Waste not, pay not - Lay Of The Land - wealthy Aspen homeowners subsidize affordable housing - Brief Article

Sierra, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Jennifer Hattam

Wealthy homeowners in Aspen, Colorado, are shelling out for solar-powered water heaters in affordable housing. What sounds philanthropic is actually the result of a local initiative that capitalizes on the luxury set's yen for all-weather pools and snow-melting driveways. Under the building code, every new and remodeled home in Pitkin County must meet a strict "energy budget" of approximately 40,000 British thermal units per square foot. (Nationwide, the average home consumes 63,000 Btus per square foot.) If power-hungry residents can't cut back with added insulation or other energy-saving steps, they must pay a fee to the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program. The $1.7 million collected in its first three years has been channeled into projects that offset greenhouse gases--from a car-sharing program to an energy-efficient revamp of a local ice rink.

* MORE INFORMATION Contact Aspen's Community Office for Resource Efficiency at (970) 544-9808 or www.aspencore.org.