2003 award winners

• Colorado Matters, a production of Colorado Public Radio, Denver, for making the environment and sustainable issues an integral part of their daily show (Monday-Friday). Specific shows submitted included a smart growth score card; a study that looked at the costs for a typical ranchette vs. the revenue generated; and what happens when a community places a cap on growth and then tries to repeal it.
• Virgil Cochran of the Lamar Daily News, for dozens of articles on water issues; development of renewable energy; biomethane generation; formation of a new water conservancy district; alternative irrigation systems; Xeriscape landscaping tips; and the fifth largest wind farm in the nation. With a county population of approx. 15,000 and a paid daily circulation of about three thousand, Cochran and the Daily News prove no matter how small the community, sustainable issues are of immediate and vital importance.
• Student Ambassadors for Environmental Stewardship, Bacon Elementary School, Fort Collins, for learning about their new state of the art school and then leading tours to explain how it works and the many features that make it unique… more daylighting; low toxicity paint and materials; air conditioning that doesn’t increase utility bills; window sensors that communicate with the furnace light switches that monitor what’s needed; carpet made from old blue jeans and cloth and insulation from recycled cotton. Students explain the cooling system by using diagrams and offer coherent and accurate explanations of how it all works.
• Calpine Energy, for its leadership in providing geothermal and combined heat and power, (Calpine will soon be the nation’s seventh largest generator) and for its two new power plants in Colorado which will generate enough low emitting, affordable and reliable power to meet the needs of 900,000 households in Colorado’s front range communities.
• Forest City Stapleton, Inc, Denver, for planning and constructing a housing and retail development with a defined sustainable strategy including recycling 1,100 acres of runways from the old airport into 6 million tons of aggregate used as a base for roads and sidewalks; using LEEDS guidelines in the development and construction of the town center; specifying that all homes constructed meet or exceed the Built Green Colorado Program, and employing a full time Director of Sustainability. The project has been honored nationally and internationally as a model of sustainable development and construction practices.