Colorado has seen cities dabble with renewable technologies in their aquatic facilities, but none have fully committed — until now. In the spring of 2026, Carbondale plans to open what may become one of the most consequential municipal pool projects in the state: an all-electric, all-renewable aquatic center that leaves natural gas entirely behind.
According to a November announcement from the Carbondale Pool Fundraising Campaign, “The community will dive into more than a state-of-the-art swimming facility — they’ll be swimming in one of the most environmentally sustainable municipal pools in Colorado. It will be the first allelectric pool in the region powered by 100-percent renewable energy.”
Across Colorado, air-source heat pumps have started to appear in a handful of aquatic facilities, but only as supplemental heating systems — always paired with gas boilers for security. Carbondale Parks and Recreation Director Eric Brendlinger emphasized the leap this project represents.
“There’s some other air-source, heat pump technology being used in other pools around the state, but they all have gas boilers that are either the first or secondary line of defense as a backup,” Brendlinger said. “We are really trusting the technology and are not going to be burning any gas on this property.”
The new facility’s heating and electrical demand will be carried entirely by a 48-kilowatt rooftop solar system and a bank of electric air-source heat pumps engineered to run year-round in the Roaring Fork Valley climate.
The project will take the place of Carbondale’s decades-old municipal pool at Seventh and Main Street. The new complex includes three pools, a bathhouse, and a communal gathering area — all built to operate without fossil fuels.
Brendlinger called it an intentional leap rather than a minimal replacement.
“This is a facility built for the future,” he said. If successful, the system will eliminate more than 3.2 million kBTU of fossilfuel consumption annually. The fundraising campaign put that into perspective: eliminating as much carbon as “taking 148 gasolinepowered vehicles off the road for a year — or avoiding more than one million miles driven.”
With a total cost greater than $13 million, the undertaking has drawn an uncommon blend of public funding and local philanthropy. Carbondale has tapped reserves, issued bonds, and received grants from organizations including the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), the Colorado Energy Office, Pitkin County’s Park Dedication Fees Fund, and the Garfield County Federal Mineral Lease District.
But the most striking piece may be the town’s first-ever municipal capital campaign. “Let’s Make a Splash” has already drawn more than $2 million from residents alone and is just $500,000 shy of its $2.5 million goal before donations close on December 31.To Brendlinger, the response says everything about the community’s expectations.
“It tells me that the people of Carbondale and the Roaring Fork Valley — the people that are going to be users of this pool — really care about this project and are voting with their pocketbooks,” he said. “They’re saying ‘We support this… but we want to see it happen the right way.’ We want to make a facility for the future, a facility that’s sustainable and doing the right thing right now.”
