The Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) awarded more than $700,000 to local energy programs on Wednesday.
CORE gave grants to 28 organizations from Aspen to Glenwood Springs for commercial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. These include large-scale solar projects at the Pitkin County Landfill, Roaring Fork School District, and St. Benedict’s Monastery. That work is expected to offset 100 percent of the energy use at those sites.
“What we’re trying to do is actually produce our own energy locally, and we’re doing it in such a way that doesn’t require any fossil fuels to be burned,” said Marty Treadway, who manages the grants program for CORE. “It’s all about removing carbon from the air.”
The grant program is funded by the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program, which requires that property owners pay a fee for projects like snowmelt or heated pools that consume a lot of energy.
