Colorado Ski Resort Towns looking to go Green

Summit County Colorado finding its way to going green

For the last several years The ski resort areas of Colorado have been looking to reduce their carbon foot print. Many ski resorts have announced various projects to greatly reduce their dependency on natural resources including our own Copper Mountain Resort which is now 100% powered by wind.

Summit County government has been looking to do their part in conserving natural resources. In the quest to find an economically beneficial use for beetle-killed trees, the county examined a plan to generate heat for the County Commons or the buildings at the landfill with biomass. The project was technically feasible, but it didn't make fiscal sense. I applaud the county for not doing something just to do it. I find in some cases we rush to go green just for the sake of doing so. This usually cost individuals, businesses, and tax payers more money and in other cases can increase their carbon footprint through other means.

As previously reported the county commissioners said they still wanted to find ways to reduce the county's carbon footprint and possible save some money in the process.

The County retained Johnson controls to study additional ways to reduce energy consumption in county owned properties. They presented the findings from the audit to the commissioners last week. Lighting upgrades at various county buildings would bring the most immediate results, costing about $60,000, with a three-year payback, the study found.

Fixing heat leaks in county buildings with added insulation and other simple measures would cost about $110,000, bringing a 5 percent savings in improved energy efficiency, or about $7,000 in annual savings. The payback period is about 16 years for these "priority 1" building envelope improvements.

More savings could be realized by upgrading the energy management control systems at the community and senior center. That project has been identified as an early action item. An up-front investment of about $72,000 could reap annual savings of about $7,000 at the facility, with a 10-year payback period.
A brief staff report on the audit results spells out the cost and savings of potential upgrades.

The justice center is in need of the most investment, with $33,000 needed for lighting and lighting control systems and $61,000 needed to improve the integrity of the building envelope. But that $94,000 investment could result in annual energy savings of $17,000, with a five-year payback period.

There has been discussions in the Colorado mountain communities that solar could power an entire town. Many local leaders agree that more needs to be done by local governments to harness available renewable energy sources - particularly the ones that are right at our back door.

It's incumbent on our local leaders to be extra-sensitive to this issue. Everything's ready to go - we're just missing the money. One wind tower could take Breckenridge right off the grid.

I only hope as we roll out renewable energy we propose educated and well though out plans. Going green in the Ski Resort Towns of Colorado can benefit us all but it has to be done in a cost effective manner not just for the sake of doing it.

Jason and Deanna Long are real estate Brokers in Summit County Colorado.

For more Summit County information click here.

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