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Letter: Alternative-energy options

Alternative-energy options

In response to Dave Hornbacher’s letter (“City focuses on renewable energy,” Dec. 29, The Aspen Times) in which I am misquoted, I submit the following:

I agree wholeheartedly with Dave that it is always beneficial to have the public dialogue be accurate, and I hope to clear up any confusion. I was mistaken in saying that zero percentage of Aspen residents would be affected by the proposed hydro project in their own personal electricity usage.



In actuality, it would have benefited customers of the City of Aspen Electric System (by offsetting up to about 8 percent at best of their total usage). So who are these customers? According to the information on their website, the City of Aspen Electric System “provides reliable and economic electric service to approximately 2,900 residential, commercial, hotel and condominium service connects. All service is within Aspen City limits and comprises a Service Area of 4 square miles, 25.5 miles of primary cable, 200 Transformers and 591 Street Lights.”

So when I owned Funky Mountain Threads in Aspen, they were my provider. However, if your electric bill comes from Holy Cross, then you would not have benefited from any offset from the proposed hydro project. You can contribute to the grid (as I and some other residents do) by buying into solar-panel farms and receiving a credit from Holy Cross that offsets what you use in your home. Then running the space heater, from John Norman’s original suggestion that my first letter (Dec. 26, Aspen Daily News) referred to, would be clean-energy based.




The City of Aspen Electric System could also obtain its energy from buying into solar-panel farms, or participating in projects such as the Aspen Skiing Co. project at Somerset.

Bronwyn Anglin

Holland Hills