Niwot Attracting Green Industry

BY KATHY RACZKOWSKI
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Boulder County has long been associated with the green energy movement, and now more companies working in those fields are putting down roots in Niwot.

It started earlier this year when two companies moved into offices across the street from Colterra. Torch Renewable Energy acquires land permits and equipment for the development of wind farms nationally and Onsemble develops technology for more accurate predictions of wind on wind farms to gauge potential production. Together, these businesses work to help power companies throughout the nation better harness this valuable renewable resource.

Alternative energy systems are only part of the movement. Green industry also uses state-of-the-art technologies to develop and manufacture products that save energy and/or perform better while using less energy. Three such ventures recently moved into Niwot: Logic Windows and Doors, Serious Materials, and Giulio Lighting.

Logic Windows and Doors established its flagship store and showroom in the back suite of The Emporium, right behind the Eye Opener coffee shop. It offers energy efficient windows and doors manufactured by Serious Materials in a warehouse space in Monarch Business Park on Hwy 52.

Serious Materials recently acquired Alpen Windows, Inc., of Gunbarrel, which had been producing some of the leading energy-saving glass for over 27 years. It expanded the manufacturing facilities to Monarch Business Park and now joins other SeriousWindows and SeriousGlass manufacturing plants across the nation, including ones in California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, to create super-insulating windows and commercial glass that dramatically increases R-Value performance.

According to its website, “Serious Materials manufactures building materials that save money, reduce America’s energy use and dependence on foreign oil, reverse climate change and create new sustainable green-collar jobs across North America.”

Among the windows and doors manufactured locally by Serious and carried by Logic are: a fiberglass line, with R-Values from R-7 to R-11; an affordable vinyl line, with values of R-3.3 to R-6.3; and a noise-canceling line called QuietGlass.

Logic Windows and Doors is LEED certified and works with consumers, builders, solar companies, and energy auditors.
“We are part of the new economy,” said Dave Maier, sales manager at the Niwot store.

Call Maier at 720-933-5301 or visit www.seriouswindows.com to learn more.

Better glass isn’t the only way to save energy. Better lighting can save energy, money, and injuries caused by having to climb to awkward places to change burned out bulbs.

Lighting technology has come a long way since Edison’s invention of the first commercially practical incandescent bulb in 1879. We now can light our world with more efficient fluorescent, compact fluorescent, halogen, or LED lighting systems. 

For those of you who have shied away from energy-efficient LED lighting systems in the past due to a number of early shortcomings, prepare to be blown away.
After gestating the technology and business model for four years, Dan Julio launched Giulio Lighting this summer with its headquarters in Old Town Niwot. The actual store is online, but Julio tests, assembles, and prepares the color-capable decorative lighting systems for shipping in an alley warehouse off Second Avenue. He works mainly with designers, but also with individuals who have enough technical know-how to purchase and install the systems themselves as well.

The products are part of the QualColor family of decorative lighting, and are controlled by a touch-sensitive remote to give you the precise color of light you desire. An LEDsmarts system allows people who want more than changing LED gimmicks to scroll through millions of subtle hues at a pace defined by the user.

Giulio offers DMX fixtures for architectural lighting, flexible LED arrays for cove and linear lighting, and the high-quality Giulio QualColor Ambi fixture for cabinet lighting. The white light emitted is a brighter, truer white than many of the standard LED whites, measuring 3000 Kelvin, and the color arrays cover the entire spectrum and can be set at any point along that range or programmed to change as your heart desires.

The systems can be used to light white walls or ceilings to change the mood of a room with the touch of a finger. They can turn glass-filled cabinets into works of art. They can highlight landscapes and architecture to make them come alive at night, and much more, all in an environmentally friendly way.

“The possibilities are limitless,” said Julio. “It’s amazing.”

Visit www.giuliolighting.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of Giulio Lighting

QualColor lighting lets you choose your hue.