Renewable Energy NOW!! Wow, sounds great. Aspen is holding its renewable energy day on Aug. 26 and has a whole host of activates planned. I for one am all for less energy waste and the implementation of renewable energy. Heck, I turn off lights in every room I leave even if its not my own house and love solar power to heat water. I think it’s great that Aspen is having this day and all the reps to sell their goods and to educate the good folks about renewable energy. But isn’t it a little like someone with a cigarette in their hand telling their kids not to smoke?

Aspen has got to be one of the most energy wasteful communities that I know. Let’s just look at the obvious shall we? Most of the homes in Aspen are second ownerships, which are lived in for only weeks during the year. They are on average at least twice a big as the average home in the rest of the US. These houses are heated all winter long and kept cool during the summers, just in case the owners drop in. We have heated pools, bunches of hot tubs that run all winter long, consuming tons of energy which are hardly used most of the time. Let’s not forget all the heated driveways that exist. I mean, we can’t expect these homes to have driveways that are shoveled, no that would be too…common.

We have snowmakers blowing all night, more private jets flying in and out then Canadian Geese heading south in the winter, workers driving in and out of the city daily to care for the needs of those who need to be taken care of, and all the other activates that correspond with a tourist town that likes to think it’s a small energy conscious village.

To come out and pretend that Aspen is leading the country in the push for energy awareness is hogwash. We can wish all we want to be green, but in the end, we give in to the money and sell the city and county out like cheap whores. Yep, the city council are all just a bunch of pimps in the renewable energy push. If they were serious about it, they would take a real stance in the ungodly amount of energy waste that takes place in Aspen.

And to give the city council a head start, here are a few no brainers….

NO heated driveways. Yeah, I know, its tough….and that means roads too Snowmass!!
Use of electric buses in town. Running from the intercept lot to town on electric buses would be simple and with the bus barn between the two, re-charging would be simple and convenient.
Require rental car agencies at the airport to utilize only hybrids.
Give tax breaks to homes that utilize any type of solar or wind energy.
And straighten out the road to keep traffic from sitting and burning more fuel and putting more CO2 into the air then the city council does during one of their boring drawn out, aren’t we great, forums.

(Energy utilized for typing this blog was drawn from a solar panel…gotta go, sun is setting)