Tuesday, Aspen City Council will hear an update on the city’s progress on reducing its carbon footprint. The focus is on curtailing the demand for fossil fuels.
In a memo to council, Aspen’s climate action office said the city has made progress in using more renewable sources for its energy supply, but it has work to do on cutting demand.
If Aspen is to meet its goal of cutting emissions by 80 percent by 2030, staff says it will need to convert systems that now run on natural gas to systems that run on electric or renewable energy. This means switching out appliances and using renewable sources in new construction.
But it’s not always viable to do this; last year, council member Bert Myrin requested that the city avoid using natural gas boilers in its new police building. But because of costs and dangers associated with other systems, that building is heated by fossil fuels.
Council discusses next steps at its meeting Tuesday beginning at 4 p.m.
