy. But not everyone appreciates the city pushing conservation on them.
For the full story on the challenges of a city ‘s sustainability, see http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704320104575015920992845334.html
Have you hit some green roadblocks?
