A team of 30 skilled volunteers working over six months has developed an independent model of whether it`s feasible for the city of Boulder to form a municipal utility and reduce its carbon emissions for a cost that`s similar to what customers now pay Xcel Energy.
The answer is yes, say the volunteers, who will present their findings at a public meeting Wednesday night.
“We can cut our current emissions by 50 percent and be comparable to Xcel and be more stable (in terms of rates) over time,” said Sam Weaver, co-founder of a power conversion equipment company and one of the volunteer modelers.
The city of Boulder has also hired its own consultants to create a feasibility model that is separate from the volunteer effort.
The group used a modeling tool known as HOMER, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as the backbone of the technical model. HOMER was designed to help users figure out how much alternative energy — including wind and solar — can be reliably integrated into an energy system.
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