By Jennifer SchaufeleDRCOG Executive Director

We’re almost through our conversation about the six federal livability principles;

I’m very excited to discuss the fifth principle with you, because it has direct bearing on work that’s been going on recently at the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG).

Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment. Align fed-eral policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding, and increase the account-ability and effectiveness of all lev-els of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally gen-erated renewable energy.

You can’t ask for more locally generated energy than solar col-lected from panels on the roof over your head. While awareness of res-idential solar programs has steadily been climbing, and big projects like the solar collection units at DIA are visible to the public, most people probably think of solar as a choice that’s out of their reach.

Soon, however, more people in the Denver region will be able to quickly see what solar could do for them, and make informed decisions about solar installations quickly and easily. DRCOG has been fo-cusing its attention over the past year on a regional solar project to benefit people who own buildings large and small—and it all starts with the click of a mouse.

For a number of years, DRCOG has organized a cooperative pro-

gram to take aerial photographs from around the region as a cost-sharing benefit to our members. High-quality digital images can be expensive to produce, but through the Denver Regional Aerial Pho-tography Program (DRAPP) the cost of the airplane and photogra-pher is spread among participants to reduce costs. Many people are familiar with aerial photographs from having used online tools like Google Maps; local governments have long been using these kinds of images to assist with planning efforts. As a matter of fact, in the Denver area, DRAPP participants provide their photos to Google Maps after two years of their own

proprietary use, so if you’ve used Google Maps in the Denver region, you’ve seen images taken as part of this project.

Last year DRCOG received a grant from the Governor’s Energy Office (as part of the federal gov-ernment’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) to develop a new website to help building own-ers evaluate the potential for roof-top installation of photovoltaic sys-tems. The grant created a partner-ship between DRCOG and Green-wood Village-based Woolpert, Inc. to build a website that would use DRAPP images to help discern the suitability of individual rooftops for solar photovoltaic panels. Since

project was originally conceived, it has expanded, and there are now around 800,000 buildings in the da-tabase.

That means that whether you own an office building or a home, you may be able to locate your property in the database that DRCOG and Woolpert are build-ing. Why is this such a big deal?

The technology that’s being employed represents an enormous step forward in the ease of under-standing the potential for solar panels on a given building. In the past, the only way to determine if solar would work at any particular location would be to hire a contrac-tor to conduct a shadow analysis of

the property. This would analyze how other nearby buildings affect the ability to effectively collect so-lar energy on the roof. This is both costly and time-consuming, and re-quires a level of initial investment that may be difficult for many to make. DRCOG’s grants funds are employing software to extract in-formation from our existing images and data to calculate the effective-ness of a solar installation. That’s a lot of highly technical activity boiled down into one simple step.

Once the site is launched (we’re expecting it to be ready by the end of the year), people throughout the region can go online to see if their property has been mapped. Tools within the site help calculate the return on investment of a solar installation and connect potential consumers with installers in their area. This new site simplifies what was formerly a complicated re-search process and spreads aware-ness of about this renewable energy resource.

Nearly 4,500 buildings in Greenwood Village are part of the inventory of structures included in the database. Although the original grant received by DRCOG was small, the lasting impact will be large. An investment of less than $200,000 helped DRCOG signifi-cantly expand existing projects and processes. The ultimate winners will be the region’s property own-ers.

Jennifer Schaufele is the executive director of the Denver Regional Council of Governments and a Greenwood Village resident.

PAGE 10 • THE VILLAGER • October 7, 2010

digs REAL ESTATEHOmE & GARDEN

DEVELOPmENTTHE ViLLAGER NEWSPAPER

Submitted by Arapahoe County

A rapahoe County and a coalition of 18 cities, towns and local organizations working to beautify and enhance the connectivity of the South Platte Riv-

er, were recently honored with the 2010 Blue Grama Award for Outstanding Achievement by the Colorado Open Space Alliance for their ef-forts to work together to improve the river cor-ridor.

The award is given to a group or organiza-tion that has made significant contributions to the conservation of Colorado’s open spaces and outstanding leadership achievement through either acquisition or management actions. The award is named for Colorado’s state grass.

The South Platte Working Group was cel-ebrated for its collaborative, consensus-based, regional approach to protecting the South Platte River corridor and having made an enormous impact, expanding the urban oasis of the South Platte River, improving wildlife habitat and en-hancing trail connections.

“In just four years, this group has made sig-

nificant impact along the corridor, connecting trails and creating open space buffers along the river. It is an incredible asset for our com-munity,” said Arapahoe County Commissioner Susan Beckman, who founded the South Platte Working Group. “This award recognizes the power of this group of individuals. We are hon-ored to receive this award.”

Convened by Arapahoe County in 2006 with a $3 million pledge from the Open Space sales and use tax, the South Platte Working Group has racked up several accomplishments in its short existence. The group has secured more than $25 million in funding, including a $5.25 million Legacy grant from Great Outdoors Colorado; acquired several parcels; built trail connections and won the Denver Regional Council of Gov-ernment‚s highest honor for their collaborative work to protect the South Platte.

South Platte Working Group partners include Arapahoe County, the cities of Cherry Hills Vil-lage, Englewood, Littleton, Greenwood Village and Sheridan; the town of Columbine Valley, Arapahoe County Open Space and Trails Ad-visory Board, Great Outdoors Colorado, South

Metro Land Conservancy, South Suburban Park Foundation, South Suburban Park and Recre-ation District, Trust for Public Land, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Trout Unlimited, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Colo-rado Division of Wildlife.

Much of these accomplishments would not be possible without the generous voters who approved the Arapahoe County Open Space sales and use tax in 2003. In seven years, the county has protected more than 15,500 acres of land that preserve natural habitats and wildlife corridors, protect sweeping vistas and provide outdoor recreation for residents of all ages. For more information, visit www.co.arapahoe.co.us.

HONOREDSouth Platte Working Group

digs is a supplemental publication of The Villager Newspaper. Produced twice a month, this new section features stories about home improvement and décor, lawn/garden care & landscaping.

digs will also focus on real estate – supplying real estate agents and brokers with a platform to highlight their properties, expertise and services. next edition: oct. 21 Ad deAdline: oct.14

digs

Aerial photograph that shows the boundaries of Greenwood Village. Photo courtesy of DRCOG

GV property owners poised to benefit from Colorado’s sunshine

digs October7,2010•THE VILLAGER•PAGE11

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Greenwood Cabinets and Stone goes beyond cabinets, beyond stone.

In fact, owner Neil Maday and staff can supply and remodel nearly any project inside your home from floor to ceiling.

Greenwood Cabinets and Stone, 5501 S. Broadway in Littleton, pro-motes the business like this on its brochures: “Your Vision. Our Ex-pertise. Your Home.”

Maday said the business is af-fordable full service – consultation, design, build or remodel.

“Some people want lower pric-es. Others want top of the line,” he said. “So we can design from a budget to full custom. We not only compete with home centers on spe-cial orders, but we can beat them on most prices.”

Greenwood offers a free, initial in-home consultation.

“We look at the home,” Maday said. “We get a feel for its approxi-mate value, which also helps the homeowner. We get a feel for styles and what the people want. Every-

one has an idea of what they want.”He measures the space of what

people want worked on – kitchen, bath, wetbar, basement, entertain-ment center, mudroom, laundry room, closet.

Then its back to the full-service showroom where staff can draw up 3D images.

“We’re flexible and enjoyable to work with,” Maday said. “And we have very low overhead.”

Greenwood sells mostly Ameri-can-made products.

“We have an excellent selection of green-built products – counter-tops, plumbing, cabinets, lighting, tile.”

A lot of it is wood, which Ma-day said “fits in with what we do.”

That’s where the company name fits in – Green for a nice se-lection of environmentally friendly products and Wood for what most people want in cabinets, doors, floors.

Although they have customers all over the Front Range, Maday said his business is located in the area he targets mostly – Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Cen-tennial, Englewood – you get the idea.

Greenwood works with manu-facturers like Moen and Shiloh, Silestone and Sequoia.

Maday grew up in the kitch-en and bath business. His father owned a large kitchen and bath business in Michigan. After Maday studied business and marketing in college, he set out to work for an ad agency in Detroit.

“My goal at the time was to work on the advertising accounts for the big three automakers-GM,

Ford, Chrysler,” said Mayay. “For-tunately that didn’t happen.”

His father then opened a fifth new kitchen showroom, and asked Maday to run it.

Then Maday decided it was time to pursue an opportunity to work on custom ski homes in As-pen and Vail so he moved to Glen-wood Springs 17 years ago, and then Littleton two years later. He worked for others, and then decided it was time to work for himself. He opened Greenwood in February.

Key people on his team are Julie Pero, a certified kitchen designer, Jessica Weitz, office manager de-sign assistant, Tim Weitz and Bran-don Webber who oversee Green-wood’s installations.

“We have a super team of pro-fessionals,” Maday said. “We’re all coordinated and dedicated to make the process as enjoyable and effi-cient as possible.”

He said his crews have a proven process they stick to.

“We start only when the materi-als are all on site,” he said.

Greenwood Cabinets and Stone is open 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Greenwood Cabinets & Stone

5501 S. Broadway, Littleton 303-797-8663

www.greenwoodcabinetry.net

spotlight businesson

Greenwood Cabinets and Stone: Business goes beyond cabinets & stone Neil Maday with his staff

professionals who makeremodeling or building

from scratch jobs simpler. They are Jessica Weitz, of-fice manager design as-

sistant, left, and Julie Pero, certified kitchen designer.

more doorbehind the

Neil Maday stocks a wide variety of door, drawer and cabinet handles at his Greenwood Cabinets and Stone store