OCTOBER 2017
The team at Lotus has been busy over the last few months helping our clients complete comprehensive greenhouse gas inventories and develop sustainability strategies to achieve their aggressive climate action goals. Read below to learn more about these projects, our new teammate, take a survey (if you work or live in Denver), or see if you could benefit from a recycling grant. As always. please contact us with any questions or to learn more!
Denver 80x50 Climate Goal: Stakeholder Report and Public Outreach Survey
Lotus lead the City and County of Denver's 80x50 facilitation and strategy development process for their 80x50 Climate Goal Stakeholder Report. We worked with Denver and a group of expert stakeholders to identify ambitious, yet feasible, GHG emission reduction strategies to meet Denver's 80% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 plan. We also modeled these strategies for their relative impact on GHG emissions and on secondary criteria such as cost, ease of implementation, impacts on social equity and environmental justice, public health, and air quality. You can see the report by clicking here.
Alongside the report, Denver launched a public outreach effort to solicit input on potential targets and strategies to achieve Denver’s Climate Action Plan goal. Those who live and/or work in Denver are encouraged to take a survey and provide comments on the report by October 31st, 2017. Based on the 80x50 Climate Goal: Stakeholder Report and the public input, Denver will be releasing its strategies for reaching the goal. More information on the survey can be found at
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Lotus is working with many cities and counties on their GPC compliant greenhouse gas accounting. Alongside these inventories, we have created accompanying data management tools and inventory management plans. The data management tool is designed to easily input inventory values into ICLEI's ClearPath. We have also updated past greenhouse inventories to be GPC compliant. For more information on these services click here.
Blog: Overview of Compact of Mayors
Do you have questions about the Compact of Mayors and how joining the Compact will impact and benefit your community? Check out our latest blog post, 'Overview of the Compact of Mayors,' and contact us to learn more.
Boulder Housing Partners: Behavioral Change Program Success
Lotus lead an Energy Empowerment Project where we provided Boulder Housing Partners with real-time, unit-level information about electricity use; provided residents with targeted feedback about their electricity consumption; and employed a variety of scientific approaches for motivating, engaging, and empowering residents to reduce electricity consumption. The project was specifically designed to be replicable for similar communities in BHP’s portfolio.
The results of the engagement program illustrate the impact that programs of this type can have on residents' energy usage. During our engagement program, Boulder Housing Partners realized the following results for the units with which we worked:
9.3% reduction in electricity usage
4.5% reduction in energy costs on their utility bills
You can see the report by clicking here.
Get Involved
There are lots of opportunities to get involved in local and regional sustainability efforts, and we strive to help you grow your impact. Consider learning more and participating in the following this month:
The City and County of Denver is seeking input on the 80x50 Climate Goal. If you live or work in Denver, please provide your valuable insight by going to http://www.denvergov.org/80x50 and clicking on 'Take Survey.'
The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment is now accepting applications for the Recycling Resources and Economic Opportunity Program Mini-Grants for Equipment, Supplies, and Outreach Materials. Funds up to $25,000 can be requested to support your programs and efforts. Learn more at https://colorago.gov/recycling-grants. Application deadline is October 31.
NASEO Conference
In September, Lotus staff joined teams from the Colorado Energy Office and the National Renewable Energy Lab to present findings from a forthcoming report on low-income community solar projects and their impact on utility co-ops and subscribers.
Attendees to the annual meeting of the National Association of State Energy Officials in New Orleans benefited from learning about the CEO's innovative demonstration project and how these programs may be expanded and implemented outside of Colorado.
Introducing Julia Ferguson, PMP, MURP
We are thrilled to announce the addition of Julia Ferguson to our team. Julia started in June and has already added great value to our clients through her sustainability program implementation, urban planning, policy development, and writing skills! For more information on Julia’s background click here or you can reach her directly at Julia@lotussustainability.com. She would love to chat!