Welcome to Energy Smart Colorado, Environment Colorado’s new energy efficiency headquarters. Browse through the topics below or use the navigation box on your right to jump directly to a specific page.
Energy Smart Colorado—A First Step to a New Energy Future
With our non-renewable resources becoming more expensive and global warming pollution building, Colorado faces a new reality: we have to get smart about how we use energy as part of moving toward a new energy future.
Our energy future starts with efficiency – smarter energy use that gets more out of the energy we already create. Making this step will not only reduce the need for new energy, it will mean that we can meet that need with clean and renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, or other clean energy resources.
Increasing energy efficiency is the best way for Colorado to reduce its energy consumption in the short-term. It’s also the primary way for individual Colorado residents and businesses to help meet the goals of the Colorado Climate Action Plan. Increasing energy efficiency makes economic sense: it saves you money on energy bills, lowers the demand for energy and decreases energy prices, increases disposable income, and stimulates our economy.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS
In 2007, Environment Colorado helped to pass House Bill 1037, landmark legislation instituting energy efficiency programs for two of the state's largest utilities. We also helped pass legislation requiring all cities and counties with building codes to adopt up-to-date energy efficiency codes.
House Bill 1037 requires state energy regulators (the Public Utilities Commission) to establish energy savings goals for Xcel and Black Hills. The legislation also provides them with positive financial incentives for implementing cost-effective efficiency programs for their customers by allowing utilities to recover the costs for smart expenditures on energy efficiency programs.
As the result of a recent decision by state energy regulators, we now know what the utility efficiency programs under HB 1037 will be and how much money they will save for Coloradans. Some of the highlights include:
- Avoiding expensive investment in power plants by reducing peak power demand by between 886 MW and 994 MW in 2020
- Creating $1.5 billion in net economic benefits
While we have had great success so far, the efficiency legislation that we passed does not help every Coloradan. Environment Colorado is working with a host of coalition partners to pass legislation that will ensure that every Coloradan can save money through utility investment in efficiency programs by establishing state-wide efficiency goals.
WHAT ARE THE COLORADO ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS?
Recognizing that every $1 spent on energy efficiency saves up to $3 off customer energy bills, Colorado law now requires the state regulated utilities (Xcel Energy and Black Hills Power) to institute energy efficiency programs to curb our growing energy demands. These programs offer a variety of residential, commercial, industrial, and public sector solutions to increase energy efficiency throughout our state.
Utility programs include discounts on compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), incentives for turning in old refrigerators and air conditioners, and other savings opportunities for Colorado families and businesses.
HOW CAN I TAKE ADVANTAGE?
For information on how to participate in programs supported by your utility, click on the link below:
CFL HEADQUARTERS
Did you know that if every Colorado household replaced five incandescent light bulbs with five compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), we would save enough energy to power 45,000 homes? And not only do CFLs use up to 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs, they last up to 10 times longer.
To learn more about CFL bulbs -- including proper CFL disposal, CFL recycling locations, a CFL savings calculator, and more -- check out our Environment Colorado CFL Headquarters.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS
Environment Colorado wants to help you save on energy costs and help save the environment.
- Check out our Energy Efficiency Tips page for more details.
- Check out energy savings tips from the Governor’s Energy Office.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY POLICIES
While there are plenty of great steps you can take at home or at work to increase energy efficiency, Environment Colorado will continue to work hard at ensuring that laws and policies help increase energy efficiency statewide.
Head over to our Energy Efficiency Policies page to see what issues we're working on to increase energy efficiency across Colorado.
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH ENVIRONMENT COLORADO
To keep up to date on the latest Environment Colorado activities, including our work on increasing energy efficiency statewide, remember to sign up for our e-mail alerts in the box in the upper-right corner of this page.