BVSD continues to push building performance in energy efficiency

With over 5.1 million square feet of building space and 650 acres of grounds, how BVSD builds and operates its buildings and sites is a core part of our sustainability efforts. This large footprint creates a tremendous opportunity to reduce resource consumption and emissions, and improve the health of building occupants and the planet. Some of BVSD’s recent efforts in this area include planning for decarbonization, collecting better data about energy use and expanding our solar power. 

New grant will help BVSD decarbonize one school and create a blueprint for others

BVSD has been awarded a $50,000 Large Building Decarbonization Showcase Grant by the Colorado Energy Office. The funds will be used to write a plan to decarbonize the building that is shared by Arapahoe Ridge High School, Apex, and Boulder Universal. The grant is administered through the Building Performance Colorado program, a state-wide building benchmarking program. The grant is intended to maximize the emissions reduction potential and cost-effectiveness of measures for recipients.

According to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, “Building decarbonization is the process of reducing and ultimately eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by increasing energy efficiency, electrifying space/water heating, and using renewable energy. It replaces fossil fuel systems (gas/oil) with electric alternatives like heat pumps and ensures buildings run on clean energy to improve health and combat climate change.” 

Funding under this program will resource, accelerate, and share example solutions that cost-effectively reduce large commercial building emissions. 

The BVSD Zero Carbon School Retrofit Catalyst Project provides a prototype for complete decarbonization of BVSD’s entire 5.1 million square foot portfolio. Statewide, Colorado has approximately 1,927 schools and this project can serve as an example to accelerate the decarbonization in this substantial building sector.

This project is particularly additive to BVSD’s planning in that it focuses on retrofits rather than new building design. In 2009, BVSD set a goal of reaching carbon neutrality or reducing emissions by 80% by 2050. However, of BVSD’s 56 schools, 50 were constructed before the district’s Green Building Guiding Principles were released in 2009 and will require retrofits. This challenge is not unique to BVSD, and the project will assist with planning for BVSD and other districts.

As a part of the grant, the greenBVSD team will be applying for the implementation phase of the grant to receive an additional $2 million for implementation of the project. 

New electricity data will be useful for students and maintenance staff 

Live electricity data at all BVSD schools will be publicly available in the next few months, thanks to our newly installed eGuage energy meters. The meters are connected to incoming electrical lines and send live electrical data to a public dashboard. Monitoring will be used to identify equipment issues, efficiency opportunities, and power outages, as well as create opportunities for students to explore electricity data and participate in energy challenges. Understanding our energy data is a critical step towards reducing our environmental impact and creating healthier schools and communities.

New solar panel installations will offset electricity at two high schools

In October 2025, we celebrated the completion of New Vista High School’s new building, the latest addition to BVSD’s portfolio of high-performing buildings, which also includes the LEED Platinum certified Casey Middle School. BVSD is looking forward to flipping the switch later this spring on an array of photovoltaic solar panels currently being installed on the building. The system has a capacity of 284 kW, which is enough to offset most of New Vista’s electricity use and increase our total solar production capacity throughout the district by nearly 19%. Across town, another solar array is being installed at the building that houses Arapahoe Ridge High School, Apex and Boulder Universal as part of the $25M Bond-funded renovation project happening there. Currently, BVSD has 30 buildings with solar photovoltaic systems. Data from these systems—and many other sustainability metrics—is available on BVSD’s Sustainability Dashboard.