Green Momentum: BVSD Exceeds climate goals and prepares for the next five years

Boulder Valley School District has a lot to celebrate in its sustainability efforts over the last five years, including hitting goals for greenhouse gas reductions, boosting energy performance of buildings and expanding learning opportunities for students and staff to develop climate literacy. 

The district is wrapping up the final year of a five-year effort towards our latest set of sustainability goals detailed in the Sustainability Action Plan and Green New Deal resolution. BVSD has had a formal sustainability program with established goals since 2009. Staff will present an official update on progress to the Board of Education next week. 

WATCH: Sustainability Update, Board of Education Meeting, April 28, 5 p.m.

The plan is organized in four action areas and has goals within each area with indicators and measures to assess progress. The action areas include Leadership, Operations, Curriculum and Instruction, and Climate and Culture.

Great news about greenhouse gases

BVSD met our greenhouse gas reduction goals related to both transportation and building operations in FY22 and have continued to see further reductions, achieving a 29% emissions reduction overall. To measure building efficiency, we utilize the Energy Use Intensity (or EUI) metric, which normalizes our energy use across all of our buildings by incorporating building area. Our 2026 goal was to average 56 EUI across our footprint, and we reached that goal this year with an EUI of 55.5. Our long term 2050 goal is to get to an average EUI of 30, and we’re on target to hit it. BVSD is also on track to meet the State’s Building Performance goals, which require our largest buildings to meet efficiency and emissions goals by 2026 and by 2030. Currently, we’ve met all of the thresholds for 2026 and 86% of the thresholds for 2030, which tells us where we need to focus our efforts moving forward. 

These results were possible in part thanks to voter-supported Bond improvements such as LED lighting, more efficient HVAC systems, centralized controls to more precisely control when and how systems run, better roof insulation, and updated windows, among other features. Big contributors to reductions related to transportation include putting alternative fuel buses—electric and propane—on the road and supporting biking, walking, carpooling, and RTD. 

After meeting our water use reduction goal of 5% in 2023, BVSD’s water use trended upward again this year. Initial success could be attributed to efforts such as installing synthetic turf fields, installing low flow, sensor-activated fixtures such (faucets and toilets), and updating irrigation controls to provide more control over when and how long irrigation systems run. However, last year’s hot, dry weather worked against these efforts. At the same time, the cost of water has risen significantly—73% since 2008. 

Earlier this year, BVSD’s Water Team created a water management plan to redouble efforts to reduce consumption. Two big areas where the district will focus efforts moving forward are boosting efficiency for outdoor water use (currently 83% of the district’s overall water use), and moving away from using domestic water for irrigation. This means investigating ways to reuse water, or finding other sources such as ditch water or reclaimed water.

LEARN MORE: Good Stewards in a Dry Climate: BVSD’s New Framework for Water Conservation

Student involvement grows

Student involvement and opportunities continued to grow this year. BVSD’s course catalog expanded with five new course offerings across middle and high schools. The number of students receiving the Seal of Climate Literacy diploma endorsement more than doubled this year. The Green Youth Council had another busy year, notably hosting BVSD Climate Day at Platt Middle School and continuing to support the Seal of Climate Literacy program. 

Hear more from graduating Green Youth Council students [LINK]

A new opportunity for BVSD teachers and staff to boost their sustainability credentials came online this year with a  new professional learning course to earn greenBVSD staff certification. 

Looking Ahead - Renewing goals for the next five years

Since February, BVSD has been working to update goals for the next iteration of the Sustainability Action Plan. Initial work included engagement meetings and interviews with stakeholders. More than 100 district staff, faculty, partners, community members, and students representing operations, curriculum, culture, and leadership have attended the sessions, speaking to the successes that the district has seen towards the current plan and proposing new goals for the upcoming five-year plan. The process has been overseen by BVSD’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, a cross-sector advisory group formed through the current plan to oversee the progress and continuous improvement related to all aspects of the action plan. The new will be released this summer. 

Learn more about BVSD’s sustainability work here.