Vail casts its fate to wind power
Ski areas, hotels, offices will go 'green' by buying renewable energy credits from Boulder provider
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Vail Resorts Inc. will buy enough renewable energy to cover electricity use for all of its ski areas, hotels and headquarters, making it the nation's second-largest corporate user of wind power behind Whole Foods.
The "green" energy will cover power use at its five ski resorts, its lodging properties, including RockResorts and Grand Teton Lodge Co., all 125 retail locations operated through Specialty Sports Venture and its new corporate headquarters.
"Companies need to start diversifying their energy sources," said Vail CEO Rob Katz, who made the announcement at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science along with Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. "We view sustainability as integral to our company's future success."
Vail, which recently moved its headquarters to Broomfield from Avon, will buy about 152,000 megawatt hours of wind-power credits from Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy.
Vail will not actually be powered by wind. Instead, the credits will pump more wind energy into the nation's electric grid, reducing the amount of coal and natural gas used.
The publicly traded company would not disclose the cost.
Vail owns and operates Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge ski areas in Colorado, and Heavenly in Nevada.
Vail also is offering free lift tickets to people who go to its Web site, www.snow.com, and agree to buy wind power for a year.
Powering a typical residence with wind power costs about $10 to $15 a month more when compared to natural gas and coal.
"It is our hope this effort will help educate consumers about the benefits of wind power," Katz said.
By throwing its support behind wind power, Vail follows the lead of Aspen Skiing Co. The rival ski area operator announced plans in March to go 100 percent "green" at its four Colorado ski areas and has been a proponent of renewable energy amid concerns about climate change.
Aspen Skiing officials repeatedly have warned about the impact of global warming on the state's snowpack levels and the long-term viability of the ski industry.
"We pride ourselves on our environmental programs, but in the end it's not about being first, it's about all of us being here and still skiing in 50 years," said Jeff Hanle, Aspen Skiing's spokesman.
Vail's deal is estimated to keep about 211 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, out of the atmosphere each year. That's equivalent to taking 18,000 cars off the highway, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Vail understands we're too dependent in this country on fossil fuels," Udall said at Vail's news conference. "We have to reduce our dependence on petroleum."
Owens predicted others would follow Vail's move.
"We're going to see more companies following Vail," Owens said. "Slowly but surely we're ushering in a new way of thinking."
Colorado voters back a 2004 measure that requires the state's top utilities to generate some power from alternative sources such as the sun, wind, and plant and animal waste.
An Xcel Energy program called WindSource allows consumers to support renewable wind energy generated by Colorado wind farms. But that program already is fully subscribed and has a waiting list.
Renewable Choice, the company Vail tapped for its wind initiative, provides wind power to Whole Foods and has wind farms across the country.
Whole Foods in January said it would buy 458,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity annually to replace all of its power consumption.
Renewable Choice CEO Quayle Hodek said Vail's wind program would have the same effect as "not burning 113 million pounds of coal each year."
Tops in renewable energy
According to the EPA's Web site, the following organizations ranked as the top 10 users of various forms of renewable energy as of June:
1. U.S. Air Force
2. Whole Foods Market
3. Johnson & Johnson
4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
5. U.S. Department of Energy
6. Starbucks
7. HSBC North America
8. University of Pennsylvania
9. The World Bank Group
10.IBM Corp.
kelleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5068
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