City of Boulder Climate Action Plan Analysis Report

The analysis finds that while Boulder has achieved significant energy savings, current programs are insufficient to meet its 2012 Kyoto-based emissions targets. Residential lighting programs and audits are the most cost-effective, while renewable energy systems show below-average returns. The report recommends transitioning to a longer-term, integrated approach focusing on deep retrofits and exploring municipalization of the energy supply to close the emissions gap.

• Boulder is projected to have achieved only 42.6% of its intended carbon reductions for the 2011-2012 period, failing to meet its initial emissions targets based on the Kyoto Protocol.
• The most cost-effective emissions reductions are derived from residential lighting programs, commercial lighting programs, and audits.
• Even if the full 25-year cumulative savings from all examined Climate Action Plan (CAP) programs are counted, the city would still not reach its 2012 Kyoto-based emissions reduction target.
• A sensitivity analysis indicates that the maturation of the EnergySmart programs could significantly improve their cost-effectiveness, with Residential EnergySmart potentially improving from 100.7 to 21.5 $/mton of CO2e and Commercial EnergySmart from 69.1 to 13.9 $/mton CO2e.
• Renewable energy systems, funded through grants and rebates, provided below-average returns, partly due to system degradation and the influence of non-CAP funding.
• Residential programs generally outperformed commercial programs in cost-effectiveness, with a weighted average of 58 $/mtCO2e reduced compared to 97 for commercial programs.
• The report suggests that municipalization of the energy provider role could significantly increase Boulder's ability to meet its CAP goals by reshaping the energy supply mix.
• Life-cycle assessments of program savings projected considerably more savings for each program than the city's previous annual calculations.

APA

Torbert, R., Newcomb, J., Franconi, E., Bell, M., & Tupper, K. (2012). City of Boulder Climate Action Plan Analysis Report. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-04_BoulderClimateActionPlan.pdf

Chicago

Torbert, Roy, James Newcomb, Ellen Franconi, Mathias Bell, and Kendra Tupper. City of Boulder Climate Action Plan Analysis Report. RMI, 2012. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-04_BoulderClimateActionPlan.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Torbert |first1=Roy |last2=Newcomb |first2=James |last3=Franconi |first3=Ellen |last4=Bell |first4=Mathias |last5=Tupper |first5=Kendra |title=City of Boulder Climate Action Plan Analysis Report |publisher=RMI |date=21 May 2012 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-04_BoulderClimateActionPlan.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{torbert2012city, author = {Torbert, Roy and Newcomb, James and Franconi, Ellen and Bell, Mathias and Tupper, Kendra}, title = {{City of Boulder Climate Action Plan Analysis Report}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2012}, month = may, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2012-04_BoulderClimateActionPlan.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }