Installing a new hot tub in Avon? Make sure it lines up with the town’s climate-focused outdoor energy use guidelines
Town Council approves updates to Exterior Energy Offset Program, to take effect in 30 days
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Thinking about installing a new hot tub, heated pool, snowmelt or outdoor fire pit in Avon? The system’s energy use will now need to be completely offset by renewable energy or an equivalent fee.
Almost a year after it started looking at making updates to its Exterior Energy Offset Program, Avon has approved the final changes. The goal of the program is to encourage people and companies to adopt energy-efficient behavioral patterns.
The Exterior Energy Offset Program applies to all new energy use outside of a residential or commercial building’s thermal envelope, including pools, spas, snowmelt and outdoor gas-powered fire pits/fireplaces.
Why is the Exterior Energy Offset Program important?
A 2022 analysis of the county’s carbon dioxide use showed that 1,400,000 tons of carbon dioxide was burned within the county in a year. Of that, nearly 50% (680,000 tons) came from buildings, split evenly between residential and commercial use.
To reach the goal of reducing countywide greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, local governments are creating policies to encourage their residents and business owners to reduce their emissions.
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In 2015, Avon, Minturn, Eagle and Eagle County all adopted some version of exterior energy standards, and Eagle and the county have both made updates since then.
Avon’s updates, the first revisions to the town’s Exterior Energy Offset Program since it first adopted the standards in 2015, are part of the town’s climate leadership efforts.
Derek Place, Avon’s chief building official, presented the updated Exterior Energy Offset Program to the Town Council during the Tuesday, Jan. 14, council meeting.
The new program is both “in tune with our neighbors,” and specialized to Avon, Place said.
Avon will be the first Eagle County municipality to require a 100% offset for all exterior energy use, including fireplaces.
“The formula is based on the average annual usage of an outdoor fire pit,” said Emily Block, Avon’s development coordinator.
Fireplaces will be required to be shut off after an hour and permitted to run 65 hours a year, in line with the average residential use of 20 to 65 hours yearly.
“I think the novelty kind of wears off,” Place said. “Unless you’re in front of a commercial building where they keep it running 365, 24/7, most people are going to turn it on, turn it off.”
The fire formula was altered after the building department received feedback from a local fireplace installer that when Eagle implemented its 100% offset for fireplaces, one homeowner was required to pay $75,000. Under Avon’s formula, an average fire ring (150,000 British Thermal Units) would have to pay about $6,000 to offset its energy use.
Going forward, Place recommended Exterior Energy Offset Program formulas should be reevaluated roughly every three years. “The problem is, we let this go for far too long,” he said.
Stringent requirements are better for the climate
In the updates, property owners installing outdoor pools, spas, snowmelt and fireplaces will be required to completely offset the system’s energy use with renewable energy, or pay a fee aligned with the cost to install that renewable energy source.
While those replacing an old system without expanding it will be exempt, all new residential and commercial installations and expansions will be subject to the program.
On top of the 100% offset, the Exterior Energy Offset Program has received an updated exterior energy use calculator, developed by Resource Engineering Group.
The calculator takes into account the type of energy used, the size of the system, the system’s efficiency and the amount of energy needed for a full offset to compute the amount of kilowatts of solar photovoltaic energy required to offset the item’s energy use.
For most properties, the cost of the fee-in-lieu will go up under the new calculator. But money is “not the motivation here,” Place said. “We want compliance.”
While formerly, the fee-in-lieu was calculated based on the estimated cost to run the system over its lifetime, now the fee will correlate to the cost of installing solar photovoltaic energy. The cost of installing solar photovoltaic in Eagle County is set at $3,250 per kilowatt, based on a survey of in-county installers.
For example, a single-family home with 2,035 square feet of snowmelt and a 79-square-foot spa would pay $32,000 under the current system. Under the new system, this same homeowner would need to pay nearly $101,000.
A hotel with 15,350 square feet of snowmelt, a 91-square-foot spa and a 373-square-foot pool would pay close to $300,000 under the old system. Under the new system, this same proposal would cost the developer nearly $1.7 million.
The increases are not just due to the cost of matching the offset to the price of solar. Additionally, the old program required a 50% offset, so doubling the offset would presumably double the cost. Also, updated analyses of snowmelt systems show that snowmelt uses more than twice as much energy than assumed in 2015, so the offset required for snowmelt went up just as much.
Fee in lieu dollars paid into Avon’s exterior energy offset fund are used to fund climate-focused and energy-efficient efforts by the town and community members, managed by the town manager. For example, some funds are used to support the Energy Smart Colorado rebates that Walking Mountains Science Center offers to community members each year. The fund currently holds just over $200,000.
The calculator exempts 200 square feet of snowmelt and 64 square feet of spa. Heat tape is also exempt.
“We want to allow heat tape because that’s, as all of us know, an integral part of roof and water management,” said Eric Heil, Avon’s town manager.
There are shades of gray between installing a full solar photovoltaic 100% offset and paying the full fee-in-lieu. Solar hot water systems, ground source heat pumps, on-site battery storage (in conjunction with solar photovoltaic) and other sources (subject to town staff approval on a case-by-case basis) can all provide partial credit toward the offset.
Avon’s updated Exterior Energy Offset Program will take effect beginning Feb. 13.
