The Gradual Greening of Ski Country

No, I'm not referring to low snow in some mountain regions (notably the Alps and New England) for much of this winter (though I could be), and I'm not referring to the greenbacks that skiers and snowboarders leave at ski resorts (though I could be as well). I'm talking about the "green" movement that has swept across snow country as more and more enterprises that rely on white winters are responding to the global warming crisis.

In Switzerland, the resort of Andermatt began covering its Gurschen Glacier two summers ago with plastic sheeting to slow down melting. In the the US, Jiminy Peak, MA, has replaced four energy-gobbling air compressors used for snowmaking with two newer efficient models and is heating buildings with "waste heat" from those compressors -- and is planning to install its own wind turbine this summer. In Colorado, the Aspen Skiing Company has installed the ski industry's largest photovoltaic array, reducing its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 2.3 million pounds.

According to the National Ski Areas Association, 19 US ski areas are now offsetting 100 percent of their energy use by purchasing renewable energy. These are Alpine Meadows and Sugar Bowl, CA; Heavenly, CA/NV; Grand Targhee, WY; Okemo and Middlebury College Snow Bowl, VT; Mt. Ashland, OR; Shawnee Peak, ME; Mt. Sunapee, NH, and Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Keystone, Snowmass, Vail Mountain and Wolf Creek, all in Colorado. All told, as of last October, these 19 resorts are purchasing 258,574,498 kWh of green energy, reportedly eliminating 309,383,234 pounds of CO2 emissions -- the equivalent of planting nearly 12 million trees or avoiding more than 120,000 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco.

Now, Destinations Resorts & Hotels, a group of ski country properties, has rolled out out what is believed to be the ski lodging industry’s first Green Guest program to support renewable energy. Lodging guests who purchase 10 or more Mini-Green Tags at $2 each receive a 10 percent discount off their lodging at one of five participating properties in Aspen, Telluride and Vail, including the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, above right. Each property will also match the total number of Mini-Green Tags that guests purchase between March 1 and April 7, 2007 (or when the ski season ends) -- and presumably next season as well.

Each tag purchases 100 kilowatt-hours of new renewable, wind-generated electricity to offset the environmental effects of burning coal, gas and other fossil fuels. Destination Resorts figures that a typical spring vacation to Colorado usually entails four guests flying into Denver International Airport, renting a car and driving to the resort for a four-night stay, which translates between 23 Mini Green Tag equivalents for people arriving from nearby states to 123 Mini Green Tag equivalents for guests flying in from the East Coast. Each Mini Green Tag represents 100 kilowatt-hours of wind power entering the energy grid and creates a savings of 140 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. For details and reservations, call call 866-831-3222 or of go to the Destination Resorts' website.


What more can be done? There are four suggestions on my wish list. I wish that hotels would cut down on their night-time illumination -- miles of hallways lit 24/7, often still with incandescent lights -- and too many of them. (Many European hotels have on-demand hall lighting, either through sensors or switches near the elevators, stairs and room doors.) I wish that the housekeepers who do the nightly turndown service didn't turn on practically every lamp in my room -- and often the TV or radio as well. I wish I were confident that when I hang up my towel or put the little sign on my bed volunteering to reuse my linens, housekeepers honor that request and don't automatically send everything to laundry. I wish that in warm-weather resorts, the rooms were not air conditioned to the point of refrigeration. Everything I'm hearing about equals a good start, but there are certainly more steps -- large and small -- that ski resorts could take toward environmental responsibility.