Steve Pomerance

Boulder is considering an ordinance that would require landlords to bring their rental units up to a reasonable standard of energy efficiency. The draft ordinance went to the Planning Board on Thursday, and will likely be considered by the City Council in May. But will the complaints by some landlords derail this important step in our efforts to address climate change while making rental housing more affordable? The need to use regulation to improve energy efficiency was recognized many years ago. The reason is simple: When the tenants pay the utilities, landlords do not have a direct incentive to improve energy efficiency. And tenants have little incentive to make improvements since they will not be there long enough for the energy savings to pay them back. This “split incentives” paradox is the main obstacle to upgrading rental housing, and is why regulation is the only effective approach. From my perspective, the complaints about the proposed regulations are overblown. Any bui

Xcel’s franchise in Boulder expires in August, and the negotiations about putting a new franchise agreement on the ballot have not yielded much of anything new. But there is an opportunity here, both for Xcel and for the citizens and businesses of Boulder, to do something really innovative. For Xcel, the opportunity is to have a “laboratory” to learn how to deal with its customers when delivering a high percentage of renewable energy (RE) and managing it through its Smart Grid. For Boulderites, the opportunity is to receive “green electrons” for the majority of their electricity needs, and avoid, to some extent, the coming price inflation for fossil fuels. Fundamentally, the franchise is an agreement between the city and Xcel. Xcel gets Boulder as a guaranteed customer base for 20 years (with an opt-out at 10), and the city gets a 3 percent “franchise fee.” However Xcel is required to serve the city with or without a franchise. And Xcel doesn’t actually pay the $3-plus million “f