Presentation Synopsis
Energy and climate professionals, Wiley Barbour, Ben Vitale and Alden Hathaway will discuss the different options available for the City of Boulder to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
These options include:
(1) Directly generating electricity with renewable forms of generation and retaining all environmental attributes (Renewable Energy Credits, REC’s) associated with each MWh of electricity production;
(2) Directly purchasing electricity produced with renewable forms of generation along with the RECs associated with each MWh of electricity production;
(3) Continuing to purchase electricity generated mostly from fossil fuels, but purchasing RECs associated with renewable forms of generation to offset all or some of the MWhs of electricity produced by fossil fuel generation; and
(4) Continuing to purchase energy (which may include electricity, natural gas, or transport fuels) generated mostly or entirely with fossil fuels, but purchasing GHG/carbon credits which result in the verified reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at a specified source of emissions.
The intention of the presentation is to provide a contextual framework within which Boulder residents may evaluate a long-term GHG–offset or REC purchase proposal, such as the Xcel Energy proposal, and especially to consider the appropriate mix of these four various options for Boulder’s energy future.
Speaker Bio’s
Wiley Barbouris the Vice President for Corporate Development for Camco, a global emissions reduction and project development company. As an expert in environmental markets he has spent the last 20 years of his career providing technical, and policy support to governments, corporations, and nonprofit clients on issues related to air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, corporate climate change strategy, and environmental markets.
Prior to joining Camco, Wiley served for 6 years as the Executive Director of Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), a national nonprofit environmental organization focused on harnessing the power of markets to protect the environment. At ERT, Wiley supported transactions of millions of tons of verified emission reductions while managing the world’s first on-line GHG registry. After successfully leading ERT into a merger with Winrock International, Wiley founded the American Carbon Registry which continues to support early action to reduce GHG emissions. From 1995 to 2001, Wiley served as a senior policy analyst in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Policy Office where he coordinated the U.S. Government’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Program and participated in the international negotiations on climate change. In addition, Wiley contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Ben Vitale is a carbon market expert with over 20 years of executive experience in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. He is the first President of The Climate Trust, succeeding the founding Executive Director in December 2009. Before joining The Climate Trust, Ben served as Managing Director of the Conservation and Community Carbon Fund at Conservation International (CI), where he worked with the private sector to develop climate change solutions and new financial instruments that create business value and achieve measurable climate change results. He supported the development of conservation carbon projects in Biodiversity Hotspots around the world including Ecuador, China, and Brazil. He also advised governments and partners on climate change in countries such as Guyana, Liberia, Madagascar, and Suriname. Ben has served as an adviser for Ecosystem Marketplace, the Chicago Climate Exchange, and Patagonia Sur and also has been a contributor to the books A Climate for Life, Climate Change & Forests, and Voluntary Carbon Markets.
Alden Hathaway manages Sterling Planet’s new customer accounts in the non-residential sector. Sterling Planet offers comprehensive carbon neutral solutions for businesses, universities and organizations, bringing together supply and demand side solutions in a rapidly emerging environmental market. Mr. Hathaway has extensive experience in clean energy policy, market development and application of leading-edge technology. As Director of EcoPower Programs for the Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), Mr. Hathaway coordinated renewable energy certification, as well as energy and environmental consulting services for national accounts, utilities and government agencies. He also provided input for development of EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program. Along with his wife Carol, Mr. Hathaway manages a 10-year-old nonprofit organization, Solar Light for Africa, that installs solar power in rural villages across sub-Saharan Africa, bringing light, power and solar-pumped water to some of the poorest regions of the world.