Summit County will be using 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.
Summit County Commissioners have set a resolution for the community to be operating on 100 percent renewable energy by year 2035.
The resolution is similar to the one made by the town of Breckenridge in November 2017 in regards to using all renewable energy by 2035. Read about that here.
Summit County and Breckenridge join other Colorado counties and towns going fully renewable. Towns include Aspen, Avon, Boulder, Lafeyette, Longmont, Nederland and Pueblo. Larger cities such as, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and St. Louis have commited to being powered entirely by renewable resources by the year 2035. And Hawaii aims to be the first state to be 100% renewable by 2040.
Summit County felt the issue of using renewable energy is of the utmost importance given the alarming data about climate change.
Renewable Energy on a Local Level – How it Works
Summit County set the resolution to be 100 renewable after attending a conference in Denver that discussed collaboration with business leaders and innovators involved in producing renewable energy technology.
The goal will not require homeowners or private businesses to purchase or upgrade electrical systems. Summit County will work with energy companies like Xcel to get them to switch to renewable energy and away from fossil-fuel-based energy sources.
If Summit County sees that utility costs will increase at an unacceptable rate for consumers because of a transition to renewable energy, the county may modify the goal.
Another way the county can reduce its carbon footprint is upgrading the public bus fleet.
The bus fleet in Summit County is currently entirely diesel, but technology is avaliable for eco-friendly electric buses. Apart from leving behind fossil fuels, electric vehicles are also cheaper to maintain.
Moving towards 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 is not only an important goal benefiting this generation but also future generations in Summit County.
