Asheville to copy FortZed

First New Belgium and now FortZED. Asheville, N.C. has been chosen as the second home for Fort Collins’ largest brewery, New Belgium Brewing, and now an Asheville councilmember is planning on pitching an idea to the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute, according to Mountain Xpress, a news outlet located in Asheville.

Councilmember Cecil Bothwell intends to lay out for the organization a plan called the Asheville Metro Area Zero Energy District or AMAZED for short. A press release from Bothwell says that by “following the lead of Fort Collins and other cities around the world, Asheville can adopt a goal of net zero energy use, that is, generating as much power as we use over the course of a year.”

The lead to which he is referring, of course, is that of FortZED, Fort Collins’ local organization committed to creating a net zero energy district. The FortZED district encompasses more than 7,000 residential and commercial customers in an area roughly bounded by Prospect Road and Vine Drive and Shields Street and Lemay Avenue.

Bothwell has reportedly been meeting with representatives of the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute, the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association and other North Carolina entities, as well as CSU and Fort Collins, among others.

Loveland Shark Tank guest has big ideas for $120K investment

Loveland’s Ryan “Cowboy” Ehmann has a whole heap of ideas for what to do with a $120,000 investment from Shark Tank’s Daymond John.

Ehmann won the investment when he made an impassioned plea to the astute investors during an appearance on the ABC show, televised last month. The former rodeo cowboy turned personal trainer has developed software people can use to determine their ideal exercise heart rate, or what Ehmann calls the “Cowboy Fit Zone.”

Ehmann wants to use John’s money to license his product to gyms nationwide. Or he may partner with a company that makes heart rate monitors.

“How fun would that be? Woo hooo!” he says.

Meantime, John sees Ehmann as a brand, so he has scheduled the entrepreneur to appear on several talk shows. Ehmann won’t say which ones right now.

Ehmann and his wife will fly to New York City to meet with John, founder of clothing company FUBU, to figure out all the details.

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