For years, Boulder, CO residents pressured their monopoly utility, Xcel Energy, the largest coal-dominated utility in Colorado, to provide cleaner power to no avail. Fed up with stall tactics, Boulder voters approved two ballot measures to begin the process of “municipalizing” their energy utility, effectively taking control from Xcel and requiring the city by charter to move to a renewable energy dominated portfolio. The campaign was historic--never had a city municipalized their energy supply for the purpose of reducing carbon emissions.
The goal is simple: create a model for how a community can power a city off of clean energy—while not having to pay more for it.
This session tells the unlikely David and Goliath story of how a group of young people beat back the corporate political machine (twice) using innovative grassroots organizing, what the electric utility of the future looks like, and why local power can be a game-changing model for communities to solve big problems.