Typically, the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council doesn’t advocate for political issues – it’s not in our mission statement, and often times the waters are never as clear as some think they are. A wise woman recently stood up at one of our community meetings and shared, “Educate yourself thoroughly: know both sides of an issue [...]
The lights WILL go out this Saturday!
March 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
YVSC honors Earth Hour 2013 for 4th year When: Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Where: Celebration on 6th Street, lights out everywhere! Thanks to a partnership with the City of Steamboat Springs, this year the downtown lights WILL go out! YVSC is hosting a celebration on 6th Street, so bring [...]
March 6th Energy Roundtable Event a huge success
March 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday’s numbers showed the obvious local interest in the topics of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability, as over 50 participants showed for the Northwest Energy Roundtable event with YVSC and the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. Participants included individuals and business representatives, as well as government and utility directors and officials, and experts throughout the [...]
The Big Picture
March 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sarah’s Letter to the Editor makes today’s news: Last week, the Steamboat Today’s editorial board, in response to a poor environmental rating Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. received from the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition, cited a Yampa Valley Sustainability Council blog post. Our intention in that blog was to highlight the hard work of select [...]
Transition 2.0 brainstorming
February 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Last night’s Transition 2.0 movie spawned a great (too brief!) brainstorming session with about 30 locals on three key topics of Food, Energy and a Time Bank. Here are the key points that came out of the evening. If you’d like to be included in on the future meetings of these grassroots groups, please email [...]
Solar Garden Proposal gets pushed through at YVEA
October 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Last Friday, October 13th, the YVEA board of directors unanimously approved a motion to enter into negotiations with Clean Energy Collective of Carbondale, CO for the purpose of constructing a solar garden in the YVEA jurisdiction. We felt this was a good opportunity to talk more about What IS a Solar Garden? Also, join our [...]
Ten Ways to Save Money, Energy and Protect Your Health This Winter
October 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Reposted from the EPA’s Partnership and Stewardship news brief WASHINGTON – With winter quickly approaching, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is highlighting ten tips for Americans to protect their health, save money, and lower energy while enjoying the winter holiday season. 1. Maintain your heating equipment to lower utility bills. Heating and cooling costs [...]
City of Steamboat’s 2012 Energy Reduction Report
August 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
On August 7th, the below reports were presented at City Council on the results from the City of Steamboat Springs phase one of the Energy Performance Contract with McKinstry. Some amazing results came out of the study thus far, including a total of 15.4% savings of total facility energy costs through lighting upgrades, HVAC optimization, [...]
Building Better Neighborhoods: A Success Story On Innovation, Jobs And Consumer Savings From Energy Efficiency
August 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
From Climate Guest Blogger by Bracken Hendricks and Adam James Question: What is the Department of Energy doing to address the fact that American homeowners and businesses spend about $300 billion on energy bills per year? Answer: Helping the private sector to create new markets that provide thousands of workers with paychecks, and launch innovative [...]
What you didn’t know about idling… with “Spare the Air”
June 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
For as long as locals can remember, vehicle idling has been acceptable. For one, it warms up the car’s engine and interior in the winter; whether diesel or not, that is universally considered OK, surprisingly an urban myth. Myth 2: idling using less gas than the ignition pumping gas into the engine. Myth 3: diesel [...]
