Ski resorts think green
From sun and wind power to recycling, Colorado ski resorts lead the way to minimize their impact on the Earth.
By Jason Boyer, Meteorologist, KWGN
January 24, 2008
Just like snowy weather drives skiers to the high country, sun and wind are helping literally drive ski resorts.
"The ski industry in Colorado is pretty much recognized as the leader in environmental stewardship. We have eleven of 26 resorts offset 100 percent of their electricity use with renewable energy credits," said Nick Bohnenkamp with Colorado Ski Country USA.
Renewable energy credits, or RECs, are given to power producers who use renewable sources like solar and wind to generate electricity. It allows them to generate and sell that electricity at local market prices which helps them make more clean renewable energy. It takes a lot of electricity to run resorts across Colorado.
"Basically, they purchase the equivalent of 300,000 megawatt hours of wind power each season to offset their electricity usage," said Nick.
According to Colorado Ski Country, that's equivalent to keeping more than 241 million pounds of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere each year.
Ski lifts in use at resorts like Steamboat & Winter Park are powered solely by either wind, sun or a combination of the two. But renewable energy isn't the only way Colorado's ski resorts are keeping green.
"There's really four main areas that ski resorts are diving into. There's alternative energy, it's alternative transportation, it's recycling and it's partnerships," said Bohnenkamp.
Using hybrid shuttles, recycling food for use as fertilizer, even helping raise money to save Colorado's forests, the list goes on and on.
"Resorts big and small, whether they're using solar power or just reusing the things they have, they're all jumping on the sustainability bandwagon because we have to," said Bohnenkamp.
The fear is, if not, climate changes like global warming will jeopardize the ski industry's future. So why not lead the way in "going green?"
"It's helping other industries throughout the state and throughout the nation say, hey, maybe we should jump on, too," Bohnenkamp said.
Copyright © 2008, KWGN
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