The City of Aspen has installed the first phase of a solar electric PV system at the water treatment plant. So far, the system is about 21 kilowatts with another 42 kilowatts planned for 2010. Since October 2008, the system has produced almost 36,000 kilowatt hours or the amount of electricity that four average homes use in a year. This has avoided 22.3 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The City's plan is to install enough PV to offset all the coal-fired power in the electricity mix that the water plant uses to treat and pump water.
Solar thermal, or solar hot water, is another useful technology. The Burlingame affordable housing neighborhood was designed with solar thermal systems to help preheat hot water in the homes. The Aspen Recreation Center is also exploring solar thermal to heat the water for the pool.
The City of Aspen encourages events to go solar by offering use of Sunny the Solar Roller, a portable PV system.