Lakewood, CO – On Monday the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) honored three ski areas – including Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Co., Maine’s Mt. Abram, and Washington’s Stevens Pass – with the 2012 Golden Eagle Awards for Environmental Excellence. The Golden Eagle Awards are the ski industry’s most prestigious award for recognizing resort environmental programs and projects.
In its winning effort for ski areas with up to 200,000 skier/snowboarder visits per year, Mt. Abram presented its winning combination of on-site renewable energy generation, energy-efficient systems, carbon-neutral fuel sources, and smart transportation practices. When the ski area’s base lodge burned down in 2011, the resort invested more than $66,000 dollars in a wood pellet heating system that has reduced its carbon dioxide output by 166 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) annually.
Meanwhile, Stevens Pass took the top environmental honors in the medium-sized ski area category (200,000 to 500,000 skier/snowboarder visits) for its energy conservation and GHG reduction efforts. For five years Stevens Pass has offset a full 100 percent of its electricity and propane consumption through renewable energy credits and carbon offsets. To date, the ski area has funded 21,289,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of wind power, which has prevented the emission of 16,182 tons of CO2, and is equivalent to taking 2,878 cars off the road for a year.
Finally, Aspen Skiing Co.’s (ASC) was selected as this year’s Golden Eagle Award winner in the large resort category (more 500,000 skier/snowboarder visits annually) for its Coal Mine Methane to Electricity Project that captures waste methane to generate three megawatts of power using piston engines, roughly the equivalent of the company’s annual energy consumption.
Judges for this year’s awards include: Tiffany Beal, International Mountain Bicycling Association; Judy Dorsey, Brendle Group; Elysa Hammond, CLIF Bar & Company; Geraldine Link, NSAA; Loren Kroenke, USDA – Forest Service; Greg Owsley, New Belgium Brewing Company; and Kirk Mills, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE).