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Robin Hood for energy use

December 1, 2002 /

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Heated driveways. Steamy outdoor spas. Common luxuries for some of this town’s mountainside mansions.

But living the high life comes with an extra cost, even in the rarefied realm of $20 million homes.

By Steve Raabe
Denver Post Business Writer

A Robin Hood-style tax on conspicuous energy consumption has put Aspen on the map as a municipal pioneer in renewable resources.

Under Aspen’s Renewable Energy Mitigation Program – commonly referred to as REMP – energy taxes on the rich pay for energy assistance to the less-affluent citizens of the Roaring Fork Valley.

The more energy that wealthy Aspenites burn on outdoor amenities, the more they pay, and the more the working class benefits with grants for alternative energy derived from sun, water and wind.

Some Aspen residents – including luminaries such as the Estee Lauder cosmetics family – are paying as much as $100,000 for the right to build heated outdoor pools and snow-melting hot-water pipes under driveways.

Their energy taxes pay for projects such as solar heating for subsidized housing, energy-efficient appliances, and small hydroelectric projects that feed part of the power supply for the Roaring Fork Valley.

"It’s like, suddenly, I have free hot water and plenty of it," said Paul Andersen, a Fryingpan Valley resident who recently placed solar hot-water panels on his house with the help of a REMP-funded $1,000 rebate.

The panels, installed at a total cost of $4,000, supply most of the hot water used in Andersen’s 2,000-square-foot home 5 miles east of Basalt.

"It gives me great pleasure knowing that I am benefiting from the excesses of the castles in Aspen that use untold amounts of energy for things like heated driveways and patios," said Andersen, a middle-income freelance writer.

Aspen city officials and renewable energy advocates say they believe REMP is the world’s stiffest tax on the consumption of fossil fuels and the carbon emissions they produce.

The fee is based on the size of new homes and the estimated amount of natural gas or electricity used to power their outside amenities over a 20-year period.

The REMP fee, up to a maximum of $100,000, is paid upfront by the homeowner as part of the building-permit process. That allows Aspen and its renewable energy consultants to put the money to work immediately on energy-saving projects in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties.

In its 2 1/2-year existence, the program has generated nearly $2 million from owners of new Aspen homes.

Stephen Kanipe, Aspen’s chief building official, said he initially resisted the program. He worried that it would foster a negative image of wealthy Aspenites buying their way out of an environmentally sensitive problem.

But REMP is more than a tax-the-rich plan. It also features a progressive element: Instead of paying the energy tax, owners of large Aspen homes can choose instead to install renewable components such as solar panels or photovoltaic electric generators that help provide power for their spas and snow-melting systems.

"To me, that makes it a defensible program," Kanipe said. "I feel good about what we’re doing."

Descendants of Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke – the wealthy philanthropists who decades ago helped convert Aspen from a grimy mining town to a glitzy resort – are building a soaring, 8,000-square-foot Aspen-area home equipped with solar collectors.

The $6,000 set of solar panels allows the Zurcher family to avoid paying a REMP fee of $5,000 levied on any new Aspen home larger than 5,000 square feet.

The renewable-energy device provides more than just tax relief for the Zurchers.

By serving the home and its outdoor whirlpool with hot water, the solar panels will recover their own costs within two years, said Sarah Broughton, an architect with Aspen-based Harry Teague Architects who helped design the home.

"The clients were 100 percent happy to put in the solar system," Broughton said.

Even homeowners who pay the REMP fee instead of installing renewable energy devices generally are pleased with the program, said Randy Udall, brother of U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and director of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency, which helps disburse REMP funds.

"I’m sure there are a few homeowners who aren’t overjoyed with writing a check, but in the broader community the perception has been almost universally positive," he said.

Silicon Valley software developer Bill Coleman and wife Claudia paid a $42,000 REMP fee recently for their new, 7,400-square-foot home on the banks of the Roaring Fork River in Aspen.

The fee covers the Coleman’s snow-melt system that will keep their driveway – made from cobblestones that once paved Larimer Street in Denver – free of snow.

The Colemans considered installing solar panels to heat water for the driveway system, but the shadow of Aspen Mountain left little available sunlight during winter months.

The alternative – plowing large amounts of snowfall – leaves a difficult snow disposal problem for the Colemans and many other Aspen homeowners.

"We were super excited when we heard about the REMP program because we didn’t know what the heck we were going to do with our driveway," said Bill Coleman, founder of San Jose, Calif.-based BEA Systems Inc.

"We had no qualms at all about writing the check," he said. "It made absolute sense as soon as we heard about it, because it’s helping improve the energy efficiency of other structures."

Carbondale architect Olivia Emery, who has designed several multimillion-dollar mansions, said Aspen is the perfect location for an energy tax.

Aspen’s stringent growth-control policies leave residents already accustomed to a tight regulatory process, Emery said. Adding the energy tax was not seen as burdensome to wealthy homeowners.

"In a funny way, they don’t care," she said. "People have money here. If you can’t make an innovative program like this work here, where on Earth will it work?"

Udall said projects funded by REMP fees have made a significant difference in energy use and carbon emissions in the Roaring Fork Valley.

He said the projects – ranging from zero-interest loans on small residential solar projects to a $205,000 high-efficiency heating and cooling system at Aspen’s new indoor pool and ice rink – will keep an estimated 24 million pounds of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere over the next 10 years.

"People talk a lot about wilderness preservation, but there’s not as much talk about energy preservation," he said. "Now, in our own small way, we’re doing something about it, and people are feeling pretty good about it."

Tax yields civic benefits
In the past 2 1/2 years, Aspen’s Renewable Energy Mitigation Program has generated almost $2 million from owners of new Aspen homes.

Here are some examples of where that money has gone:

Zero-interest loans on small residential solar projects.

$205,000 high-efficiency heating and cooling system at Aspen’s new pool and ice rink at Iselin Park.

Solar-panel-equipped public restroom in Wagner Park.

Installation of large solar hot water systems at the Burlingame/MAA affordable-housing project.

$100 clothes-washer rebates for buying energy-efficient models.

$30,000 of REMP funds goes to Aspen’s new Car Sharing program.

Source: Community Office for Resource Efficiency

By the numbers

45,000 pounds

Number of pounds of greenhouse gases a typical American family produces each year

2000