By Patrick Thorne, editor of the Green Ski Resort Guide
Although, in the greater scheme of things, ski resorts are more victims of climate change than a cause of it, there has been a marked switch in attitude at most ski areas over the past decade from grudgingly putting up with environmental issues, to wholeheartedly embracing them.
An increasing number of ski resorts are now at the forefront of environmental campaigning, lobbying governments to do more and themselves making efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.
Some of the examples are dramatic. Vail resorts is the second largest buyer of renewable energy in North America (which probably means the world), while Whistler has spent millions on a hydro power plant that supplies all the resort’s energy needs.
In France, the Three Valleys area, which includes Meribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens and Les Menuires, buys in renewable energy for all of its on-mountain operations.
What skiers can do
As far as skiers and boarders are concerned, there are two things we can do to help ski areas fight climate change. Firstly, we can cut our carbon footprints the 51 weeks a year we’re not in a ski resort – by cutting back on our power use and switching to a green energy supplier.
Secondly, we can travel by train, rather than flying or driving. It’s the travel to the ski area, rather than our actually stay there once we’ve arrived, that generates the most CO2.
Publicity campaigns have been aimed at skiers urging them to switch off lights, reuse their carrier bags and take care not to litter the pistes. Although not large measures in themselves, every little helps, and their importance lies not only in the reduction of emissions, but in the way they raise people’s awareness.
Resorts using clean energy
For the resorts, cleaner energy is a major way of reducing their carbon footprint. The process of powering ski lifts is slowly being revolutionised and in recent years solar panels have replaced or supplemented diesel generators in some cases and the kinetic energy from the descents of lifts is used to power the ascents in others.
Although these are so far limited to a few dozen installations worldwide, it is a step in the right direction. Similarly, heat generated from the lift engine operations can be recycled to warm nearby buildings.
According to a survey by saveoursnow.com, many ski areas have taken the simpler step of switching all power requirements to green energy suppliers, with 60% of the world’s 250 leading ski resorts now using at least some renewable energy. A third are using 100% renewable energy.
Many ski resorts have taken advantage of their natural locations to become renewable energy suppliers with more than 50 running windmills, solar panels or hydro plants to generate green energy for export.
Austria’s second largest solar power facility at Werfenweng has enabled the resort to become virtually self-sufficient in green energy, with 260 households now powered by the system. Anyone visiting the Three Valleys ski area can be confident that all of their electricity is coming from hydroelectric power centres.
At other resorts, geothermal energy now powers lighting and accommodation, with biofuels used to run vehicles and appliances. But it's not easy being green. Biofuels are cleaner to burn than petrol, but the energy used in their production is against them. Take into account the land used to grow crops destined for vehicles rather than hungry mouths, and an ethical quandary is born.
Another contentious area is snowmaking. Environmentalists criticise its use of energy, while resorts claim it is vital for their long-term survival.
In a less problematic move, resorts are simply cutting down on what they use. GPS equipment on piste grooming machines in Serre Chevalier helps minimise piste bashing repetition and monitor idle engine time, thereby conserving energy by 17%.
Eco-friendly buildings
A growing trend with building in resorts is to use local materials, extra heat insulation and bio-mass heating systems. The latter is especially popular in Austria where increasing numbers of villages, including Lech and Soll, now have communal heating systems.
In Switzerland, skiers can enjoy a stay in a Whitepod, an insulated tent that gets packed away in the spring. No chilly camping experience, Whitepods are luxuriously furnished inside and offer a skiing holiday that brings you much closer to nature than the average resort.
Green transport initiatives
In these days of international climate concern, resorts are increasingly coming together in networks to create joint aims. Alpine Pearls is one such network. An EU project, it comprises 21 Alpine communities – including Les Gets in France and Interlaken in Switzerland – that provide a “clean mobility” service for skiers.
By supplying buses, connecting villages by mini railways and creating car-free areas where people can travel by foot or bicycle, the Alpine Pearls scheme involves skiers in efforts to lower carbon emissions.
Exchanging ideas
Increasingly, resorts are working together and exchanging ideas on best practice so that the best green initiatives are copied by resorts around the world. Environmental organisations such as MountainRiders in France and Respect the Mountains in the Netherlands have grown up giving advice to skiers, lobbying resorts and organising annual slope clean-ups by volunteers at the end of the season.
Climate change is at the very centre of life in the Alps. Its symptoms are compelling the ski industry to do what they can to help fight the worldwide problem. Resorts are continually coming up with ever more innovative ideas on all levels to do their bit, and while there may be some ‘corporate confusion’ in a few resorts where owners and managers remain insincere about the fight, the vast majority of staff in resort are doing far more than the average man-in-the-street to fight climate change, both in their work and in their home lives.
Being on the front line, they are fully aware that prolonging snow sports into the future depends on all of our efforts now.
* Additonal research by Melissa Brown