Programs of the Colorado Climate Network, page 4
Inaugural Conference of the Colorado Climate Network
Agenda and Presentations
Wednesday, December 15
Welcome and conference overview. Conference moderators: Stephen Saunders, president, and Tom Easley, director of programs, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. |
Plenary session. Envisioning the Colorado Climate Network – of, by, and for local climate programs. What needs does the Network serve? What services should it provide? How do we make that happen? A panel-led discussion. Moderator: Stan Zemler, town manager, Town of Vail. Susan Kirkpatrick, executive director, Colorado Department of Local Affairs. |
Breakout workshops: Brainstorming the ideal Network to best meet local program needs. Three concurrent sessions with the same topic. |
Plenary session. Working together on a regional level: take-home lessons from the pioneers.A panel-led discussion. How can three successful regional approaches to clean and efficient energy strategies serve as models for others? Moderator: Sam Mamet, executive director, Colorado Municipal League. Aileen Tracy, executive director, Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency. Presentation |
Plenary session. Interacting with the state and federal governments. A panel-led discussion. What needs do local governments have to help them learn about and take advantage of state and federal programs? What should local governments do to influence state and federal actions? What role should the Colorado Climate Network play? Moderators: Mark Ruzzin, policy analyst, Boulder County Commissioners’ Office, and Lucinda Smith, senior environmental planner, City of Fort Collins. Both are steering committee members of the Colorado Climate Network. |
Thursday, December 16
Plenary session. Making the economic case for local climate action. A panel-led discussion. Moderator: Suzanne Farver, director of outreach, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, and faculty and teaching staff, Harvard University Extension School. Kathy Collier, senior environmental planner, Climate Wise Program, City of Fort Collins. Presentation |
Workshop A - 1. Financing residential and commercial improvements. How can capital be obtained for energy-efficiency and clean-energy investments? What alternatives are there to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs? What should be the roles of the public and private sectors?
Moderator: Ann Livingston, sustainability coordinator, Boulder County.
Scott Morrissey, deputy director, Greenprint Denver, City and County of Denver. The alternatives that Denver has considered and on a Denver-Boulder County program using federal funds.
Stephen Ponce-Pore, energy programs manager, Bank of Colorado. How banks and other lending institutions are approaching “green lending” practices, the types of financing opportunities available, and the intersection between the public and private sectors as they cooperatively initiate and build sustainability into such practices. Presentation
Workshop A - 2. Green construction programs. What approaches are local governments taking to incentivize green building in the residential and commercial sectors? How can model codes developed at the local, state, national, and international levels be most effectively used?
Moderator and panelist Jonathan Koehn, regional sustainability coordinator, City of Boulder. Approaches that the city is taking, including the relatively straight-forward “low hanging fruit.”
Panelist Deb Kleinman, executive director, U.S. Green Building Council of Colorado. The ins and outs of adopting national and international codes and effective ways of engaging builders in program development.
Workshop A - 3. Save Our Snow. Are there viable options for coordinated local, statewide, or regional actions involving public education and outreach, local government projects, and/or voluntary business actions under a common “Save Our Snow” banner?
Moderator: Stephen Saunders, president, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.
Diane Foster, environmental sustainability manager, Park City, Utah. Climate and water programs Park City has implemented under the Save Our Snow banner – including programs that can be taken for free and implemented elsewhere. Presentation
Kristen Bertuglia, sustainability manager, Town of Vail. Overview of the Northern Mountain Climate and Energy Initiative (NMCEI), a new stakeholder group consisting of ski resorts and small Colorado mountain communities that have recently come together to adapt the Save Our Snow concept for regional action and collaboration.
Kathy Collier, senior environmental planner, Climate Wise Program, City of Fort Collins. Lessons from the Climate Wise program of structured, voluntary business climate programs, and opportunities and challenges for expanding something like it to a statewide or regional level. Presentation
Workshop B - 1. Demand side management. How can local governments, utilities, and others promote more energy efficiency?
Moderator: Lucinda Smith, senior environmental planner, City of Fort Collins.
John Phelan, energy services manager, City of Fort Collins. The municipal utility’s successes in putting programs in place, lessons learned, and programs it has under development. Presentation
Tim Hillman, energy engineering and community sustainability specialist, Symbiotic Engineering. Options for tracking and data-reporting systems for joint community/utility demand side management programs and their importance in proving program worth to decision-makers and consumers. Presentation
Workshop B - 2. Transportation sector emissions reductions. How can local programs work together to meet the challenges?
Moderator: Mark Ruzzin, policy analyst, Boulder County Commissioners’ Office.
Mike Salisbury, transportation program associate, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). The scope of the emissions reduction challenge statewide and specific solutions SWEEP has developed and that communities can opt to pursue. Presentation
Will Toor, county commissioner, Boulder County, and member of the board of directors, Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). Strategies that are being implemented throughout Boulder County and how those strategies can mesh with regional and state transportation planning efforts. Presentation
Aaron Fodge, senior transportation planner, North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. Commuter transportation strategies, the challenge of funding transportation, and his insights as a board member of the Association for Commuter Transportation. Presentation
Workshop B - 3. Investing in clean local energy supplies. How to sort through options? What financing sources are available? How can local governments work together to achieve economies of scale?
Moderator: Suzanne Farver, director of outreach, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.
Angie Fyfe, local programs manager, Governor’s Energy Office (GEO). Resources that GEO has made available for local government investments, projects that have been particularly successful, future opportunities that may be available through GEO, and potentials for opportunities for local governments to work together on such investments. Presentation
Del Worley, chief executive officer, Holy Cross Energy. Clean energy programs that have been developed by this not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative utility providing electricity, energy products, and services to local governments and more than 55,000 consumers in the Western Colorado Counties of Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, Mesa and Gunnison. Presentation
Plenary panel-led discussion. Conference wrap-up: the next steps for building a vital, functional network.
Moderator: Stephen Saunders, president, the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.
Lucinda Smith, senior environmental planner, City of Fort Collins, and steering committee member, Colorado Climate Network.
Mark Ruzzin, policy analyst, Boulder County Commissioners’ Office.
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