Xcel Unveils New Energy-Efficient Appliance Rebates

From the Denver Business Journal on Jan. 27: Xcel Energy, the dominant utility provider in much of Colorado, has announced rebates for the purchase of energy efficient appliances and projects in a bid to cut energy demand by 125 megawatts of electricity and 7.2 million therms of natural gas. You can read the article by clicking here, but here's the summary:

Heating Rebates: Between Jan. 1 and July 31, 2009, consumers installing high-efficiency natural gas furnaces or boilers can receive rebates ranging from $80 to $120, depending on the rating of the appliance.

Water Heater Rebate: Rebates on the installation of natural gas water heaters, ranging from $40 to $80 and depending on efficiency ratings. Rebates of $100 also are being offered on tankless water heaters.

Insulation Rebates: Natural gas customers who install additional attic or wall insulation, or apply air sealing or weather stripping to their homes can receive rebates of up to 20 percent of the cost of the upgrade, with a maximum rebate of $300 (NOTE: I am researching whether this is instead of, or in addition to, any municipal or county insulation rebates such as Boulder County's REAP program.)

Xcel is also continuing its evaporative cooling (aka "swamp cooler") program from previous years. Rebates of either $200 or $500 are available for the installation of qualifying units for the program.

Xcel will also continue its residential Saver’s Switch program this year. Bill credits have increased to $40 for all residential customers in Colorado, from $25 in 2008. These rebates are provided to customers who allow the company to cycle air-conditioning units during periods of high electricity demand.

Additional residential programs to be launched later this spring will include home energy audits; multiple energy efficiency upgrades, including replacement of appliances, heating/cooling equipment and insulation for new and existing homes; a program for energy efficient showerheads; and several educational programs.

Final note: as of this writing none of this information yet appears on Xcel Energy's web site, so if you want to take advantage of any of these rebates and incentives, you'd do well to contact the company to make sure you're eligible and to ask how to take advantage of any of these programs.

Boulder County's BuildSmart Program Undergoing Review

The Boulder Camera recently reported on the beginnings of the review process for Boulder County's "BuildSmart" building program. If you're not familiar with that program, it currently holds the distinction of being the country's most stringent green building code, even more so than the City of Boulder's better-known Green Points program. Put into place in May of 2008, it requires people building houses in the county to take great steps to minimize the impact of the building activity on the environment, including deconstruction of existing structures, recycling waste and conserving water. Most importantly, as the size of the house grows, BuildSmart requires a higher and higher standard of energy efficiency as measured by the house's HERS Index (Home Energy Rating Standard). The larger the house, the smaller the HERS Index must be since smaller index numbers equal higher energy efficiency. A house over 5,000 square feet must have a HERS Index of 10 or less -- this means that it must be at least 90% more efficient than a "code built" house of the same size, which would have a HERS Index of 100 ("code" in this case refers to the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code). Needless to say, this has the (intended) effect of discouraging the building of larger houses in the county.

Now, 9 months after the program's initial launch, Boulder County is opening the program up to public review by inviting members of various stakeholder groups to comment on the program for its "Phase II." If you'd like to participate in any of these sessions, the schedule is here... Note that anybody can go to any of the sessions, you don't have to be a member of one of the listed stakeholder groups.

Otherwise you can submit your ideas or comments in writing to Doug Parker at: dparker@bouldercounty.org or Boulder County BuildSmart, P.O. Box 471, Boulder, CO 80306.

Denver City Government Implements a Radical Money-Saving Idea

I loved this story from the Rocky Mountain News about how the government of the City of Denver saved money this past summer: they turned up the thermostats in their office buildings by four degrees. How radical! Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's program saved the city (and thus, saved Denver taxpayers) nearly $30,000 in just two months, July and August 2008. How did city employees cope with the slightly warmer temperatures in their offices? They just took off their jackets and ties! Some people didn't even notice a difference in the temperature. It was a simple money-saving solution that cost taxpayers exactly nothing to implement, and without any noticeable negative effects.

There are two take-aways from this:
1) Simple ideas are often the best ideas and the easiest to implement.
2) Dressing for the season makes sense (i.e., shed the jacket in August and put on a sweater in January.)

Try this right now: go over to your thermostat and turn it down a few degrees. See if you notice the difference. You probably won't, and if that's the case then you will be saving yourself money and lowering the amount of carbon your heating system puts into the atmosphere. If you do notice the change, then ... put on a sweater! It is January, after all.

2008's Greenwashes of the Year

From NPR's web site, here's a a cautionary list for any company wanting to jump on the green bandwagon without truly "walking the walk." Click here for the article...