February 2024 | Climate Events across Colorado

Monthly climate events, jobs, and news in the Colorado front range

Jan 28, 2024

I was reminded last week why this little newsletter feels so important to me. I still find out about events in the most random ways. Last Monday, I started my day with some tea and logged on to LinkedIn to help a friend connect with someone about an open role. I pulled up their page, and by happenstance I noticed a ‘Highlight’ about some event they were going to attend. I didn’t even know that LI had a ‘Highlights’ feature, but there it was. Nothing to click on. Just some text. So I google the name of the event and sure enough it’s the first result. Simple, right? Except that the day before I had spent half an hour doing general google searches for local events just for this newsletter and none of them had surfaced that event. I started this newsletter as a result of that frustration, knowing that Colorado’s climate community was huge but hard to find. By sharing with you all here, I hope it becomes less of a secret.

-Will

There’s a lot going on in Colorado, and it shouldn’t be a secret! It’s not the biggest tech scene, but Colorado’s unique mix of research, policy, and companies work together to make it a major climate hub. This newsletter is an independent roundup of community-submitted climate events in the Colorado Front Range area and is not associated with any specific company or group.

Do you know about a cool event that’s missing? To submit events, use this form.

Events This Month

👩‍💼 Women and Climate Denver Meetup: Feb 6, Tue
🔋 Avalon Energy Storage System (ESS) Road Show: Feb 14, Wed
🌾 Colorado Climatetech with Charm Industrial - Feb 2024 meetup: Feb 15, Thu
🍻 Solardarity: Feb 15, Thu
🍻 Boulder Climate Happy Hour: Feb 15, Thu
🚘 Passive House & Building Performance In The Age Of Electric Vehicles: Feb 15, Thu
☀️ The Energy Transition & Community Solar's Role in Tribal Energy Sovereignty: Feb 22, Thu
🙌 Colorado Solar Professionals Meetup: Feb 24, Sat
☀️ Solar Power and Energy Storage Mountain West Conference: Feb 26, Mon

Read on for more details about this month’s upcoming events.

Sneak Peak at the Following Month

👩‍🌾 Solar Energy + Agriculture = Agrivoltaics: Mar 4, Mon
🍳 Climate Techies Boulder / Denver Members Networking Brunch: Mar 11, Mon
🍻 Boulder Climate Happy Hour: Mar 21, Thu
🔥 Lennox LIVE Denver: Mar 25, Mon

There will be more! These are just a few that I know about if you like to plan ahead.

Event Details

Question for you. Currently, this newsletter focuses on in-person events in Colorado, but there also MANY virtual ones. Like this national community solar summit with NREL or this local Climate Citizen’s Lobby meeting.

Women and Climate Denver Meetup

🕔 WHEN: Tuesday, February 6, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

📍WHERE: WaterCourse Foods, CO

If you are looking for an opportunity to talk climate with professionals identifying as women, you are in the right place! No climate experience necessary.
Our gatherings are a fun way to make new friends and chat about all topics with the backdrop of climate. See a summary of our past events

Avalon Energy Storage System (ESS) Road Show

🕔 WHEN: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

📍WHERE: Greentech Renewables Denver, Denver, CO

Join us for an exclusive event where experts from Fortress Power and Greentech will provide hands-on training on Commissioning, Building, and Programming the Avalon HV ESS. This event is tailored for solar and renewable energy installers seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge in the latest battery technology.
Learn how to efficiently install the Avalon HV ESS, saving time and resources, and how to leverage these skills to provide superior solutions to your customers. Attendees will benefit from valuable insights into selling batteries in the current economic landscape, making this a must-attend event for professionals looking to stay ahead in the renewable energy sector.
Special highlights include:
- Practical training sessions from industry experts
- Exclusive insights into effective sales strategies for battery systems
- A special discount on the Avalon HV ESS for attendees
- Complimentary lunch and exclusive Fortress Swag
Reserve your spot now and be part of this transformative learning experience!

Colorado Climatetech with Charm Industrial - Feb '24 meetup

🕔 WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

📍WHERE: Charm Industrial, Fort Lupton, CO

Come learn about how Charm Industrial is putting carbon back in the ground in the form of bio-char with an on-site tour of their pyrolyzer, which transform corn husks into bio-oil, followed by a casual happy hour on-site at Charm.

Solardarity

🕔 WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

📍WHERE: 14er Brewing Denver, Denver, CO

Solardarity is a happy hour for the commercial, community, and utility-scale solar industry. In 2019, Pivot Energy created the event in Denver as a way to connect and network without any agenda. At Solardarity there are no speeches, presentations, or sales pitches -- just great people. 
Join us as we strengthen the commercial and utility solar community and ride the "solar coaster" together at our next event. Fill out the form to join the invite list at https://go.pivotenergy.net/solardarity

Boulder Climate Happy Hour

🕔 WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

📍WHERE: Rayback Collective, Boulder, CO

Boulder is full of interesting people working on solutions to the climate crisis. Our goal is to bring people with diverse backgrounds together to share ideas, connect, and learn from one another. Join us for a drink and casual gathering.

Passive House & Building Performance In The Age Of Electric Vehicles

🕔 WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

📍WHERE: The Alliance Center, Denver, CO

Have you been thinking about getting an electric car (EV) AND modifying your home to all-electric? If so, you may have also wondered if your home or even your neighborhood’s electric grid can handle the additional load. After all, EVs create a tremendous impact on your electrical consumption. Our speaker this month, Enrico Bonilauri of Emu, will review a study that evaluates several building standards for their capacities to meet your complete electrification goals. It turns out that some building standards allow a homeowner to shrink their consumption sufficiently to accommodate the additional load of an EV without expanding overall consumption.
It takes the same amount of energy to A) power an all-electric Code minimum-built home or B) power an all-electric Passive House and charge two electric vehicles. This is one of the most compelling results from Emu's "Report On Building Standards".
This presentation summarizes the results of Emu's research on 12 building standards and their impact on people occupying buildings.

The Energy Transition & Community Solar's Role in Tribal Energy Sovereignty

🕔 WHEN: Thursday, February 22, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

📍WHERE: Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, CO

As climate change drives our energy sources to change from fossil fuels to renewable energy, frontline communities and Tribal nations deserve an equitable transition. There is an opportunity for Native communities to lead the way, and be supported by private industry. How can we learn from the history of energy development and commit to community oriented energy development?
Join Salina Derichsweiler, an Alaskan Native, who has transitioned her own career from oil and gas to geothermal, and currently works with Pueblos and Navajo Nation to develop community solar gardens in New Mexico.

Colorado Solar Professionals Meetup

🕔 WHEN: Saturday, February 24, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

📍WHERE: Louisville Library, Louisville, CO

I'm starting a Colorado Solar professionals networking group, because I work remotely and I'm extroverted. Come hang out Saturday, February 24th! We'll be jamming at the Louisville Public Library in the second floor meeting room!

Solar Power and Energy Storage Mountain West Conference

🕔 WHEN: Monday, February 26, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

📍WHERE: Hilton Denver City Center, Denver, CO

Join hundreds of industry professionals in the milehigh city to explore the variety of unique political developments, innovations, and opportunities found in the Mountain West region.
Enjoy the spontaneous conversations and key partnerships that can only occur in person at the Hilton Denver City Center Hotel and Conference Center. Join expert panels to receive a multifaceted look into the complex topics facing your business today, and leave with insights that will guide your decision-making and accelerate your success.
The 2024 Solar Power and Energy Storage Mountain West is presented by the Colorado Solar and Storage Association, the state’s leading trade association for over three decades. We’ve brought our steadfast dedication to serving the industry to this conference. Our perceptive industry knowledge has informed the carefully picked subject matter and conference design.
The three days are designed to advance your understanding of new policy and opportunities to equip your business with the necessary skills to compete in the ever-developing industry.

Planning an Event?

I wouldn’t recommend the evening of February 15th. There’s already 4️⃣ events that night! To avoid conflicts like this in the future and help your event stand out, we’ve got a special planner’s guide and dashboard with the data behind this newsletter. Contact me via email to request access using subject ‘New Planner Application’.

Email Me

Climate News in CO

I’m looking for a collaborator to work on the news portion. If you’re interested, email me!

Email Me

For now, check out this overview of Colorado’s policy progress and gaps in 2023.

Colorado also just won a $15 million NSF grant at the end of January to work on climate! Keep an eye out for the CO-WY Climate Resilience Engine.

Job Openings in CO

🔍 Looking for a climate tech job? Our friends at ClimateTechList have created a live Colorado-specific job openings tracker. Check out the Colorado list!