YAMPA VALLEY SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL

The purpose of the Green Building program is to educate homeowners, builders and architects about ways to build and remodel sustainably in partnership with City and County green building programs and building codes. In 2017, YVSC worked with the Routt County Building Department and the building community to pass the 2015 International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC), which significantly improve energy efficiency in homes and commercial buildings. In addition, YVSC hosts several educational workshops per year and our annual Sustainable Homes Tour, which was recently attended by 88 interested community members and featured smaller, thoughtfully-designed homes in the Fairview neighborhood.

YVSC is promoting a culture of sustainability in Routt County school. Sustainable Schools is focused on waste, energy and reforestation—three critical climate strategies—because there is no better way to ensure a more sustainable future than by educating children, and it’s critical that children begin practicing sustainable behaviors from a young age.

Talking Green is a monthly networking event that brings together individuals, organizations and business to learn about various environmental topics. Depending on the venue and the topic, as many as 60 people have attended monthly Talking Green events. Recent topics have included Zero Waste, Recycling, Geothermal heating, Xeriscaping, Energy Efficient Home Design, the Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic and Community Supported Agriculture.

YVSC encourages energy conservation and renewable energy through education, rebates and other financial assistance. YVSC has initiated community-supported funds for energy-efficiency rebates in Routt and Moffat County. These rebates provide incentives for residential and small commercial local utility members to control their energy costs through upgrades to energy efficient appliances and lighting.

In our cold weather climate, utility costs make up a significant portion of a low-income family’s monthly budget, especially in a home that is leaky or has inefficient heating. YVSC administers the Colorado’s Affordable Residential Energy program (CARE) program, providing almost $5,000 per home to low-income families (80% AMI) for energy efficiency upgrades. Because of limited funding for CARE, YVSC is raising funds for our new Jump Start program, which provides home energy assessments, furnace check-ups, and energy-efficiency “quick-fixes” to low-income families. Both the CARE and Jump Start programs help low-income families create safer and more energy-efficient homes—lowering their utility bills and leaving more money in their budgets for other necessities like food, childcare, transportation and medical care.

The goal of ReTree is to plant and care for site-specific native tree species that will help increase the diversity, structure, health and resilience of local forests and riparian areas and connect the local community, especially youth, to their forest and environment in a meaningful, hands-on way. Since 2010, YVSC has engaged more than 3,000 volunteers ages 2 – 72 to plant, steward, monitor and map 25,950 trees.