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New EnergySmart rebates for businesses coming soon
Dec 18th
$250k will be available to businesses, commercial property owners from Jan. 1 – Apr. 15
Boulder County, Colo. – Businesses and commercial property owners in Boulder County will be eligible for a new round of rebates for energy efficiency upgrades beginning in the early part of 2013.
EnergySmart is pleased to announce that $250,000 in rebates will be available for eligible business or commercial property projects completed between Jan. 1 and Apr. 15, 2013 or until funds are committed.
“We’re pleased to be able offer these additional incentives to local businesses,” said Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor. “Although funding from the federal ARRA grant will run out in mid-2013, our municipal and county officials and staff are committed to helping businesses continue to implement energy efficient improvements throughout the New Year.”
Already more than 500 EnergySmart Businesses throughout Boulder County have implemented energy efficiency projects that will save them more than $11 million a year. EnergySmart has awarded over $1 million in rebates to businesses since November 2010, supporting the investment of over $6.5 million in energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings located in our communities.
“The savings in power along with the reduced stress on the HVAC system and the overwhelming appreciation from the tenants makes this one of the best investments I have made in Commercial Real Estate,” said Rich Carlisle of BC Properties in Louisville.
EnergySmart is offering rebates to businesses and commercial property owners for over 120 qualifying energy efficiency measures. Previously awarded rebates will not count toward caps in this round. Solar photovoltaic (PV) and other renewable energy measures are eligible for rebates for commercial properties that achieve 15% energy savings through EnergySmart.
More information is available at www.EnergySmartYES.com. The rebate application will be available online Jan 2. Interested businesses are encouraged to call an Energy Advisor at 303-441-1300 to ensure your projects meet the eligibility requirements for both EnergySmart and local utility rebates. Payments will be made to qualifying applicants upon completion of projects on a first-come, first-served basis. Projects completed in 2012 are not eligible for 2013 rebate funds.
EnergySmart provides a suite of services to help businesses and homes in all Boulder County communities identify valuable energy-saving opportunities and assist residents and business owners through the energy upgrade process. For more information or to sign up, call an EnergySmart Advisor:
Businesses: 303-441-1300
Residents: 303-544-1000
Or visit www.EnergySmartYES.com
The program 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 Platte River Power Authority.
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CU-Boulder team develops swarm of pingpong ball-sized robots
Dec 14th
University of Colorado Boulder Assistant Professor Nikolaus Correll likes to think in multiples. If one robot can accomplish a singular task, think how much more could be accomplished if you had hundreds of them.
Correll and his computer science research team, including research associate Dustin Reishus and professional research assistant Nick Farrow, have developed a basic robotic building block, which he hopes to reproduce in large quantities to develop increasingly complex systems.
Recently the team created a swarm of 20 robots, each the size of a pingpong ball, which they call “droplets.” When the droplets swarm together, Correll said, they form a “liquid that thinks.”
To accelerate the pace of innovation, he has created a lab where students can explore and develop new applications of robotics with basic, inexpensive tools.
Similar to the fictional “nanomorphs” depicted in the “Terminator” films, large swarms of intelligent robotic devices could be used for a range of tasks. Swarms of robots could be unleashed to contain an oil spill or to self-assemble into a piece of hardware after being launched separately into space, Correll said.
Correll plans to use the droplets to demonstrate self-assembly and swarm-intelligent behaviors such as pattern recognition, sensor-based motion and adaptive shape change. These behaviors could then be transferred to large swarms for water- or air-based tasks.
Correll hopes to create a design methodology for aggregating the droplets into more complex behaviors such as assembling parts of a large space telescope or an aircraft.
In the fall, Correll received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development award known as “CAREER.” In addition, he has received support from NSF’s Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research program, as well as NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
He also is continuing work on robotic garden technology he developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. Correll has been working with Joseph Tanner in CU-Boulder’s aerospace engineering sciences department to further develop the technology, involving autonomous sensors and robots that can tend gardens, in conjunction with a model of a long-term space habitat being built by students.
Correll says there is virtually no limit to what might be created through distributed intelligence systems.
“Every living organism is made from a swarm of collaborating cells,” he said. “Perhaps some day, our swarms will colonize space where they will assemble habitats and lush gardens for future space explorers.”
For a short video of Correll’s team developing swarm droplets visit http://www.colorado.edu/news/multimedia/researchers-creating-team-tiny-robots. For more information about CU-Boulder’s computer science department visit http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/academics/degree/computer-science.
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Boulder County budget released
Dec 13th
Boulder County Commissioners adopt 2013 budget
The county’s mill levy and general operating budget to remain flat for 2013
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Commissioners have adopted a budget of $319.6 million for 2013, down from $321.7 million in 2012.
The 2013 budget represents a nearly flat comparison to the one adopted in 2012, based largely on the fact that the county is in its second year of a biannual property reappraisal cycle. With property values assessed only every other year, the second year in the cycle rarely reflects much of a change in the property tax portion of the county’s projected revenue stream.
The real difference in the budget this year is reflected through a reduction in carryover funds from the year prior and the annual adjustment of revenues in funds other than the General Fund (such as the Road & Bridge Fund and Capital Expenditure Fund) which fluctuate year-to-year based on their designated purpose and funding sources.
In keeping with a flat budget, the County Commissioners have worked hard to bring expenses in line with revenues for 2013, all the while continuing to support programs popular with county residents.
As in past years, the careful and deliberate process of evaluating program requests by elected offices and departments in a public forum has led to sound fiscal decisions that allow the county to function at a high level and continue to provide excellent service to county residents with essentially no increase to the General Fund.
“The 2013 budget is a culmination of more than six months of productive discussion and input from our non-profit leaders, elected officials and department heads who work closely every day with members of the public to figure out how best to meet the needs our community,” said Cindy Domenico, Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. “We are pleased to adopt this fully balanced budget which serves as a guiding document for carrying out the values of our residents.”
Commissioner Deb Gardner said she was pleased to adopt a budget that “balances the long and short term needs of the county and works within a sustainable context to make sure that the county will stay on track for years to come in responding to the priorities set forth by the residents of Boulder County.”
Commissioner Will Toor remarked on the complexity of the county budget and praised the efforts of county leaders and staff for continuing to implement and expand on highly-desired programs for residents, even within a fiscally-constrained framework.
“Whether we look at the strong support for our non-profit community and our human services safety net programs, or the extension of the popular EnergySmart program,” which faces an end to its federal grant in mid-2013, “or the continued improvement of our county’s transportation network, including all modes of transportation, we’re very pleased with the ability to support incremental expansions of these programs despite the fiscal constraints we’re under,” said Toor.
The County Commissioners thanked staff and everyone from the public who participated in the budget process, acknowledging that the collaborative effort in creating next year’s budget made for a much better document through their efforts.
Commissioners certify mill levy
The Commissioners also today certified a mill levy of 24.645 mills, the same as the last two years, which is projected to generate property tax revenues of $134,612,456 in 2013 (up only slightly from $134,408,021 in 2012). The county’s mill levy amount represents roughly 29 percent of a property owner’s total average property tax bill within Boulder County. Other taxing entities that receive property tax revenues include (from 2012 data): school districts (53%), cities and towns (11%), and “other” fire, water and special districts (7%).
For a copy of the funding package for 2013, visit: www.bouldercounty.org/gov/budget.
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