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Colorado - Thu. 04/10/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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GEOTHERMAL PILOT PROJECT RECEIVES $4.9M FROM COLORADO ENERGY OFFICE
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Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency embarked on a $4.9 million pilot program funded by the Colorado Energy Office to use water instead of electricity to reduce the use of natural gas for heating and cooling in five million square feet of municipal buildings. The effort comes with pursuit of decarbonization goals and acknowledging that electrification of large buildings in Denver would be “prohibitively expensive,” officials said. The city will use the award from CEO to study a multisource district thermal water system to provide heating and cooling through a shared water loop for 14 city buildings comprising 5.5 million square feet currently served by Xcel Energy’s downtown steam and chilled water loops. By converting the chilled water system to an ambient temperature system that uses both deep geothermal wells and heat from the sewer system, the building’s systems can be converted to water-to-water heat pumps for heating and cooling.
In the winter, the loop would operate at higher temperatures, and in the summer lower temperatures, with the option of adding chilled water to help balance cooling loads. The hybrid system would use about 500 geothermal wells drilled to a depth of 1,200 feet, distributed across seven locations, sewer heat recovery and supplemental heat pump chillers for temperature regulation. It would include renovation of the old Cherokee Boiler Plant to serve as a central utility plant. This will substantially reduce both electrical loads, and natural gas for heating and will avoid the expense and difficulty of installing greater electrical capacity in the downtown core that would be required for full building electrification. The project also estimates saving 80 million gallons of water per year by shutting down Xcel’s downtown steam loop.
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NEW COMET - WHEN & WHERE TO SEE IT
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A newly discovered comet has been spotted in the night sky. Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) is currently visible with binoculars and is expected to reach its brightest on May 1, 2025. Found in late March, the comet has significantly increased in brightness, but it’s not visible to the naked eye. Only those with telescopes and large binoculars (around 10x50mm) can observe it now. Now 8th magnitude, it can be found during twilight above the northeastern horizon an hour before sunrise only from the Northern Hemisphere. It’s just below Scheat, one of the bright corner stars of the Great Square of Pegasus. Virtual planetarium stargazing app Star Walk can be used to find it.
It should be visible from the Northern Hemisphere until mid-April, when it moves into the constellation Andromeda. After that, it will be lost in twilight as it approaches the sun. Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) will reach perihelion, the closest it gets to the sun, on May 1, 2025. Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) was discovered in late March by astronomer Michael Mattiazzo, Australia. Already relatively close to the sun, it was detected in images from the SWAN Instrument aboard NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The lateness of its discovery is likely due to a sudden outburst and, thus, a spike in its brightness. SOHO, a satellite that studies the sun, was launched almost 30 years ago.
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USPS SEEKS COST HIKE FOR FIRST-CLASS STAMP TO 78 CENTS
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The U.S. Postal Service is seeking a rate increase this summer that includes hiking the cost of a first-class stamp from 73 cents to 78 cents. The request was made Wednesday to the Postal Regulatory Commission, which must OK the proposal. If approved, the 5-cent increase for a “forever” stamp and similar increases for postcards, metered letters and international mail would take effect July 13. The proposed changes would raise mailing services product prices approximately 7.4 percent. The Postal Service contends, as it did last year when it enacted a similar increase, that it’s needed to achieve financial stability. Former U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy resigned in March after nearly five years in the position. Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino has taken on the role of postmaster general until the Postal Service Board of Governors names a permanent replacement for DeJoy.
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EMERGENT CAMPUS FLORENCE: NOW 18 BUSINESSES WITH 120 EMPLOYEES
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Since opening in late 2019 in the old Florence High School, Emergent Campus Florence, 215 N. Maple Ave., has filled the old classrooms with 18 businesses and 120 employees. In the past decade, the creation of about 130 new tech jobs in the region has had an annual economic impact of about $13 million, said Brad Rowland, co-owner and general manager of the campus. That success has attracted statewide recognition for Emergent Campus as a model for building a rural tech economy.
In the last year, the tech hub and its partners received more than $9 million in state and federal grants to expand to Trinidad, where Emergent Campus Trinidad, 612 Park St., opened in July. It has three tech startups and seven people using co-working space for their businesses so far, and numerous businesses have signed on to offer internships. Trinidad State College President Rhonda Epper said the grants will allow the college to expand tech training and advanced manufacturing courses, in areas such as robotics, and upgrade industrial trades programs, on its campuses in Trinidad and Alamosa.
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LIZARD HEAD & WOLF CREEK PASSES WILL TEMPORARILY CLOSE THURSDAY
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Today, April 10, Lizard Head and Wolf Creek passes will close in the early to late morning for helicopter operations, and because there is no set reopening time and such work is weather-dependent, travelers should expect “lengthy closures.” It’s work CDOT does every spring, when maintenance crews come out and remove systems on the mountain that help mitigate avalanches during the winter months, said Adair Christensen, CDOT’s Southwest Colorado communications specialist. On Colorado Hwy. 145 south of Telluride, CDOT has advised motorists to expect “lengthy delays between 10 a.m. and noon.”
- Southbound and northbound motorists will encounter full stops and intermittent delays lasting up to 30 minutes for much of the morning.
- Northbound travelers can expect delays nine miles north of Rico near Mile Point 56, and southbound travelers will encounter delays at Mile Point 61, 10 miles south of Telluride at Trout Lake.
- At 8 a.m., eastbound and westbound motorists will encounter full stops and a lengthy delay of up to two hours on U.S. Hwy. 160 between Pagosa Springs and South Fork.
- Specifically, eastbound travelers will encounter a closure at Treasure Falls, 13 miles east of Pagosa Springs at Mile Point 157.
- Those traveling west will encounter a closure just east of Wolf Creek Pass Ski Area, 16 miles west of South Fork at Mile Point 170.
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GOPRO MOUNTAIN GAMES ADDS TWO NEW EVENTS TO LINEUP
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Two more new events have been added to the 2025 GoPro Mountain Games, slated for June 5-8. The Kayak Cross will replace the 8-ball kayak sprint, and the YETI Speed Camp will join its growing list of climbing competitions. Those events will join the Vail Ultra trail run and YETI Speed Showdown in making their Mountain Games debuts this summer in Vail. The Kayak Cross is being dubbed as a “whitewater battle royale sprint to the finish” on the Mountain Games website. The head-to-head slalom will take place on Gore Creek between the Covered Bridge and International Bridge on Sunday, June 8. The Speed Camp will take place on Thursday at the speed wall located at The Hangout in Golden Peak.
The Gore IV Kayak Challenge, Down River Kayak Sprint, and Kayak Freestyle events remain on the Mountain Games schedule. Meanwhile, fans can enjoy eight different climbing opportunities, including a North American Cup Series bouldering competition. Registration is open for the Mountain Games at MountainGames.com/register. Athletes can test themselves at more than 35 events across 11 disciplines, competing for over $150,000 in total prize money.
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NORTHWEST COLORADO HEALTH SEEKING VOLUNTEERS IN ROUTT & MOFFAT COUNTIES
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Northwest Colorado Health is looking for community members to join its volunteer team, working to improve health and quality of life for all residents in the region. The volunteer team offers a variety of rewarding roles in Routt and Moffat counties. Northwest Colorado Health particularly needs volunteers in Moffat County and bilingual English and Spanish speakers in both counties. Opportunities include hospice volunteers, The Haven Assisted Living volunteers in Hayden and event volunteers for summer and fall. For more information about joining the volunteer team, contact Kyleigh Lawler at 970-871-7609 or visit online at NorthwestColoradoHealth.org.
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TRADITIONAL STEAMBOAT EVENTS HIGHLIGHT END OF WINTER SEASON
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Steamboat Resort will kick off end-of-season festivities this week with Springalicious, a weekend highlighted by the 43rd annual Cardboard Classic Saturday and the Splashdown Pond Skim on Sunday. The party will begin Saturday with more than 30 cardboard crafts making their way down the Stampede ski run at the base area during the annual Cardboard Classic. Crafts made from cardboard will be judged prior to the runs starting at 11 a.m. At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the band Southern Avenue, a Grammy-nominated soul and roots band from Memphis, will close the day with a concert on the Steamboat Square stage.
Season-ending festivities continue at 1 p.m. Sunday with the annual Splashdown Pond Skim, where 75 participants attempt to ski across a pond at the base of the mountain. The Legendary Wailers featuring Junior Marvin will provide reggae music to close out the day Sunday, starting at 3:30 p.m. on the Steamboat Square stage.
The following week, the ski area will host several events leading up to Sunday, April 20, the ski area’s official closing date.
- At 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, Steamboat Resort will host “Ski for Pete’s Sake” to celebrate the legacy of longtime resident and local business owner, Pete Van De Carr, who died in a ski accident earlier this year.
- On April 20, Steamboat Resort will host Taylor Gold’s Home Break Mini Pipe Jam in the Little Rodeo Half Pipe at the base of the ski area. The event will be coupled with a Ride for Jesse at 10 a.m. honoring Jesse Hamric, who died in July at age 18.
More information on Steamboat end-of-season events is at steamboat.com.
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HEALTH INSURANCE ENROLLMENT HITS ALL-TIME HIGH IN 2025 THROUGH CONNECT FOR HEALTH COLORADO
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Connect for Health Colorado’s annual report indicated that 296,449 people purchased a plan through the marketplace in 2025, a 19 percent increase from the 2024 enrollment period. The largest increases in enrollment came from rural parts of the state, including in Colorado Western Slope counties, where the rate of uninsured individuals has historically been the highest in the state. Kevin Patterson, chief executive officer of Connect for Health Colorado, said in a statement that this was its “biggest enrollment period ever.” Connect for Health Colorado provides options and financial assistance for individuals and small employers (those with 99 or fewer employees) purchasing health insurance. The marketplace had 143 health insurance plans from six providers: Anthem, Cigna, Denver Health, Kaiser Permanente, Rocky Mountain Health Plans and Select Health.
Around 5 percent of Coloradans statewide purchase their plan individually. Around 50 percent are enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan, 30 percent in Medicaid and 10 percent in Medicare. In the counties along the I-70 mountain corridor — Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Pitkin and Summit counties — closer to 9 percent purchase an individual plan, with 45 percent getting it through their employer. These counties have historically had the highest uninsurance rates in Colorado, with an estimated 12.6 percent lacking any health insurance coverage. Statewide, around 4.5 percent of the population has no health insurance. For those uninsured in the I-70 mountain corridor, cost was reportedly the primary reason individuals did not have coverage. Around 80 percent of those enrolled in 2025 qualified for financial support. With financial assistance, the average premium of enrollees was $138, down from $470 for those without any assistance.
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FROM WASTELANDS TO WETLANDS: SRI LANKA'S NATURAL FLOOD BUFFERS
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Thalangama Wetland, in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, and its surrounding swamps, reedbeds, canals and rice fields are teeming with life. But this hasn't always been the case. About 15 years ago, these ecosystems were degraded and filled with rubbish. They were "dirty, very dirty", says Pay Drechsel, interim country manager at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo. He recalls how he spent one Christmas almost a decade ago cleaning the lake, scouring for piles of rotting garbage leaking contaminants into the water, and sorting waste for recycling. To his surprise, passersby stopped and started helping him. "I realized it's not only me, locals also appreciate it," he says. "But like me over all the years, they may have been waiting for someone to take the lead."
The community came together to keep the massive wetland complex clean, forming the Thalangama Wetland Watch. Residents organize weekly collection runs, piling up sorted waste at a small collection unit which the municipality sends off for recycling. School kids volunteer, kayaking through the lake to dig up invasive water hyacinth. Home to over two million residents, Colombo is built on and around a massive network of wetlands. In 2018, Colombo became one of the 18 Ramsar wetland cities in the world – an accreditation which recognizes cities for their commitment to restore, safeguard and value wetlands, with 25 new cities added to the list in 2022.
As Colombo is located in a river basin, the city is naturally prone to floods. Colombo's wetlands act as a flood buffer, with 40 percent of floodwaters draining into wetland areas. They also sink carbon, purify the air and control temperatures. Today, Colombo is home to four wetland parks and several other recreational spaces linked by wetlands. This Colombo suburb is now home to jogging paths and birdwatching spots built around the wetlands and waterways. People feel that they can use these spaces now.
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GLOBAL ART SALES FELL BY 12% LAST YEAR
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Sales in the international art market declined 12 percent in 2024, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report published on Tuesday. The annual report, seen as the most reliable indicator of the art market’s size and health, said that sales had fallen for the second year in a row. “Decline in value was driven by cooling at the top end,” says the report, which describes 2024 as “a year of continuing geopolitical tensions, economic volatility and trade fragmentation.” Auction sales of single works that fetched more than $10 million fell by 39 percent, the report says, and galleries with a turnover of more than $10 million saw sales fall 9 percent. “People were more risk-averse,” said Clare McAndrew, the economist who wrote the report, in an interview. “On the supply side, people were waiting to see how things panned out and held on. That impacted what came on to the market.”
- The report, the most widely cited survey of activity in the notoriously opaque international art market, estimates the total value of global art sales in 2024 at $57.5 billion, based on publicly available data from auction houses and survey responses from some 1,600 dealers.
- Sales reached a peak of $68.2 billion in 2014, but have been flat or falling since then, even though billionaire wealth has more than doubled in the last 10 years, reaching a record $15.6 trillion.
- In that time, sales of other luxury goods have soared; LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate, posted annual turnover of about $88 billion last year.
- Last year, sales declined in all of the art trade’s key geographic regions, the report says. The United States retained its position as the dominant marketplace, but turnover fell 9 percent to $24.8 billion.
- Britain regained second place with $10.4 billion of sales, contracting just 5 percent year-on-year.
- Art sales fell a hefty 31 percent in China to $8.4 billion, its lowest level since 2009.
- The global art trade’s overall number of transactions grew 3 percent in 2024 to 40.5 million, a peak, driven by the post-pandemic expansion of online trading.
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MARKET UPDATE - 04/09/2025 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 04/03/2025)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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