Posts tagged Boulder
Boulder city budget on the uptick
Aug 30th
Recommended city budget provides limited and targeted growth in 2013
On Sept. 11, Boulder City Council will begin considering a proposed 2013 budget that supports master plans accepted by council in 2012, restores partial funding for police and firefighter training, and continues funding for existing community programs and services.
City officials said that while the local economy is improving slowly, the city’s General Fund revenues will see only modest increases in 2013. As a result, City Manager Jane Brautigam recommends continuing the conservative approach initiated during the economic downturn; limited new funding will be allocated to programs supporting the highest community priorities next year, including economic vitality initiatives and significant investments in Boulder’s public facilities and infrastructure made possible by voters in November 2011.
The $256 million Recommended Budget includes $33 million in capital improvement plan spending – an increase of $10 million over 2012 levels.
“Boulder is in a stable financial position, and the conservative approach taken over the past few years has helped the city to become more efficient and effective with public dollars,” said Brautigam. “Our focus on cost recovery, restructuring city functions and not using one-time revenues to pay for on-going expenses has enabled Boulder to reduce the projected $135 million annual structural gap identified by the Blue Ribbon Commission in 2008 to $75 million annually by 2030.
“Boulder’s guiding principles of separating one-time revenues from ongoing expenditures also emphasizes the need to accurately project future one-time costs in order to carefully save over several years in preparation for those expenditures to avoid impacting Boulder’s base budget,” added Brautigam. “Because the city purposely saved for the future, we are prepared to pay as we go for planned one-time expenditures without negative impacts to the 2013 base budget.”
The 2012 Boulder City Council is keeping an eye on revenue and expenses.
The recommended base budget reflects a 2 percent increase in base budget expenditures compared to the 2012 approved budget. Boulder saved an additional $16 million outside of that base budget to pay for one-time expenses that will be incurred next year. Most of that amount consists of funding for important transportation projects leveraged by the city using state and federal sources; a once every 11- to 12-year pay-period liability associated with Boulder’s biweekly pay system, and expenditures for Boulder’s Energy Future that are now included in the city’s budget document to reflect revenues approved by the voters in November 2011.
In addition to the continued long-term emphasis to stabilize revenues and expenditures, the Recommended Budget addresses community and council priorities with a major emphasis in the following areas:
- Restore non-personnel funding for police and firefighter training that was reduced during the economic downturn;
- Provide additional resources for Boulder’s Energy Future, the Civic Area Master Plan and adding a resource officer for homelessness initiatives;
- Carry out steps needed to implement master plans and department assessments, some of which began in the 2012 budget;
- Continue and strengthen the commitment to economic sustainability; and
- Boost the capacity of the city to renew its infrastructure and invest in technology.
The Recommended Budget provides for targeted growth in priority programs, adding one standard full-time equivalent (FTE) employee and 5.5 fixed-term FTEs in the General Fund to address these community initiatives.
Council is scheduled to begin studying the city manager’s 2013 recommended budget at its Tuesday, Sept. 11, study session. The study session will be aired live on Channel 8.
City Manager’s 2013 Recommended Budget is available online.
NOAA extends CU climate studies partnership for 5-10 years
Aug 30th
NOAA selects CU-Boulder to
continue joint leadership of CIRES
continue joint leadership of CIRES
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected the University of Colorado Boulder to continue a federal/academic partnership that extends NOAA’s ability to study climate change, improve weather models and better predict how solar storms can disrupt communication and navigation technologies.
The selection means that NOAA will continue funding the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, for at least five years and up to 10 more years. CIRES was established at CU-Boulder in 1967.
The amount of the award is contingent on the availability of funding in the federal budget, but NOAA anticipates that up to $32 million may be available annually. Total NOAA funding is variable from year to year and is based on the number of projects the university proposes and NOAA approves.
Following a competitive process, NOAA selected CU-Boulder to administer the CIRES partnership which leverages university resources to expand understanding of the “Earth system” — the interrelationships among the atmosphere, oceans, land, living things and the sun’s energy.
“Improving our understanding of the Earth system is critically important as the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is forcing changes in all of its processes,” said Robert Detrick, assistant administrator of the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and chairman of the NOAA Research Council. “The University of Colorado has been an excellent partner to NOAA in pursuing this mission.”
NOAA’s first cooperative institute, CIRES is marking its 45th anniversary this year and is now one of 18 NOAA cooperative institutes nationwide. NOAA competitively funds cooperative institutes at universities with strong research programs relevant to NOAA’s mission. These institutes provide resources and opportunities that extend beyond the agency’s own research capacity.
“Partnership in environmental research with the NOAA Boulder laboratories is the keystone of CIRES research,” said CIRES Interim Director William Lewis Jr. “We have great ambitions in joint research with NOAA over the next five years.”
The partnership allows researchers at CU-Boulder to receive support for research projects that may involve NOAA scientists, primarily at the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder as well as other NOAA cooperative institutes.
The CIRES partnership will focus on nine research themes:
- Air quality in a changing environment
- Climate forcing feedbacks and analysis
- Earth systems dynamics, variability and change
- Management and exploitation of geophysical data
- Regional science and applications
- Scientific outreach and education
- Space weather understanding and predictability
- Stratospheric processes and trends
- Systems and prediction models development
“With pressing issues like air quality, climate change and space weather now at the forefront globally, the University of Colorado Boulder is eager to continue this crucial partnership with NOAA,” said CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Research Stein Sture. “CIRES is known around the world for advancing our understanding of the complex Earth system and as a premier institution in educating the next generation of environmental scientists.”
NOAA supports cooperative institutes to conduct research, education, training and outreach aligned with its mission. Cooperative institutes also promote the involvement of students and postdoctoral scientists in NOAA-funded research. This unique setting provides NOAA the benefit of working with the complementary capabilities of a research institution that contribute to NOAA-related sciences ranging from satellite climatology and fisheries biology to atmospheric chemistry and coastal ecology.
For more information on CIRES visit http://cires.colorado.edu/. For more information on NOAA Cooperative Institutes visit http://www.nrc.noaa.gov/ci.
New CU power plant aims for LEED gold certification
Aug 30th
CU-Boulder to begin construction of
carbon-conscious campus utility system
carbon-conscious campus utility system
The first phase of construction on a University of Colorado Boulder campus utility project — which will provide efficient heating and cooling while significantly reducing the university’s carbon emissions — begins this week with utility work and construction staging on the south side of campus.
The project is expected to be complete in the winter of 2014 and involves three major components: renovation of the campus Power House on 18th Street; construction of a separate, new heating and cooling plant; and installation of new utility distribution systems.
“Safe, reliable and efficient energy is crucial for providing uninterrupted power that supports CU-Boulder’s educational and research mission,” said Steve Thweatt, executive director of Facilities Management. “This project will ensure that we can effectively consolidate the heating and cooling of a number of buildings on the Boulder campus while continuing to build our leadership in sustainability.”
The $91.1 million project, which is being funded through a combination of cash reserves and long-term debt proceeds, also will replace chiller and boiler equipment that is critical to campus operations.
Excavation will start at the beginning of September on the new heating and cooling plant, called the East District Energy Plant. Located near the Coors Events Center, the 72,000-square-foot facility will showcase energy efficiency concepts. In addition, the university is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold certification for the building. LEED certification is a U.S. benchmark for sustainable design and construction.
As part of this project, workers will begin digging at several locations around campus in September, including 18th Street and Kittredge Loop Road, to install piping to deliver chilled water needed for campus air conditioning systems. The installation will allow the Kittredge residence complex to have air conditioning for the first time.
Next fall, renovation will begin on the original campus Power House, built in 1909. The Power House includes a cogeneration plant and will have its equipment replaced and upgraded such that the facility will be able to meet approximately 50 percent of the campus’s electrical power requirements using natural gas — a method that produces fewer carbon emissions than the local utility.
“We anticipate that natural gas will be an economic energy source for the campus for the future, which can be implemented as appropriate,” said Campus Architect Paul Leef.
As part of the renovation, the plant’s exhaust waste heat will be recovered and used to provide both heating and additional electrical power without burning extra fuel. It is estimated that the renovated Power House facility, which will be renamed the West District Energy Plant, will have the capability to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 30,000 metric tons per year.
“The two plants will be connected such that when the entire system is online, the plants will work in tandem with the upgraded distribution system to deliver a high level of efficiency and reliability, helping the campus reduce its carbon footprint,” said Moe Tabrizi, director of campus sustainability.
