City, county fire crews contain grass fire along Diagonal Highway
Feb 22nd
City, county fire crews contain grass fire along Diagonal Highway
City and county firefighters have contained a grass fire that broke out at about 3:30 p.m. today at 63rd Street and Diagonal Highway. Firefighters battled high winds that made conditions particularly challenging. As of 5 p.m., crews were reporting that the blaze was 100 percent contained.
Emergency officials used the Everbridge notification system to inform 1,300 households of the fire. No evacuations were ordered.
The fire, which spread to about 45 acres, started on City of Boulder Open Space and property owned by IBM, near a transformer just outside of Tom Watson Park.
Several agencies responded to the fire: City of Boulder Fire, Longmont Fire, Lafayette Fire, Louisville Fire, Boulder Rural Fire Protection District, Lefthand Fire Protection District, Rocky Mountain Fire Protection District, Mountainview Fire Protection District, Fourmile Fire Protection District, Sunshine Fire Protection District, Lyons Fire Protection District, Sugarloaf Fire Protection District, Boulder Emergency Squad, American Medical Response ambulance service, Boulder Police, Boulder Sheriff’s Office, Colorado State Patrol, City of Boulder Open Space and Boulder County Open Space.
Officials are anticipating that high winds could pick up ash and dust. Individuals with respiratory concerns are advised to stay indoors and limit their exposure to particulate matter. Firefighters are planning to remain on scene throughout the night to monitor and respond to any potential hot spots.
The city-county Emergency Operations Center has been activated and updates, including road closures information, are being posted atwww.boulderoem.com/emergency-status.
Even YOU can own a home in Boulder
Feb 22nd
Affordable homes open house event scheduled for Feb. 26
Interested homebuyers have an opportunity to tour 18 affordable properties in the City of Boulder’s Homeownership Program during open houses being held Sunday, Feb. 26, from noon to 3 p.m. To view pictures of available homes and get a list of properties participating in this event, visit www.boulderaffordablehomes.com and click on the Homeownership Program link.
Homes available for viewing include studios, condos, townhomes and single family homes starting at around $100,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath condo and $200,000 for a three-bedroom, 3-bath row home.
The City of Boulder, through the affordable Homeownership Program, works to make homes available to a variety of people in our community. This includes those who could not otherwise purchase a home in today’s housing market. The program offers opportunities for homeownership to those with low and moderate incomes through assistance in purchasing homes sold at affordable prices, or through down payment assistance on market rate homes. Assistance is available for a variety of income levels.
For more information on the program, homes available, income and asset requirements, or the date of the next free program orientation visit www.boulderaffordablehomes.com or call 303-441-3157, ext. 2. The Homeownership Program is administered by the City of Boulder, Department of Housing and Human Services.
CU smart grid study gets more PHVs to play with
Feb 21st
CU and NREL get 10 more Toyota
hybrids to plug into smart grid study
hybrids to plug into smart grid study
Ten plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHVs, have been added to a University of Colorado Boulder study that has been examining user experiences and system interactions since September 2010 in the local smart-grid environment.
The increase will allow researchers from CU-Boulder’s Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, or RASEI — a joint venture with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory — to gather data from a broader base of participants. The loan of Prius cars from Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. will expand the originally supplied fleet to a total of 28.
“RASEI’S expertise in analyzing trends in consumer use of energy gives us an opportunity for research at this critical nexus of the electric utility and transportation industries as they transition to the future,” said Michael Knotek, RASEI director. “We are delighted that this project is valuable to Toyota.”
The Boulder location presents the opportunity for study participants to track their household electricity use through smart-grid technology, and for researchers to monitor the performance of Toyota’s first-generation lithium-ion drive battery at high altitudes, in cold weather and in mountainous terrain.
The cars are circulated in nine-week intervals among randomly selected households. Participants receive a “smart plug” — a device installed in home garages — from Xcel Energy that allows online monitoring of their car’s electricity use and their home’s energy consumption. There also are numerous dashboard displays in the PHVs that show gas mileage when driving in electric mode and hybrid mode.
The PHV demonstration vehicles can be fully charged in approximately three hours using a standard 110-volt electrical outlet and can cruise in electric-only mode for about 14 miles. For longer distances, the PHVs revert to hybrid mode and operate like regular Prius cars.
“One of RASEI’s goals is to establish public-private partnerships that bring together academic, industry and government lab research,” said Knotek. “The PHV study, supported by Toyota with the integral participation of Xcel Energy, is the first of many RASEI projects that reflects this type of comprehensive and valuable collaboration.”
The study’s principal investigator is Barbara Farhar, RASEI’s senior research associate. The co-principal investigator is Dragan Maksimovic, CU-Boulder professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering.
