Residential appetite for and adoption of solar energy has steadily increased in Superior over the years. Overall, the portion of the Town’s energy sourced from solar has a positive trend since 2020, according to Xcel Energy’s annual community energy reports. The Town has worked to provide opportunities and programs that reduce the costs of installing residential solar to meet the growing interest.
In March 2022, the Town organized a solar group buy-in program for residents who wanted to switch to a more sustainable energy resource. Solarize Superior focused on educating the community on how renewable energy mitigates climate impacts and can save residents money. Residents who signed up were eligible for a group discount and saved money on their solar panels. The more residents that participated in the program, the more the cost of solar decreased per household. In a single year, Solarize Superior resulted in 61 kW of solar capacity installed in the Town. From this program alone, an additional 0.266 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent was prevented, which is equivalent to:
- The CO2 emissions from 295 pounds of coal burned
- The greenhouse gas emissions from 677 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle
- The carbon sequestered by 4.4 tree seedlings grown for 10 years
After Solarize Superior, the Town has partnered annually with Boulder County to make it more affordable and accessible for residents to decarbonize their homes by switching to solar energy. Since the first Switch Together group-buy in 2023, Superior residents have installed 40 solar systems with a capacity of 290.69 kW, avoiding an additional 1.3 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in our atmosphere! That is equivalent to:
- The CO2 emissions from 1,408 pounds of coal burned
- The greenhouse gas emissions from 3,228 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle
- The carbon sequestered by 21 tree seedlings grown for 10 years
Transitioning buildings to use clean energy is a costly process. Thank you to the community for taking important steps towards cleaning our shared electrical grid, our air, and our environment.
