Sustainable Mountain Living in Colorado with solar power

In April 2007 a small dedicated group of concerned citizens in Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park Colorado, created Sustainable Mountain Living (SML). This group functions a lot like the recently formed environmental task in Palo Alto California, one of the leading green cities in America and the headquarters for Nanosolar, a company that is revolutionizing solar technology.

The SML group in Estes Park Colorado meets twice a month and also attends Town and Utilities Department meetings. The group has 80 core members today but started with just 15, it also usually sees 20 to 30 interested community members who want to become green or learn about going solar. Not bad for a town with a population of roughly 5,000.

This past summer SML proposed net metering to the town of Estes Park which would allow solar panels to generate electricity during the day and store it on the grid like a battery for use during the night, when the sun is no longer out. Tom Street, a member of SML, took the lead on this issue and did the research to set up and propose guidelines. In this scenario net metering would occur when individual homeowners create energy using solar or wind power and then receive a credit for the excess energy that is created. As each home owner's meter runs backwards local utility departments will offer reimbursement at the end of the year. On October 23rd Bob Goehring, utilities director of Estes Park Light and Power, presented the formal proposal to the town board.

One Estes Park native and SML member, Eli Roehl, displays a solar panel that was placed on the roof of her small wooden cabin. She explains that "mountain living is at its best when it does no harm to Mother Earth".

Estes park relies on tourism to spur it's economy and is focusing on sustainability to keep the park green. SML meets on the first and the third Saturday of the month from 2pm to 4:45pm in the Hondius Room (or Wassen Room) of the Estes Park Public Library.