The Greening Of White: Renewable Energy Movement Accelerates

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30 October 2006

Push to The Latest: No

SAM Magazine - Lakewood, CO, October 30, 2006 - Alpine Meadows, Calif., Grand Targhee, Wyo., and Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Vt., have recently joined 16 other ski areas that are offsetting 100 percent of their energy use by purchasing renewable energy. Together, these 19 resorts are purchasing 258,574,498 kWh of green energy and their purchases result in the avoidance of 309,383,234 pounds of CO2. This is the equivalent of planting nearly 12 million trees or avoiding more than 120,000 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco.

In addition, SAM Magazine has switched its two offices over to green energy by offsetting 100 percent of its energy use by purchasing wind power. And on-line editor Tom Winter's Vail office has been wind powered since it was available--about four years.

SAM is proud to join the list of 19 resorts that includes: California's Alpine Meadows and Sugar Bowl, Colorado's Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Keystone, Snowmass, Vail Mountain and Wolf Creek as well as Maine's Shawnee Peak, Mount Sunapee, N.H., Heavenly, Nev., Mt. Ashland, Ore., Vermont's Okemo Mountain Resort and Middlebury College Snow Bowl and Grand Targhee, Wyo.

"Protection of the environment is one of our core values. It is also very important to our guests," says Tim Mueller, who along with his wife Diane owns Okemo Mountain Resort and Crested Butte, and operates Mount Sunapee through a lease with the State of New Hampshire. "We have the ability to demonstrate that Okemo, Mount Sunapee and Crested Butte are good community and corporate citizens working toward energy independence for America through clean, renewable sources like wind energy."

The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) launched its Green Power Program in September as part of the industry's Keep Winter Cool program to combat global warming. Green power is generated from renewable and nonpolluting energy sources including wind power, geothermal power, small scale hydro-power, solar power or bio-mass power. To date, 47 resorts in 14 states are buying renewable energy for their operations to offset at least a part of their power consumption. In addition, NSAA, the National Ski Patrol (NSP), the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI) are also offsetting 100 percent of their electricity use, as are NSAA supplier members SAM Magazine and BEWI Productions Inc., producer of consumer ski shows.