Mt. Crested Butte hopes to reduce carbon and adopts Energy Action Plan

“A lot of hard work went into it over the last year”

The Mt. Crested Butte Town Council was seeing “green” during its last meeting on December 15. The council adopted Resolution 12, and an Energy Action Plan (EAP) for the town, after more than a year of crafting, compromising, and working through the details. Mt. Crested Butte joins the town of Crested Butte, the city of Gunnison and Gunnison County in adopting a plan that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, waste, and other negative environmental impacts.

This is a guiding document, not a series of mandates, and each action item is dependent on available funding and resources. It includes a specific set of action items that will lay the groundwork for implementing the EAP, and sets goals as far out as 2050 for emissions reductions and energy savings. Funding is still up in the air, and the EAP committee will seek grants and other sources of financing to achieve its goals.
According to Office for Resource Efficiency President Alison Gannett, now that the Energy Action Plans for each entity have all officially passed, there is a 2005 energy use (carbon footprint) for each entity, along with reduction goals prioritized by cost-effectiveness and carbon/energy reduction effectiveness.
It was the Mt. Crested Butte Energy Action Plan Committee—comprised of town staff, ORE staff, and local businesses and community members—that developed and revised the EAP as needed to pass the council’s muster. Theresa Henry is the Community Development Administrative Assistant for the town and the town staff person who coordinates sustainability initiatives.
“A lot of hard work went into it over the last year, and it’s a really good feeling to have an EAP adopted for Mt. Crested Butte—a solid plan announcing our commitment to move forward with responsible energy consumption,” Henry said. The Town Council will now consider the EAP in decision-making and use it as a guide to direct town staff in the creation of town policies.
The EAP states Mt. Crested Butte and the council are committed to supporting local policies aimed at reducing the causes and effects of global warming. It expresses their support for efforts to reduce the causes of global warming through programs that also provide economic and quality of life benefits, such as reduced energy bills, green space preservation, air quality improvements, reduced traffic congestion, improved traffic infrastructure, improved building energy efficiency, improved governmental energy conservation practices, and collaborative community conservation efforts.
Action items at the top of the list now that the EAP is adopted include establishing an EAP oversight committee and securing funding for an implementation coordinator. The committee will be made up of an ORE staff member, a councilperson, a planning commissioner, a town staff member and two technical advisors. The next high priority item is energy efficiency and conservation in existing buildings in Mt. Crested Butte.
Data presented in the EAP states, “Buildings account for 89.5 percent of CO2 emissions in the Town of Mt. Crested Butte; residential buildings alone account for 55.7 percent of CO2 emissions. Buildings represent the single biggest opportunity for emissions reductions.”
Maya Silver, ORE’s program director, was instrumental in developing the EAP. “A lot of it is very similar to the town of Crested Butte’s EAP,” she said. “Mt. Crested Butte’s targets are adjusted for growth,” Silver added, because the town still has a fair amount of growth potential between now and 2050.
For example, the target recommendations for emissions are as follows: By 2020, annual emissions, adjusted for growth, are to be 20 percent below 2005. By 2050, annual emissions, adjusted for growth, are to be 80 percent below 2005 levels.
Silver said working with Crested Butte Mountain Resort will be critical to realizing the EAP’s goals as well. “The ski area is a huge driving force for our economy, and it’s important that we work with CBMR to develop these action plans,” she said. ORE is a partner with CBMR, and is working with them to create a carbon footprint for the ski area. “They want to grow responsibly and sustainably,” Silver said.
During the council meeting, councilperson Bill Babbitt asked if the goals listed within the plan might make construction in Mt. Crested Butte too expensive, thus slowing economic development. Silver responded, saying that an energy efficient home could very well be more attractive to buyers, because they would reap the benefits.
The buck doesn’t stop here. Now that Mt. Crested Butte has adopted Resolution 12, a county-wide plan is closer to completion.
“We are creating one more plan—a multi-jurisdictional energy action plan for collaborative objectives,” Silver said. Initial work on the multi-jurisdictional EAP began last winter, and Silver says they hope to complete it by summer 2010.