I haven't been to Boulder in years. Apparently a visit is well overdue. Thanks for giving me a heads up. Is there still a bunch of hippies on Pearl Street? That's just about all I remember about the place. I think if I lived there I'd go nuts.

 

I need to go to Aspen and deliver a briefcase to some Swanson chick that I took to the airport.

 

To add I barely bumped in to a prius once (in the lexus not the rover) trying to parallel park it and seriously didn't even feel the bump and I took off the prius's bumper. I didn't even realize I hit it until I got out and saw the bumper halfway off...not even put a scratch on the lexus. Owner of the Prius owned some sort of natural ice cream store and came outside flipping out going nuts about how I was trying to do a hit and run when all I did was get back in my passenger side to get my insurance information out. I forget how much the quote was as insurance handled it (no claims in years meant zero deductible) but it was pretty high for such a crappy bumper.

 

Aspen.. hmmm.. California!

 

look, frost!!

 

Looks chopped.

 

I love that movie, first time I saw it was in the theater, laughed so hard I almost pissed my pants.

 

Boy do I miss Pearl St. in the summer. Never knowing what you might see, but afterwords 15 minutes south for the brew tour and free brew. Now I am really homesick.

 

Guys,
Don't mean to throw water on your discussion, but being left winged likely didn't have anything to do with that sign. You see these more and more these days. There is a financial element to it. When a building is built new, or remodeled, owners can get LEED credits for an energy efficient design and construction of a building. Engineers and contractors work together to look for lots of ways to get more 'points' like buying building materials locally (less transportation costs) and materials that are sustainable, like brick, steel, tile, glass and other recyclable types. And every aspect is considered like the amount of processing energy for each type of material ...and the type of paint, etc. Other elements are built in to reduce water run-off and need for additional lighting and heating. It's a very comprehensive process. The goal is to produce a building that uses less energy to build, operate and maintain. The greater the LEED points you can get the greater incentives there are, like lower taxes and the potential for grants, etc as well as recognition, publicity and ultimately lower building costs (which translates into increased profits).

I work in the building services industry for a fortune 100 company and it's amazing what energy hogs most commercial building are. It's funny you hear so much about SUV's wreaking the world, but nobody is talking about commercial and industrial buildings that are so inefficiently designed and operated that consume heat and cooling 24/7/365. I was at a place today that had a compressor blow and basically discharged 45 lbs of freon into the atmosphere. This happens all the time. Contractors almost always take the path of least resistance and do what they know works, not what is the most efficient. Try to get a normal commercial mechanical contractor to install a solar system sometime... So LEED is a system utilizing incentives to encourage companies to put a lot of thought into energy efficiency design and construction. I think it is a good thing.

The newly constructed international headquarters of the company I work for is a LEED Platinum building (highest level you can reach). The cost per sq/ft to operate is less than 20% of the standard building of it's class.

But that doesn't change that Boulder is very Left wing, and I agree it's a funny picture

 

Mark I understand where you're coming from... but you have to admit, those kind of signs are going to pop up alot quicker in a more liberal area because... well... alot of liberals drive hybrids. I hate stereotypes, but that one's just true.

Aside from all that, I liked reading your post. I want to go into real estate development after college and stuff like that is going to be a major part of the job. I think its great that we can build buildings that basically make it cheaper to run a business. If it helps business of any size, its good for everyone. And of course, being good for the environment is good for everyone too!