Carbon Conundrum: Part 5

Solutions

“I don’t want to hear about the problem. Come to me when you have the solution,” a former boss used to say every time we squawked about our “problems.” Well, finally, we are talking CO2 solutions, after four weeks spent mired in the causes and effects—though you won’t find a silver bullet embedded in the story that follows.

Five weeks into the Carbon Conundrum series, and still we have just skimmed the surface. Just as it hangs heavy in the atmosphere, CO2- and human-induced climate change weighs heavy on your mind. Will there be dramatic changes in our lifetimes or should we just ride it out and hope for the best? What about the next generation? Certainly they will face hardships, as we continue to churn out CO2 emissions at a rate that jeopardizes the environment and economy.
Part of the conundrum is that the deeper we dig, more questions are unearthed and many of them don’t have answers. After all, this is the first time humans have altered the climate. Many of the impacts remain to be seen.
There has to be some light at the end of the tunnel. With that in mind, part five focuses on solutions. Not the kinds that force us back to the Dark Ages; rather, solutions that are attainable, realistic, and effective. And not just fluff—this isn’t about making ourselves feel better about warming up the car for 15 minutes to drive a couple of miles.
Curing the conundrum requires being honest about the problem, our contributions to it, and avoiding apathy. It is easy to get overwhelmed, but that is no excuse. Do something. Or stay in bed and keep your emissions to a minimum.

Driving the local change train
You’ve got to clean up your own backyard before telling everyone else what he or she “should” be doing to reduce CO2 emissions. Fortunately, this community has the infrastructure in place to curb CO2 emissions.
Phillip Supino, town of Crested Butte sustainability coordinator, offers some thoughts on what the town can do. “The town can enable residents and neighboring communities by leading through example. The Town Council has stated that their second highest value as a council is environmental stewardship. By making decisions with that in mind, the council can ensure that the town positions itself to be a leader in regional environmental policy and planning.”
He continues, “This example will motivate other communities and individuals to make environmentally conscious decisions in their own spheres of influence. Ultimately, solving the global problem of emissions and dependence on fossil fuels will require significant changes in lifestyle for the world’s citizens. These changes will be motivated in part by necessity as the environment and access to fossil fuels change in the future. Future change will also be motivated by government mandates and coordination among all people. But in the mean time, in our little town, good leadership and planning, as well as improved environmental consciousness of all our residents, will get us a long way to effective local solutions.”
Theresa Henry, Mt. Crested Butte’s energy action plan coordinator, says the town’s number one CO2 emissions problem is buildings, as identified in the 2005 Upper Gunnison River Watershed Inventory. “I think the most effective measure we can do at this time is to keep current with building and energy codes. At this time, we are still on the 2006 codes and have adopted the International Code Council 700-2008 National Green Building Standard (above standard energy codes). ICC puts out new codes every three years. We are anticipating adopting the 2012 codes next, given the amount of time involved with the adoption process.”
Anticipating future growth on the mountain, Henry says, “Growth is necessary and by adopting above energy code standards we choose to do it responsibly. Other than our Energy Action Plan items, we can encourage and educate our community, as well as support organizations such as ORE.”

Tighten up the tourism economy
As we explored last week, our tourism-driven economy goes hand in hand with a hefty carbon footprint. Acknowledging ours won’t be the next Silicon Valley, and tourism is our bread and butter—what to do?
Supino says, “By definition, the kind of travel-based tourism by which we live in Gunnison County is highly energy-intensive, because it requires long plane and automobile trips. Just living in a community such as ours, far removed from population and agricultural centers, requires a tremendous amount of energy to transport the goods we consume. However, by addressing emissions in other sectors of our economy, we can make great strides toward a smaller footprint without affecting the tourist economy. Every other tourist-based mountain economy is facing the same problems, so it will not be a question of damaging our competitiveness with our sister communities. If the town can position itself as a leader in community sustainability, we may carve out yet another niche for ourselves, alongside extreme skiing and historic and open space preservation, in the tourist market. This could make us more attractive to visitors who value similar ideals in the future.”
Office for Resource Efficiency community energy coordinator Maya Silver suggests, “A campaign targeted at tourists promoting energy conservation, alternative transportation modes and carbon offsets could produce significant reductions in energy usage and CO2 emissions resulting from tourism. Sharing our goals with visitors, along with providing information (e.g. energy saving tips, bus schedules, etc.) would be a good start point.”
Silver agrees with Supino on the value of branding the valley as a sustainable destination. “There is another component to the discussion of tourism and CO2: it’s not just about the tourism contribution to our local emissions. It’s also about identifying our Valley as a viable ‘eco-tourism’ destination. There is a growing demographic of discerning consumers and potential tourists searching for environmentally friendly options for their vacations and purchases.”
Silver cites some examples of local “greening.” “CBMR [Crested Butte Mountain Resort] has been nominated for a Silver Eagle Environmental award by the National Ski Areas Association, has been awarded a Sustainable Slopes grant, is enrolled in ORE’s Energy Wise Business Program and is one of 13 charter members in the Governor’s Industrial Energy Challenge Program. ORE has recently published a Green Business Directory with more than 100 local listings of businesses making an effort at being ‘green.’ We could be highlighting these efforts more aggressively to peg our area as an environmentally friendly destination. This might create a positive feedback loop: the more our Valley positions itself as environmentally friendly and is lauded for this, the more our Valley will do to perpetuate that label.”

The Big Picture
Supino says, “It is not a question of solving the problem of carbon emissions. In that context, the problem is overwhelming. The best way to address the issue is to look at all the changes we can make as individuals and then actually make those changes in our lives, big and small. By choosing to live more responsibly with the energy we consume, we will affect change in the emissions problem. It is also important to support those who are working to address specific aspects of the problem. The effect of our collective efforts will be bigger than the actions of any one group or entity.”
Those collective efforts need to also focus on where our energy comes from and how it is produced. Roger Hudson, Western State College business professor, says shifting energy sources is essential to reaching the 20 percent CO2 emissions reduction by 2020.
“The Gunnison community is quite fortunate to have two potential opportunities to reduce its carbon intensity,” Hudson says. “The first potential opportunity is to install a modestly sized hydroelectric turbine in the Taylor Dam. Generating capacity installed in the dam might contribute an additional -0.14 percent to Gunnison’s rate of carbon intensity decline, compared to a rate of around -0.3 percent without Taylor power. Few communities are blessed with a dam and penstock in place, just waiting for a turbine.”
He adds, “The second possibility comes from geothermal power. If the Gunnison community could obtain all of its electricity from hydro and geothermal power, it would be the energy strategy version of winning the lottery. Perhaps equally important to many, Gunnison could likely use its supply of carbon free, dependable electricity as a lure for business growth and diversification of the Gunnison community economy. With sufficient geothermal electricity, the surplus could be sold to offset transportation CO2 and Gunnison could, in the accounting used today, be considered a carbon-neutral community.”
Chris Menges, High Country Citizens’ Alliance climate and clean energy director, says, “There are many important aspects of the effort to reducing greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, including local foods production, public transportation and the weatherization of buildings: fortunately, many very commendable efforts are already underway in the Gunnison Valley thanks to our dedicated, passionate and talented citizenry.”
He addresses the energy question as well. “Burning coal remains the largest single source of CO2 emissions in the country. The best way out of this problem is for power providers to diversify the ways they generate electricity, incorporating more renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand side management. Fortunately, clean energy strategies at the utility scale not only reduce emissions, they have the added benefit of creating jobs and stimulating the economy in ways that the status quo can’t. Moving away from coal is also a way to protect consumer electric rates over the long term from volatile price fluctuations.”
Menges continues, “Tri-State is the second largest electric utility in Colorado, is heavily dependent on coal and generates 100 percent of the power distributed locally by the Gunnison County Electric Association [GCEA]. Likely the most sweeping solution to reducing emissions attributed to our electric use is a shift to greater reliance on cleaner energy at the Tri-State level combined with efforts to generate a portion of our electric needs locally with renewable resources.”

Despite all the hurdles in the way, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions. There is even movement toward renewables by Tri-State, including the development of a 30-megawatt (MW) solar farm in New Mexico. According to Tri-State, the Cimarron Solar Facility is the largest solar PV project by an electric cooperative and is one of the largest facilities of its kind.
According to a recent study published in the journal Energy Policy, by 2030, the world can achieve 100 percent renewable energy if the proper measures are taken. It will require a monumental effort on a global scale, it is possible and the numbers add up, on paper at least.

 The solution starts here.