1. It’s a significant achievement to be added to the list of 24-Karat
Gold Award Winners. Just one Environmental Leadership
Program (ELP) Gold Leader per year rises to the top by taking
exceptional steps to ensure a cleaner, more sustainable
environment for future generations of Coloradans. But perhaps the
greatest contribution of an award-winning organization is how it
inspires other ELP members to accelerate the pace of innovation
and introduce progressive climate-friendly measures within their
own organizations.
This year’s 24-Karat Gold Award Winner – Alpine Bank, an
employee-owned and locally operated community bank with
38 offices across the state – invented a creative approach to energy
efficiency by putting solar credits into the hands of a nonprofit
committed to helping low-income families. It involved purchasing
solar panels in a community solar garden, and then donating
ownership of those panels to subsidize the energy bills of families
in need. The resulting clean-energy partnership between a for-
profit business and a nonprofit was the first of its kind.
2016 24-Karat Gold Award Winner
Alpine Bank received the
2016 24-Karat Gold Award
for creating an innovative
solar-energy partnership that put
utility bill credits into the hands of a
nonprofit committed to helping
families in need.
Alpine Bank’s clean-energy initiative
becomes a force ‘for the greater good’
A collaborative model for stepping up private-sector investments in community solar — and
supporting low-income families

2. Another ultimate goal of the project according to David Miller,
senior vice president and head of Alpine Bank’s 30-employee
Green Team Leadership Committee, was to create a ripple effect.
“When we did this, we hoped that it would become a replicable
model for other organizations, not just those in Colorado but all
over the country,” Miller explained. “We’ve demonstrated that this
type of partnership can pave the way for other private-sector
organizations to bring clean energy to communities they serve and,
at the same time, a sliver of hope to local families struggling to
make ends meet.”
A history of investing in community solar
Back in 2009, Alpine Bank announced its commitment to using
100 percent renewable energy for powering all of its locations. It
began by purchasing green power directly from utility providers,
wherever available. Then in 2014, the bank made a big move
forward on its commitment to energy reduction by investing in
community solar gardens.
Community solar gardens allow homeowners and businesses to buy
or lease solar panels in local, community-owned solar installations.
Utility companies purchase the clean energy generated within their
territory, and then give customers sharing in the community-
owned gardens a solar credit on their electricity bills — just as they
would if the solar panels were installed on their own rooftops or
properties.
Buying into community solar gardens appealed to the bank because
many of its 38 Colorado locations lacked the optimal sunlight and
suitable rooftops for their own solar panels.
Alpine Bank’s first purchase of 932 solar panels belonged to four
solar gardens built by Clean Energy Collective. In the first year
alone, that initial clean-power investment generated the equivalent
of about 394,000 kilowatts hours of electricity for 21 of the bank’s
Colorado locations, eliminating an estimated 272 metric tons of
carbon dioxide. Since that time, Alpine Bank has made additional
renewable power investments, now totaling nearly $900,000 for
1,092 solar panels within five community solar gardens.
Stepping up to local solar for low-income families
In the midst of making these investments, the bank’s Green Team
discovered that some of the big energy providers, such as Xcel
ABOUT ALPINE BANK
Alpine Bank is an employee-
owned, community bank that
has 38 locations across the
state — from Colorado’s
Western Slope to as far south
as Durango, including two
new Front Range branches. It
employs nearly 600 people
and serves more than
130,000 customers with
retail, business, wealth
management, mortgage and
electronic banking services.
Alpine Bank supports the
banking needs of several vital
industries, including major
resorts, agribusinesses,
municipalities and
manufacturers.

3. Energy, have programs in place for making solar available to lower-
income families.
“It turns out that if you create a community solar garden in Xcel’s
service territory, under their Solar*Rewards Community program
you need to allocate five percent of the output to low-income
residents living in the county the garden serves,” says Miller.
This requirement inspired the Green Team. They viewed it as a
huge opportunity to not only cut the bank’s carbon footprint, but
also support families in need. The question was whether they could
devise some kind of arrangement for a private-sector business to
facilitate the permanent allocation of those five percent of solar
credits to these families, which was something unheard of at
the time.
In the spring of 2016, they came up with an innovative solution:
the purchase of 82 solar panels belonging to the Breckenridge Ullr
Solar Array in Summit County, Colo., followed by a transfer of the
bank’s solar panel ownership to the Family & Intercultural
Resource Center (FIRC), a nonprofit that supports Summit
County families facing financial hardship.
“Essentially, we were able to figure out a much more efficient and
effective application of Xcel’s five percent requirement for low-
income families. Our model gets the solar credits to people who
need it most and with a surrounding resource, which in this case is
the FIRC,” Miller says.
The first-of-its-kind project will provide a continuous source of
clean energy credits to approximately 20 low-income families living
in Summit County. The FIRC assigns, on a rotating basis, the
monthly utility bill savings to local families who can best use the
assistance. It also offers education on budgeting and financial
management to those who qualify for the credits.
“The project really mirrors and marries all the things that we have
as our core values, of being able to give back philanthropically to
the community in which we live, work and play,” adds Noel
Hansen, the bank’s regional vice president of marketing and
business banking. “Many of the communities we serve have a very
high cost of living and a varying seasonal economy, especially in
Summit County. The bank’s donation will have an impact for years
to come by providing energy cost savings for many families living
in the region. It helps free up much-needed financial resources for
such things as groceries, rent, health insurance and child care.”
ALPINE BANK’S
COLLABORATIVE
MODEL
Alpine Bank’s collaborative
model holds enormous
potential for businesses to
expand community solar
development where there’s
a requirement to allocate a
portion of clean-energy
output to low-income
families.
• Step 1: Purchase solar
panels from a community
solar developer.
• Step 2: Donate the
purchase to a nonprofit
that serves families
in need.
• Step 3: Support local low-
income households
through the nonprofit’s
assignment of solar credits
to eligible families.

4. Miller agrees that the project really pulled together what it means
to be a community bank.
“It is an incredibly, wonderful extension of why we created the
Green Team and how we serve the community. The project was
not just about environment, but it was about all of our other
values as a community bank, including assisting people who
are disenfranchised and helping a local nonprofit fulfill its
own mission.”
THE PROJECT’S IMPACT
The criteria Gold Level ELP
members use for selecting
the winner of a 24-Karat Gold
Award focuses on five areas:
the impact on the
(1) Environment (2) Economy
(3) Society (4) Innovation and
(5) Education.
Here are some of the reasons
Alpine Bank’s donation of
82 solar (photovoltaic) panels
rose to the top of 2016 award
candidates:
• Offsets about 50 percent of
power use generated by
approximately 20 families.
This will equate to
generating roughly 480,000
kilowatt-hours of electricity
in 17 years (or more than
28,000 kilowatt-hours per
year), avoiding the release
850 tons of carbon dioxide.
• Gives about 20 low-income
families a credit that
reduces their average
monthly utility bill by
about $40.
• Keeps energy dollars in the
community. Solar credits go
to the people who live
there, helping to strengthen
the local economy.
• Demonstrates the power of
partnerships, in this case a
solar community garden, a
community-oriented
commercial bank, and a
local nonprofit that assists
low-income families.
• Represents a replicable
model for expanding
community solar
development.
A gathering at the community-owned Breckenridge Ullr Solar Array. Shown
right to left: Thomas Davidson, Summit County Commissioner; Tim Braun,
Clean Energy Collective director of public affairs; and Bob Young, founder
and chairman of Alpine Bank.

5. The importance of sharing your story
Every year, the 24-Karat Gold Award spotlights environmental
leaders implementing new and innovative practices. But the award
isn't just about recognizing those leading the charge on the green
front. Our 24-Karat Gold Winners become an inspiration for the
rest of us.
“We applied for the award because we wanted to inspire people,
and we wanted our project to have a trickle down effect when
people read about it,” said David Miller, senior vice president of
Alpine Bank, after learning that his community bank had received
the 2016 24-Karat Gold Award.
“Our project had never been done before and didn’t fit any format.
There was no template to use. We had to invent it all on the fly.
But we wanted to show that if you have the inspiration, you could
do it. So, dream and try something new.”
He then added, "If you got something that’s really innovative and
makes a difference, it doesn’t matter how large or small you are. We
are the little green bank that could. We are proof that any
organization can rise to the top with an innovative and forward-
looking green practice. And by sharing it, you can give your
story legs.”
Use your influence to lead Colorado to a
better environment
David Miller is Alpine Bank’s
senior vice president and head
of its Green Team Leadership
Committee.