Snowmaking expands as ski season approaches

updated 12:22 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2007

In time for the new ski season, several Northern New England ski areas are becoming part of a national trend of resorts going "green" by buying wind-generated electricity to power their energy-hungry operations.

At least five ski areas in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are hoping to send a positive message to their environmentally minded customers by buying the equivalent of power they use from wind-generated sources.

Don't expect to see windmills sprouting up at the resorts. They will still get power they need off the grid, but its equivalent will have been produced by "green" sources, mostly wind, helping to subsidize the renewable-energy industry.

"This is really our opportunity to do our part to reverse global warming," said Melissa Rock of Shawnee Peak in Bridgton, Maine, which announced its decision to go with 100 percent wind power earlier this month.

Sugarloaf USA in Carrabassett Valley and Sunday River in Newry, Maine, have announced they are doing the same, which makes them jointly the largest purchaser and consumer of wind power in Maine, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Resorts in New Hampshire and Vermont are also part of the trend.

"Protecting the environment is one of our core values. We live off the environment," said Bruce McCloy of Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire. "Some people have to get the pendulum moving and others hop on as it gets moving."

Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vt., and Crested Butte in Colorado, which are under the same ownership as Sunapee, are also going 100 percent wind power. The three resorts say the impact of the combined power deal is to offset carbon dioxide emissions associated with the combustion of 1.9 million gallons of gasoline.

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The eastern resorts are quickly catching up with their western counterparts in opting for wind power.

Last March, Aspen Skiing Co. became Colorado's first resort to purchase enough wind power to offset all of its electricity use. Five months later, Vail Resorts announced it would buy enough wind-generated electricity to replace all the power used by its five ski areas.

The National Ski Areas Association said the idea is snowballing across the country. More than 20 ski areas have gone to 100 percent wind offsets through NSAA's Green Power Program, and around 30 others are going with partial offsets, said the association's Troy Hawks.

Ski areas have taken other steps to show their green stripes by selling "green tags" made available through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. The purchases support the production of renewable energy in the United States and Canada.

Large and small resorts everywhere are also taking steps in their everyday operations to save energy by improving efficiency in their snowmaking. Making sure there's plenty of snow will also help ski areas — especially those in Northern New England — to rebound from a dismal 2005-06 season marked by decreases in skier days in all three states.

Maine was hit hardest, with a 14 percent drop, while New Hampshire slipped by 10 percent and Vermont by 6 percent, according to industry promotion agencies in the three states.

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