Local efforts, such as the world’s first Smart Grid City in Boulder, are the front lines in the global battle against climate change. Two representatives from the Colorado city will attend the United Nations climate convention to talk about what Boulder has learned over the past couple of years.“We are really on the front lines when it comes to mitigation,” said Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s regional sustainability coordinator, in an interview with the Daily Camera. “And we’ve been asked to go and present our experiences, present the lessons we’ve learned, good and bad.”
Some have criticized that Koehn and planning and sustainability executive director David Driskell don’t belong on the global stage and think the $2,500 spent on sending the pair could be spent better elsewhere. Boulder officials counter that the experiences at the local level are essential to create climate change battle plans that will work for nations and the world.
Koehn and Driskell believe Boulder’s experiences can be expanded to the world stage and doing so will multiply the benefits of the original investments to create a Smart Grid City. “It’s not about Boulder being carbon neutral,” explained Koehn. “It’s about how to export lessons learned.”
The primary function of the Copenhagen gathering will be to negotiate the best way to reduce carbon emissions globally. Representatives from 192 countries will be in attendance. This same group met in Kyoto in 1997 to draft the Kyoto Protocol carbon reduction plan that expires in 2012.
Parties to the Kyoto treaty hope to establish another strategy that will keep the world fighting together against climate change. The United States was not among the 184 countries that agreed to the Kyoto Protocol but Boulder decided to make the same commitment in 2002. Kyoto called for established economies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level 7 percent below the amount released in 1990.
Today, city officials believe that Boulder will reach the carbon reduction goals established in Kyoto by the 2012 deadline. To do so they squeezed carbon reductions from every possible sector. The most significant efficiencies were gained from the Smart Grid City project installed by Xcel Energy.
Other American municipalities sending representatives to Copenhagen include Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. The Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) helped a total of 1,100 local officials from around the world get to Copenhagen. ICLEI will host a “local government climate lounge” where attendants can exchange ideas and best practices with each other.
“It will be a place to make real connections, connections you can’t make over e-mail,” said Annie Strickler, communications director for the American ICLEI office. “There will be a ton of local governments there to see and be seen in terms of climate protection initiatives.”
Strickler emphasized the importance of having local officials meet with the global negotiators. Modern carbon-reducing practices and technologies are being tested on the local level – years before any national rollout.
“It’s important that local governments are present and are showing the world that they’re setting targets,” said Strickler. “We need to show negotiators that this is a real force and to make sure that local governments are included in the negotiating text.”
Xcel Energy
414 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55401-1993
http://www.xcelenergy.com
ICLEI World Secretariat
401 Richmond St.
Studio 417
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8
http://www.iclei.org
Koehn and Driskell believe Boulder’s experiences can be expanded to the world stage and doing so will multiply the benefits of the original investments to create a Smart Grid City. “It’s not about Boulder being carbon neutral,” explained Koehn. “It’s about how to export lessons learned.”
The primary function of the Copenhagen gathering will be to negotiate the best way to reduce carbon emissions globally. Representatives from 192 countries will be in attendance. This same group met in Kyoto in 1997 to draft the Kyoto Protocol carbon reduction plan that expires in 2012.
Parties to the Kyoto treaty hope to establish another strategy that will keep the world fighting together against climate change. The United States was not among the 184 countries that agreed to the Kyoto Protocol but Boulder decided to make the same commitment in 2002. Kyoto called for established economies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level 7 percent below the amount released in 1990.
Today, city officials believe that Boulder will reach the carbon reduction goals established in Kyoto by the 2012 deadline. To do so they squeezed carbon reductions from every possible sector. The most significant efficiencies were gained from the Smart Grid City project installed by Xcel Energy.
Other American municipalities sending representatives to Copenhagen include Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. The Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) helped a total of 1,100 local officials from around the world get to Copenhagen. ICLEI will host a “local government climate lounge” where attendants can exchange ideas and best practices with each other.
“It will be a place to make real connections, connections you can’t make over e-mail,” said Annie Strickler, communications director for the American ICLEI office. “There will be a ton of local governments there to see and be seen in terms of climate protection initiatives.”
Strickler emphasized the importance of having local officials meet with the global negotiators. Modern carbon-reducing practices and technologies are being tested on the local level – years before any national rollout.
“It’s important that local governments are present and are showing the world that they’re setting targets,” said Strickler. “We need to show negotiators that this is a real force and to make sure that local governments are included in the negotiating text.”
Xcel Energy
414 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55401-1993
http://www.xcelenergy.com
ICLEI World Secretariat
401 Richmond St.
Studio 417
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8
http://www.iclei.org
