DENVER RECOGNIZED AS FIRST SOLAR FRIENDLY COMMUNITY 

(Press Release, Nov 27) The City and County of Denver is the first municipality to be recognized as a Solar Friendly Community under an innovative new program designed to help bring down the costs of solar energy.

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock accepted the award at a ceremony November 27 at the City and County Building. Denver earned the gold level designation through its leading practices in making solar energy faster, easier and more affordable for residents.

“We are honored and delighted to be the first to earn this recognition for our efforts in making our city friendly to solar energy,” said Mayor Hancock. “We believe solar energy is an important part of our community’s future, and our hope is this recognition will lead to a variety of environmental and economic development benefits.”

Solar Friendly Communities is one of 22 teams around the nation awarded a Rooftop Solar Challenge grant under the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. The program is a collaborative effort led by the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association and includes the Rocky Mountain Institute, the American Solar Energy Society, the City and County of Denver, Boulder County and the cities of Fort Collins and Golden.

The program works to advance solar friendly practices around solar permitting and inspection, as well as to make communities more welcoming to solar energy. Cities and counties can earn up to 1600 “solar points” if they implement all of the suggested solar friendly practices, with recognition starting at 700 points. Denver scored 1275 points, a gold level recognition, because of the progressive policies it adopted including posting its requirements online, offering low-cost, same-day permits, streamlining inspections and providing a variety of educational materials about solar energy to residents.

“Denver provides a great model on how a large city can make it easy for solar installers to do business,” said Rebecca Cantwell, senior program director for Solar Friendly Communities. “The streamlined permitting, inspection and educational practices translate into lower costs for consumers and a more welcoming climate for solar energy.”

Solar permitting and inspection requirements vary dramatically across Colorado’s more than 200 cities and towns, 64 counties and 65 utilities. The Solar Friendly Communities program aims to assist local governments by offering a menu of options that can help communities shave off extra time and cost while respecting each community’s unique needs.

Costs of the hardware of rooftop solar systems-such as panels-have dropped up to 70 percent in just three years. But the “soft” costs including permitting, installation, regulatory and other related costs have not dropped and now account for up to 40 percent of the total cost of rooftop solar system.

According to a recent report by SunRun, local permitting and inspection processes add about $2,500 to the cost of each residential system. Streamlining processes and bringing those costs down will bring down the cost of solar.

“We are hoping that other communities in Colorado and elsewhere will realize that by following some relatively simple best practices, they can make life easier for city officials and customers as well as for solar installers,” said Neal Lurie, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. “The more transparent and standardized we can make the process, the better able we’ll be to accommodate the projected rapid increase in demand for solar energy.”

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Photo Credit: Hit and Run Blog; President Obama and Vice President Joe Bidden tour the solar installation on the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

(Press Release, Nov 28) COSEIA is partnering with local governments to streamline solar permitting and adopt best practices.

Yesterday we celebrated an exciting milestone for the solar industry by recognizing Denver as the first Solar Friendly Community in Colorado for its efforts to help bring down the costs of solar.

You may have seen the news coverage in the Denver Post or Denver Business Journal.

The COSEIA-led effort honored Denver for its leading practices in making solar energy faster, easier and more affordable for residents.

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock accepted the gold-level award at a ceremony November 27 at the City and County Building.

“We are honored and delighted to be the first to earn this recognition for our efforts in making our city friendly to solar energy,” said Mayor Hancock. “We believe solar energy is an important part of our community’s future, and our hope is this recognition will lead to a variety of environmental and economic development benefits.”

We were also pleased to announce a tangible benefit for participating in the program.

COSEIA member Real Goods Solar is now offering discounts to customers in Denver, and in other cities that earn designation as Solar Friendly Communities, because the systems will cost less as a result of the program. With a lower cost of doing business in these communities, Real Goods plans to pass along the savings to customers.

Another member, SunTalk Solar, has also agreed to offer a similar discount.

Will your organization join the discount program to help encourage more cities to become Solar Friendly Communities?

We think it will provide a great incentive for other communities to adopt practices that lower soft costs.

Let us know if you are interested by simply responding to this email.

Solar Friendly Communities is based on “12 Best Practices: A Roadmap to a Solar Friendly Community” which was developed with industry and community partners. It offers a menu of steps communities can take to streamline permitting, inspections and to educate citizens about solar.

Cities and counties can earn up to 1600 points if they implement all of the suggested solar friendly practices, with recognition starting at 700 points.

Denver scored 1275 points, a gold level recognition, because of the progressive policies it adopted. They include: posting its requirements online, offering low-cost, same-day permits, streamlining inspections and providing a variety of educational materials about solar energy to residents.

COSEIA is one of 22 teams around the nation awarded a Rooftop Solar Challenge grant under the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. Partners include Rocky Mountain Institute, the American Solar Energy Society, the City and County of Denver, Boulder County and the cities of Fort Collins and Golden.

We are seeing increasing interest in the program.

The Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Metro Mayors Caucus recently sponsored a workshop on the program attended by representatives of about 15 communities.

We plan to present to the Colorado Municipal League in June. We have heard from Rooftop Solar Challenge teams in Arizona, California, Utah and New York interested in the program.

We hope to spread this work far and wide because we believe it offers a real hope in making solar energy more affordable by collaborating with local communities.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Cantwell

PS. Your support is key to expanding this powerful program. If you haven’t yet joined COSEIA or renewed your membership please do so today: http://coseia.org/join/

A Note from the Executive Director

In this month of Thanksgiving, there is much to be thankful for. Here are some of the recent gifts CRES is most appreciative for:

 

Lorrie McAllister

Executive Director, CRES

Das Haus Pavilion a Success

Sustainability Park Highlighted

In October, over 1500 visitors toured Das Haus as Denver hosted the pavilion at Denver’s Sustainability Park on the 12th and final stop of a North American tour.

CRES AROUND THE STATE

Denver Area: Toward Low Cost Solar Water Heaters

Speaker Series and Networking 11/15

NOTE SPECIAL DATE!

Solar water heating means free hot water for many years, yet the up front costs are currently a barrier to widespread adoption of this technology.

Join CRES on November 15th when Jay Burch relates recent progress and plans for the future as this presentation lays out potential pathways to radically reducing the cost of solar water heaters (SWHs) for single-family residential applications. In order to attain significant market penetration, the simple payback must be reduced to 7 years or less.

For more information on this presentation, go to http://www.cres-energy.org/events/

Jay Burch, Ph.D. is senior physicist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with over 30 years experience in the areas of modeling and measurement of thermal systems. His main research area is the reconciliation of thermal simulation models with measurements, for both buildings and solar hot water systems.

He has managed the research in the Solar Heating and Cooling Program since 1995, including the U.S. Department of Energy initiative supporting industry-led development of low-cost polymer-based solar water heaters which can be installed under $3000. This project resulted in market entry of two low-cost solar water heaters. He is now leading a recently-started NREL-industry collaboration for ultra-low-cost solar water heaters, with goal of an installed system cost of under $1000 without rebates, excluding uncontrollable soft costs.

Spotlight Presentation: Denver Energy Challenge

The Denver Energy Challenge is a free energy program provided by the City and County of Denver and is available to help residents and businesses cut energy waste, while saving money and increasing indoor comfort and air quality. Free energy advisors are provided along with access to exclusive rebates and low-cost loans which can also finance solar when you participate.

11/15 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. at CRES Office, 3245 Eliot St., Denver, CO 80211

Cost: Members are FREE; Non-members pay $10

Northern Colorado: Financing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

NCRES’ next program is Tuesday, November 13th: Financing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the Home: ENERGY STAR Mortgages, PowerSaver Loans & Refinancing

How do I pay for this? The financing of home energy efficiency improvements or adding renewable energy systems has been a major challenge to homeowners achieving their goals.  Stephen Ponce-Pore of the Bank of Colorado will demonstrate financing options for making these improvements for existing homeowners, via refinancing, as well as new home mortgages.  Come learn about your options for increasing the comfort and reducing the operating costs of your home.

At the Bank of Colorado, Stephen initiated the development of the Colorado ENERGY STAR Mortgage, which formed a partnership with the Governor’s Energy Office and Colorado ENERGY STAR Homes to provide reduced mortgage rates to homeowners that renovate their homes for energy efficiency and for the buyers of new ENERGY STAR Homes.  He recently led the bank in its successful bid to become the only Colorado based bank to offer the new FHA PowerSaver Loan.

Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Odell Brewing Company Tasting Room, 800 E. Lincoln Ave., Fort Collins
Admission: $5.00 for non-members

More info

DUCRES: 24 Hours of Reality and the Role of Renewable Energy

Mark your calendars for the next DUCRES general meeting and speaker event on November 14th from 7:30 – 9:00 PM.

David Bowden, a former President of CRES, will speak to DUCRES about how renewable energy projects and policies can help to combat the increasing impacts of global climate change. Mr. Bowden is a passionate renewable energy advocate with a background in Television editing and production including PBS NewsHour. Our November 14th meeting coincides with a 24 hour global webcast from former Vice President Al Gore called 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirtiest Weather Report. The webcast plans to demonstrate how global climate change and extreme weather are affecting our lives and our planet. It seems the timing of this webcast is perfect in light of Hurricane Sandy.

Details: University of Denver, Sturm College of Law in Room 190

When I walked into the Denver Convention Center, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had been to a few other week long conferences unrelated to renewable energy and they were usually 90% yawns with the occasional gem of a speaker. But this conference was different. Oh yes, of course I’m a renewable energy junkie always looking for news on increases in solar cell efficiency or the gradual improvement of renewable portfolio standards in states across the nation, so I probably can’t be trusted to provide an unbiased opinion. However, you have to believe me when I tell you that being in the midst of people representing nations on every continent except Antarctica was intoxicating. During the week, my eyes were slowly opened to possibility once again.

Scientists, policy makers, advocates, radicals, environmentalists, community organizers, academics,geeks, and nobodies like me were gathered together for a week exchanging ideas, asking questions, sharing success and failures, and perpetuating possibilities of a future planet that practices, as the Brundlandt Commission stated, “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” I realized during a dizzying week of Ignite presentations, panel discussions, and plenary sessions that there were indeed kindred spirits working on behalf of a future while focusing on the present. WREF recharged my old fuel cell for what I hope is a long and fruitful life working towards a renewable, efficient, and sustainable world.

And last but not least, a huge thank you to the good folks at ASES who worked countless hours to organize a global conference nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. You’ve contributed fond memories to this blogger that I trust will last a lifetime. Now, I must get back to work…

Photo Credit: Denver Zoo

Denver lays claim to the greenest zoo in the world. We were lucky to have George Pond, Vice President for Planning & Capital Projects at the Denver Zoo outline how they achieved this status at WREF 2012. As Pond reminded us, It’s a zoo story–but it’s not a “zoo thing.” It’s really a story about how large facilities can transform from drains on the system to neutral or net positive in their energy consumption.

As the most popular cultural attraction in Colorado with 1.9 million guests this year, 3,500 different animals and 80 acres in Denver’s city park, the Denver Zoo has traditionally consumed a great deal of resources. The path to becoming the greenest zoo in the world started with simple activities like recycling, saving trees and the Green Team, a group of true believers. When they decided to get serious about sustainability they began by auditing themselves to have facts and figures to establish a basis for understanding and action steps. This means they don’t guess–they have hard numbers to guide them.  At one time, the Denver Zoo was one of the Top 5 largest water consumers with 383 million gallons a year. This was one Top 5 list where they didn’t want to see themselves included. So, they decided to change things starting with low hanging fruit in water conservation, which is critical–especially in a state like Colorado.

When Pond and his team looked at the details of the zoo’s water consumption they were surprised to learn that suspect areas like irrigation and the aquarium only contributed to 3% of the water consumption. The biggest culprit for water use were the bird exhibits which contributed to 54% of the water usage each year. The team scored a big hit by changing the schedule for the flamingo pond by reducing in half the usage taking it from 40 million to 20 million gallons a year. Although it was a very successful project it didn’t come easily. As Pond points out, the biggest impediment to becoming more sustainable isn’t technology, it’s interpersonal. It took a great deal of trust building with the bird staff to reduce consumption while still serving the birds and guests well.

Photo Credit: Denver Zoo

Once they tackled water conservation they decided to find more ways to become sustainable and meet their mission to secure a better world for animals through human understanding. The team originally looked to the elephants for energy generation through  gasification of waste.  If you don’t know what gasification is it’s a high temp/low oxygen process to convert solid fuel into combustible gas.  However, they were quickly told that their elephants just didn’t generate enough waste. Tell that to the zoo keepers! The team then looked to other alternatives to take the waste stream at the zoo and convert it into energy. The challenge the team faced was how to take a diverse waste stream and package it into something that resembled fuel.

To make the zoo the greenest in the world, they had to do a lot of the work themselves, even creating their own Biomass Experimental Energy Development Lab. The zoo currently has patents pending on their fuel creation innovations. To wit, they created what is believed to be the first hybrid gasified tuk tuk. Yep, they’ve got a truck powered by poop. The zoo even had an event where the margarita’s were made in a blender powered by yes–waste.

The team has already reduced their contributions  by an astonishing 1.5 million pounds a year. The Denver Zoo is currently net positive on energy and aims to be a zero waste facility by 2025. Here are a few of the other benchmarks they hope to hit in coming years: save as much as $200k/year, generate up to 1M kWh/year, produce 600k BTU/hr. Renewable energy is so endemic to the way they work now that even though becoming LEED certified at zoo is not very easy they are now in process to become LEED platinum. They’re proud to be leading the way to creating standards for zoos around LEED certification.

The Denver Zoo is actually leading the way around sustainability in general in their industry. Although zoos around the country are implementing solar power, the Denver Zoo challenges others in their industry to take a systems approach around sustainability and renewable energy. Becoming a truly sustainable facility hasn’t always been easy but it has been gratifying for the Denver Zoo. Pond’s advice for others?

Start where you are. 

No this isn’t a hazing ritual for speakers–it’s Ignite, the latest presentation that is a worldwide phenomenon. Ignite is an innovative way to enlighten an audience on a particular topic. This fast-paced event began in 2006 in Seattle as the brain child of Brady Forrest, Technology Evangelist for O’Reilly Media and Bre Pettis of Makerbot.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine. Ignite is coming to WREF in just a few days. This year’s conference will feature more than 20 Ignite-style events throughout WREF.  Here are a few Ignites you may want to check out:

• Tuesday 10:30am - A Do-It-Yourself Manual for Solar Swimming Pool Heating and its Heater, After 39 Years of Operation by Francis de Winter

• Tuesday 2:45pm - Low Initial Capital and Operating Costs Industrial Air Conditioning System Design by Anwar El Hadi Abdel-Rahman

• Wednesday 10:30am - Applying Renewable Energy to Historic Properties by Thomas Keohan

• Thursday 1:15pm – Where are the Eco-Innovators? An Analysis of the KNowledge Flows Between Successive Generations of Green Technology Innovations by Daniel Johnson

You can see all the Ignites as well as all full conference details on the WREF 2012 site or by grabbing the WREF 2012 mobile app. We look forward to being enlightened Ignite style during the conference. Hope to see you there!

Download the App
With your iPhone, Android, Blackberry or iPad, click here to download the app. There’s a great deal of information on the app so be patient while it downloads for the first time. There are two screens to the mobile app so you’ll want to make sure to explore both.

Get Ready for Networking
Once the site has loaded all the information make sure to update your contact information under the Contact tab on the first page.

• Enter your email on-screen and the app will send you a unique pairing code.
• Filling out your Contact information allows you to be findable for networking with other attendees.
• The Scan feature means no more piles of post-conference business cards! You’ll be able to scan badges and keep track of connections all within the app.  Once you have your contact profile set up you’ll want to explore the schedule.

Plan Your Day
WREF has over 200 sessions to explore and more than 500 papers being presented. With the app, you can navigate the schedule by day, by track or by topic. Press “Schedule” to get started.

• Technical, Ignite and Poster sessions can be opened to see which papers will be presented.
• Find a session you want to attend? Click the bookmark/favorite ribbon to find it again later.
• To view all of your favorite sessions when you’re ready to plan your day simply go to the Schedule button and select Your Favorites.
• Each session has a location – press the location to view the map.
• Use the Search tool to find sessions or people

Speaking at WREF? Keep track of your own day with the “Speakers/Authors” button. This means you can focus on learning and connecting rather than scrambling around to figure out where to go.

Explore
When you’re ready to explore the exhibition hall, get right down to business with a tap on the Exhibitors button to search by name, category and sponsors of WREF2012. You can also create a list of exhibitors you want to visit by marking your favorites as you peruse them through the app.

To make sure you always know where you’re going there’s a Maps section where you’ll find the Colorado Convention Center, the ballroom level, street level, the exhibit hall and Denver Area map. That last one will come in particularly handy when you want to take a little break or grab a bite to eat outside the conference walls. Simply click on the Local button for Top 10 Things To Do as well as a list of restaurants offering discounts just for WREF 2012 attendees.

Whether you want to connect with that person you’ve been hoping to meet, find some good grub or optimize your day for the most learning, the mobile app has you covered. We look forward to connecting with you at WREF 2012! WREF2012 App powered by Crowd Compass.