Environmental News
Environmental News from Boulder, Colorado
May is Historic Preservation Month
May 2nd
At the May 3 City Council meeting, Mayor Susan Osborne will declare May “Historic Preservation Month.” The declaration will kick-off the city’s involvement in the national, month-long celebration. This year’s theme is “Participate in Preservation.”
For a complete listing of Boulder County historic preservation events throughout the month of May, visit www.boulderplandevelop.net and click on “Historic Preservation.”
The annual Historic Preservation Month keystone event – The Heritage Preservation Awards Celebration – will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 9, 2011, at the Chautauqua Community House. As part of the awards celebration, the Boulder County Heritage Preservation Roundtable will present the “2011 Square Nail Award” to the Haertling Family for the preservation of architect Charles Haertling’s legacy. Haertling is best known for the remarkable collection of late Modernist organic architecture he designed in and around Boulder County.
The City of Boulder and Boulder County will also acknowledge special preservation projects and historic properties that have been landmarked during the past year, including:
TEC, Inc. for its historic context and survey work of Post WW-II residential subdivisions in Boulder;
the rehabilitation and upper story addition of the historic building at 1143 13th St.; and
Mary Riley Mc Nellan, Silvia Pettem, and Mike Greenwod for the Dorothy Gay Howard (Jane Doe) grave marker in Columbia Cemetery.
For more information about Historic Preservation Month, contact James Hewat at 303-441-3207.
EnergySmart customers can access up to $1,000 in rebates for home energy efficiency upgrades
May 2nd
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County residents have a limited time to access new rebates for energy efficiency improvements in their homes.
Through its EnergySmart program, Boulder County is offering up to $1,000 per household in rebates until July 31 or until funds are exhausted. Rebates are for qualifying projects including insulation, furnace replacement, efficient windows, and Energy Star appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers and more.
The more than $300,000 in rebates are available to EnergySmart participants only. EnergySmart provides a full suite of services to help Boulder County residents identify valuable energy-saving opportunities.
More information and registration is available at www.EnergySmartYES.com or by calling 303-544-1000. Rebate payment takes an average of 6-8 weeks and will be made to qualifying applicants upon completion of projects on a first-come, first-served basis.
The $1,000 in EnergySmart rebates are available in addition to existing utility rebates. EnergySmart also offers 2.5 percent interest “microloans” for up to $5,000 on qualifying energy efficiency projects. More than 1,200 Boulder County residents have enrolled in EnergySmart services since the program launched in early 2011.
“Rebates are generally confusing, but EnergySmart helps people find them and figure them out. We even fill out the paperwork,” said EnergySmart Advisor manager Andy Mazal. “These new $1,000 rebates are really going to get people excited. There has never been a better time or an easier way to make energy efficiency upgrades.”
EnergySmart services and large energy efficiency rebates are also available to all businesses in Boulder County.
EnergySmart is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the U.S. Department of Energy’s BetterBuildings grant program and is sponsored in partnership by Boulder County, the cities of Boulder and Longmont, Xcel Energy and the Platte River Power Authority. Residential services are administered by Populus, LLC.
Defenders of Wildlife
Apr 29th
Caitlin Balch-Burnett tells us about the Defenders of Wildlife organization and how they work to protect the wildlife habitat around us and preserve and create policies for wildlife conservation.
