Environmental News
Environmental News from Boulder, Colorado
City giving incentive rebates to high-tech company
Jan 5th
City Manager Jane S. Brautigam has approved a flexible rebate application for Boulder-based Tendril for up to $85,000 in rebates. The rebates were authorized for sales and use taxes, and permit-related fees.
The flexible rebate program is one of the city’s business incentives, covering a wide range of fees, equipment and construction use taxes. Under this program, the city manager may consider a specific incentive package for tax and fee rebates to meet a company’s specific needs. The company is then eligible for the rebate after it has made its investment and paid the taxes or fees to the city.
“The City of Boulder is pleased that Tendril, a company founded in Boulder, is growing and able to maintain operations in the city, in part, due to city-offered incentives,” said City Manager Jane S. Brautigam. “Tendril is at the forefront of energy technology and represents the future of the industry.”
Tendril is transforming the way the world interacts with energy. The company’s technology allows consumers to modify their behaviors to reduce both their costs and energy usage and allows the utility to speak with the consumer during peak periods in order to reduce demand. Tendril is expanding and recently renovated and moved into an approximately 52,000 square-foot space at 2560 55th St.
“We are proud to be a Boulder-based company. Boulder provides access to great talent, an unmatched quality of life for our employees and a vibrant technology community that is quickly becoming a center of clean tech innovation,” said David Rayner, chief financial officer at Tendril. “As a leader in clean technology, it is important to us that we ‘walk the walk’ on green initiatives and we’re thrilled to receive recognition from the City of Boulder for our sustainability efforts.”
The flexible rebate program uses social, community, and environmental sustainability guidelines. Companies choose the guidelines that best fit their circumstances, but must meet minimum requirements in order to receive the rebate. Tendril has exceeded the minimum community sustainability guidelines. Of note, Tendril participates in RTD’s Eco Pass program and has a Green Team responsible for managing environmental initiatives, including holding in-house educational sessions, purchasing energy-friendly appliances, and maintaining composting and recycling programs. The company will participate in energy efficiency programs such as receiving an energy assessment for its new facility and participating in the 10 for Change challenge.
Tendril’s flexible rebate application is one of six submitted to the city in late 2011. Five 2011 applications are pending. The city’s approved 2012 budget includes $350,000 in funding for 2012 flexible tax and fee rebates for primary employers.
CU team to turn on “green” lights in Haiti
Jan 5th
CU ENGINEERING TEAM TO SUPPORT
GREEN ENERGY IN HAITI
A team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers will travel to Haiti this month to support the growth of green energy on the two-year anniversary of the country’s devastating earthquake.
Engineering professors Alan Mickelson and Mike Hannigan and graduate student Matt Hulse will be in Haiti Jan. 8-16 to collaborate with the Neges Foundation school at Leogane to create a vocational training program on the installation, operation and maintenance of renewable energy systems.
“I’m eager to learn about the people of Haiti and the services that they would like energy systems to provide,” said Hannigan, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “Historically, the development of energy systems has shaped nations and economies, so the timing is right to pass along what we have learned about those energy systems that are sustainable.”
The Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that struck Haiti destroyed what little electricity infrastructure had existed in the country, plunging towns across the country into total darkness and forcing households to rely on high-cost diesel generators for power, according to news reports. As a result, families are unable to study or work at night, and the number of assaults, particularly against women and girls, has increased.
Studies point to Haiti’s great potential for renewable energy, including solar, hydro and wind power. “The present lack of a Haitian power grid cries out for a distributed solution — that is, one that grows from small, localized, renewable energy sources,” said Mickelson, associate professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering.
To address these issues, the Engineering for Developing Communities project will:
- Develop a curriculum for vocational training on the operation and maintenance of self-contained, adaptable power sources, and electrical operations and maintenance with a focus on green energy systems.
- Build local capacity to provide vocational training on renewable energy systems using a “train-the-trainers” approach.
- Identify a viable system to create sustainable access to renewable energy that will meet basic household energy needs.
- Develop a strategy for the sustainable scale-up and replication of energy and infrastructure vocational training to support reconstruction efforts, with a focus on private sector investment.
About $35,000 has been provided for the initiative by CU-Boulder’s Mortenson Center for Engineering in Developing Communities, the IEEE Foundation and the CU-Boulder Outreach Committee. The Mortenson Center is seeking additional funding to build upon the initiative and develop additional vocational training curriculum on sustainable and disaster-resistant design and construction.
The Mortenson Center was founded to promote integrated, participatory and sustainable solutions to the engineering challenges of the developing world, with a focus on clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene; energy; sustainable and disaster-resistant building materials and shelter; and cook stoves and indoor air quality. For more information, go tohttp://ceae.colorado.edu/mc-edc.
Mighty wind blew in Boulder today
Dec 31st