Boulder County has awarded Longmont $194,233 to support sustainability projects, the county announced Dec. 16.
Longmont will provide a 25% match to the grant, which will fund carbon footprint reduction at the wastewater treatment plant, zero-waste implementation at schools and in parks, and extreme heat resilience in households and communities, said Lisa Knoblauch, sustainability manager with the city.
“The condition from the county is that all of these projects have to be done within the calendar year, so these will happen within 2023,” she explained.
Extreme heat resilience
The majority of the grant — $125,000 — will fund household and community heat resilience through a program that pairs energy efficiency with building electrification, Knoblauch said.
“We want that to be available to our lower-income households, as we know that just transitioning to building electrification can raise people’s electrical bills,” she explained. “So the program will replace gas, water and heating with some electric appliances.”
The grant will be added to existing funds for energy efficiency, which will include lighting upgrades and weatherization of homes, Knoblauch said.
“We’re looking at 10 to 15 homes that allow us to really dig into a lot of the data that we need to understand what it might cost to help people transition, what are the benefits from a utility bill standpoint and what are the potential issues that we might run into,” she said.
A heat mapping initiative, which will cost $10,000, is also part of the extreme heat resilience project.
“We’re completing a climate risk and vulnerability map right now,” Knoblauch said. “That map looks at a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level of who’s most at risk for dealing with extreme heat.”
Community members will be asked to take sensors out during the summer and conduct real-time data collection on the hottest days, she explained. The city will then look at solutions for the hottest areas — such as adding trees or splash parks.
Zero-waste resolution implementation
City Council passed a zero-waste resolution in September, so $15,000 in grant funding will help the expansion of the Green Star Schools program, which is run by the Eco-Cycle nonprofit organization.
“They go into the schools and teach students and faculty about recycling and composting,” Knoblauch said. “They’re a hauler as well, so they have a whole curriculum built around that.”
The city already funds the program for two schools, and the grant will allow an additional school to participate. The city’s goal is to include all schools by the end of 2025.
Another zero-waste initiative — the installation of recycling bins in parks — is receiving $17,520 in grant funds.
“We’re rolling out the use of solar-powered bins that are a combination of trash and recycle bins,” Knoblauch said.
Carbon footprint reduction
A $16,713 grant has been awarded to Longmont for the installation of high-efficiency blowers and solar-plus battery storage at the wastewater treatment plant.
“It’s a pretty big project that we have funding identified for already,” Knoblauch said. “Due to inflation and supply chain issues, the costs have become higher than initially anticipated.”
Blowers are used to provide aeration for the plant, and high-efficiency models would reduce energy consumption by 25%, she explained. The city’s current blowers are 15 years old.
A solar battery energy storage system installation would further reduce the site’s energy demand, Knoblauch said.
County-wide efforts
Around $600,000 in Boulder County Environmental Sustainability Matching Grants were also awarded to Boulder, Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, Lyons, Nederland, Superior and Jamestown.
“Projects funded in this year’s round of grants will support a diverse range of sustainability initiatives including, but not limited to, supporting commercial landscaping providers in adopting electric equipment, implementing building electrification and cooling solutions to address extreme heat, and managing aquatic ecosystems without harmful chemical applications,” the county said in a news release.
The grant program is funded by sustainability tax revenue, which was approved by Boulder County voters in 2016.
