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Sustainable Resilient Longmont Presents 4th Annual Longmont Earth Day Celebration

4/16/2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16, 2018
Media Contact: Abby Driscoll, Chair of the Board of Directors
(720) 491-9065 or [email protected]

Longmont, CO April 16, 2018--- This Saturday, April 21, Sustainable Resilient Longmont will host the 4th annual Longmont Earth Day Celebration. This free, community event will feature an environmental education expo and programming for children and families throughout the day, including storytime, climate science films, music, and even magic! This family-friendly event will have a hands-on arts & crafts room with recycled materials, led by a local children’s art teacher. Samples Bistro, High Point Creamery and Sol Coffee will provide food and beverages outside.

Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley will kick off the event with a welcome message at 10:15 a.m. Other public officials attending include: Longmont City Council members Polly Christensen, Marcia Martin and Aren Rodriguez, State Representatives Jonathan Singer and Mike Foote, State Senator Matt Jones and Boulder County Commissioner Deb Gardner. The full program and list of sponsors is below.

WHAT: Longmont Earth Day Celebration
WHEN: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Saturday, April 21
WHERE: Longmont Museum & Cultural Center 400 Quail Rd. Longmont, CO 80501

10:15 a.m.      Welcome
Abby Driscoll and Kate Collardson, Earth Day Planning Committee Co-Chairs
Brian Bagley, Mayor of Longmont
Polly Christensen, Marcia Martin and Aren Rodriguez, Longmont City Council
Deb Gardner, Boulder County Commissioner
State Representative Jonathan Singer
State Representative Mike Foote
State Senator Matt Jones

10:30 a.m.   Earth & Nature Storytime
Children's Librarian Amy Fontenot
Amy will lead a storytime featuring books for children of all ages.

11:00 a.m.   Carbon Dioxide, Climate Change, and Civilization
Jim Butler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A leading climate scientist will provide a historical perspective of the alarming warming patterns we’re experiencing today. His talk will feature video, imagery and props to educate youth about the human impact of climate change.

11:30 a.m.   Songs for the Earth
Hygiene Elementary Choir
The Hygiene Elementary Choir will lead us through songs inspired by the Earth.

12:00 p.m.   Our Climate Our Future
Alliance for Climate Education
Join us to learn the facts about climate change and climate justice, hear from peers facing climate impacts, and become directly connected with opportunities to take action.

12:45 p.m.   Magic Show
Erica Sodos Magical Enchantress
Erica will emerge as a nature elf from the depths of the forest to share her magical secrets, stories and messages. This show will feature informative and inspiring stories about respecting and honoring Earth, water and animals.

1:30 p.m.   Concert
Jeff & Paige
Their exciting fun-filled concerts and CDs are filled with love of the outdoors and ecology, bringing concepts like insect anatomy, energy conservation and plate tectonics to the whole family. Through their live shows and five albums, Jeff and Paige have reached thousands of children with their joyful spirit of play and passion for ecological awareness.

Environmental Education Booths
Alliance for Climate Education
Boulder County Parks & Open Space
Boulder County Sustainability
Citizens Climate Lobby/Citizens Climate Education
City of Longmont - Composting, Recycling & Waste Services
City of Longmont- Sustainability
Colorado Native Bird Care & Conservation
Colorado Ocean Coalition
Colorado Renewable Energy Society
Eco-Cycle
Growing Gardens
Hygiene Elementary
Longmont Food Rescue
Ocean First Institute
Ollin Farms
People and Pollinators Action Network
Rocky Mountain Conservancy
Sierra Club/Boulder Valley ICO
Southard Solar & Construction
Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek
United States Environmental Protection Agency
UpRoot Colorado
Wild Bear Nature Center

Event Sponsors:

Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy Releases Second Review of Platte River Power Authority’s “Zero Net Carbon” Analysis

4/3/2018

Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy Releases Second Review of Platte River Power Authority’s “Zero Net Carbon” Analysis
Review Highlights Opportunities for PRPA to Transition to a Renewable Energy Future

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018

Media Contacts:
Gordon MacAlpine, Estes Valley Clean Energy Coalition, ph. 970-342-4668, [email protected]
Kevin Cross, Fort Collins Sustainability Group, ph. 970-484-3141, [email protected]
Dick Mallot, Renewables Now Loveland, ph. 970-682-0374, [email protected]
Abby Driscoll, Sustainable Resilient Longmont, ph. 720-491-9065, [email protected]

Longmont, CO. Today, Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy (NCP4CE) released a second, more detailed review of the Zero Net Carbon (ZNC) analysis that Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) finalized in December of 2017. The new critique, which was prepared by the Salt Lake City-based consulting firm Energy Strategies, clearly demonstrates that the ZNC analysis underestimates opportunities in the rapidly evolving energy marketplace that make transitioning to 100% renewable energy sources achievable by 2030. “In addition to identifying missed opportunities in the ZNC report, the Energy Strategies study will help to inform a path forward for Longmont, Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Abby Driscoll, Chair of the Board of Directors for Sustainable Resilient Longmont.

PRPA released its ZNC analysis after stakeholders from its four owner communities expressed interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with their electric power. The analysis found that PRPA could achieve a ZNC electricity profile by 2030 with costs that are only 8% higher than “business as usual” on a net present value basis- a surprisingly small difference, particularly given the value of the public health and environmental benefits from the carbon reductions.

“The ZNC Analysis went a long way towards making the economic case for Platte River to begin to transition to a zero carbon or 100% renewable resource portfolio,” said Zach Pierce of the Sierra Club, a member of NCP4CE. “The use of more reasonable and current cost assumptions for renewable energy and battery storage could easily have resulted in the ZNC portfolio actually being the ‘least cost’ portfolio.”

While the ZNC study presents a positive path forward for Platte River’s transition to renewables, the Energy Strategies analysis points out several areas where the report underestimated this opportunity. Energy Strategies calls attention to the following issues in the ZNC report:

Overly conservative estimate of declining costs of renewable energy technologies and battery storage technologies;
Exclusion of storage technologies such as batteries from the model;
Inadequate modeling of demand side resources (efficiency, demand response, and distributed generation); and
Overly conservative future pricing of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The Energy Strategies review also highlights that ZNC accounting is “an unreliable measure of actual carbon dioxide emission reductions” that has not “been adopted by any existing or proposed regulatory framework.” It goes on to call on the PRPA to abandon this accounting scheme and instead work with its owner municipalities and stakeholders to “establish CO2 reduction goals…that would be achieved within a specified time period.”

Following Energy Strategies’ recommendation, NCP4CE is calling for the inclusion of a robust stakeholder engagement process in the development of the PRPA’s next Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which will likely commence later this year. That IRP, which will be in effect through 2025, should set the stage for the achievement of 100% renewable electricity by 2030. The member organizations of the NCP4CE look forward to contributing to that development effort.

The Energy Strategies critique of the PRPA’s ZNC analysis is attached to this news release.

The NCP4CE’s first review of the PRPA’s ZNC analysis, which was prepared by the Catalyst Coop and released on December 18th, 2017, is available here.

The member organizations of the NCP4CE are: 350 Northern Colorado, Colorado Sierra Club, Community for Sustainable Energy, Environment Colorado, the Estes Valley Clean Energy Coalition, the Fort Collins Sustainability Group, the Northern Colorado Renewable Energy Society, Renewables Now Loveland, Sustainable Resilient Longmont, and Transition Fort Collins.

prpa_znc_critique_executive_summary_180403.pdf
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prpa_znc_critique_180331_final.pdf
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Sustainable Resilient Longmont Presents 4th Annual Longmont Earth Day Celebration

Event Sponsors:

Northern Colorado Partners for Clean Energy Releases Second Review of Platte River Power Authority’s “Zero Net Carbon” Analysis

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