Breckenridge

Breckenridge: green factor

• Introduction to green factor assessments
• Environmental overview of resorts
• Environmental initiatives

Major Initiatives

One of the World's Largest Corporate Users of Renewable Energy

Breckenridge owners Vail Resorts became one of the world's largest corporate users of renewable energy when it switched its five resorts and other buildings to use wind power.

The company purchases 152,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy per year saving the release of over 200 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

The resort's Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly resorts as well as a Lodge it owns in Jackson Hole and its various retail outlets will all have their conventional electricity usage offset by the purchase of power through wind-power broker Renewable Choice Energy Inc. It is not physically possible for Vail to have wind-generated electricity wired direct to them, so instead they buy the equivalent value of wind power, which is then released in to the grid on their behalf.

"By embracing wind power as a clean and renewable source for 100 percent of our company-wide energy use, we want to reinforce our commitment to the natural environment in which we operate ." said Rob Katz, Vail Resorts' CEO.

Low Ranking By Action Group
Although Breckenridge is able to tick all the boxes for making efforts in all the major areas of concern for environmental issues, it received the lowest ranking in the annual survey by regional action group, the Ski Area Citizens' Coalition (www.skiareacitizens.com) so you may wish to cross check their research on Breckenridge with the information provided by the resort, below.

Resource Efficiency
Breckenridge has a long history of resource efficiency. From the historic mining in the area to the beginnings of the resort community, environmental efforts began by necessity - to make the best use of sparse resources. This ethic continues today, recharged by the commitment of the resort and resort employees to maintain the beauty of their hometown.

To this end Breckenridge developed a public statement outlining the resort’s environmental commitment and priorities, and the resort encourages guests to participate.

The Breckenridge Enmvironmental Commitment
Breckenridge Ski Resort is entrusted with the stewardship of lands in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. We promote renewable energy, resource conservation, recycling, wildlife habitat preservation, and environmental education. The aims are:
- Pack it in, Pack it out
- Carpool and use public transportation
- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
- Share the mountain; respect all posted closures
- Every employee plays a role

The Breckenridge environmental purchasing policy favors low waste, energy and water efficiency and recycled content products. The resort's marketing and public relations departments strive to replace printed materials with electronic media, and marketing specifies the use of recycled content and non-petroleum based inks for print jobs.

Energy Management & Conservation
Breckenridge strives to manage and conserve energy use in a variety of its operations. The resort uses less energy in its snowmaking and lift operations while still accomplishing these necessary resort operations essential to the guest experience.

Snowmaking
Breckenridge limits snowmaking running time to 60 days per year, which shortens and lowers overall demand use

Lifts
In 1985, Breckenridge Ski Resort began purchasing and installing lifts, including chairs, towers and other components, that require little or no painting. The surface is galvanized and lasts 100 years. This results in less exposure to spills and decreased waste streams. The Falcon SuperChair on Peak 10 was the first lift of this kind installed at Breckenridge.

No other ski area in North America uses more motor control centers called Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) than Breckenridge. VFDs allow lift operations crews to throttle back the pumping system, meaning lifts don't have to run at full speed at all times, saving a significant amount of energy. Other systems (most resorts use DC drives to power lifts) run at 100% at all times. VFDs offer a more energy-efficient motor controller than any other drive and are able to perform a power factor correction. A VFD runs at 100% or unity power factor (net result), while a DC drive runs with a 60% net result - 40% of its power is lost to heat and waste.

Contamination Mitigation
Where possible, Breckenridge looks for methods of mitigating potential contamination to its surrounding environment.

Fuel
Most resorts use large underground storage tanks to fuel lifts, which poses a risk to the environment through a potential for leakage. Breckenridge was the first resort to utilize small tanks on its lifts called "day tanks." These day tanks power each lift for approximately one to two days and are then refilled, on-site, as needed. This method results in a lower impact to the environment because it reduces the volume of fuel present on the mountain at any one time, reducing the risk of spills or leakage.

Storm Water Management
Breckenridge Ski Resort created and implemented a plan to reduce contamination during excavation or any earth disturbance project. The resort requires that all sites include a barrier used to filter and lower the turbidity of water leaving the area. In addition, when a project has been completed, the resort requires the area to be re-vegetated with native plants used to hold the soil in place. Resort employees monitor this re-vegetation effort continually.

Noxious Weeds
Currently, Breckenridge supports and assists in the removal of all noxious weeds identified on the mountain and in the base areas. This is done using Eco-friendly herbicides and through hand-pulling.

Resource Conservation
- To reduce fuel usage, traffic, and air pollution, Breckenridge busses shuttle guests throughout Town and to and from parking areas to various resort locations. Every year more than one million people leave their cars behind and catch a ride.
- To conserve building resources, Breckenridge collects all reusable components of old buildings and uses them for renovations and new construction. Walls, lights, carpet and tabletops were recycled during the Border Burritos renovation 33,100 cubic yards of chipped wood was recovered during the Peak 7 terrain expansion and hauled for composting to a mining soil reclamation project near Leadville
Breckenridge screens and re-uses dirt from excavation projects, turning it into topsoil.
- The resort also uses Eco-friendly insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
- To minimize impacts, Breckenridge uses composting toilets and many low-volume toilets, and is part of a pilot program introducing waterless urinals.
- During the winter months, the resort utilizes Eco-friendly snow-melt.

Recycling
Breckenridge Ski Resort is renowned for its recycling efforts and the resort is truly committed to increasing these efforts each year. Conservation efforts at Breckenridge include wood, metal, plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, used oil, and antifreeze recycling programs, to name a few.

Each year the resort recycles more than 500 tons of resources
From Aug. 1, 2003 through July 31, 2004, Breckenridge Ski Resort recycled:
*31 tons of comingled material (cans, glass, plastic)
*28 tons of newspaper
*24 tons of office paper
*98 tons of cardboard
TOTAL RECYCLED: 181 tons of material

- The resort provides recycling centers for all special events.

- Beyond the typical, Breckenridge also recycles old computers, light bulbs, motor oil, antifreeze, scrap steel, tires, aerosol cans, toner cartridges, batteries and fluorescent lamps

- On their way out of town, seasonal employees donate appliances and household goods to the resorts' Win-Win program, providing free necessities to future employees.

- The resort retrieves unclaimed cell phones from lost and found, sells them to an organization who will pay $5 per phone and then donates this money to The Carriage House, a local daycare center.

- In addition to its recycling efforts, Breckenridge Ski Resort also strives to purchase products that are either environmentally-friendly, or do not impact the environment and landfills. These products include aerosols, solvents and the purchase and use of non-disposable towels (in place of paper products).

Wildlife Habitat Preservation
Breckenridge, in conjunction with Vail Resorts, conducts a variety of wildlife studies, from elk to the Boreal Toad, and supports the reintroduction of the Canadian Lynx to the Colorado Rockies.

In the spring and early summer, the resort closes off and protects sensitive wildlife breeding and birthing areas.

All projects are scrutinized and designed to minimize environmental impacts and protect local threatened/endangered plant and animal species.

Environmental Partnerships
As stewards of the environment, Breckenridge Ski Resort recently began a strong partnership with the Colorado Fourteener Initiative (CFI) to assist in the organization's effort to protect and preserve Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks. In addition to donating funds to CFI's restoration efforts, the resort's lift services department designed and built a tramway system, helping CFI volunteers to move large materials and boulders up and down the mountainsides. The materials, labor and training were all donated in the creation of this system, which has been deemed a huge success and has helped to reduce labor needed in certain areas, speeding up the restoration process.

Environmental Education
Breckenridge strives to inform guests and employees of the resort's environmental efforts through a variety of opportunities.

Breckenridge has hosted Colorado College students for field experiences to study land use and sustainable economics at the Peak 7 terrain expansion.

Environmental displays are located in the Bergenhoff and Vista Haus restaurants to make guests more aware of ski resort environmental issues.

Biodiesel in Municipal Vehicles
The Town of Breckenridge uses a cleaner burning fuel called biodiesel in municipal vehicles. Breckenridge leaders have encouraged other Colorado cities, resorts, transit agencies and private companies to follow suit. Breckenridge Ski Resort has already adopted the use of biodiesel fuel for use in its summer fleet. The town hosted a Rocky Mountain Biodiesel Symposium to educate regional vehicle fleet managers about the many benefits of biodiesel in an effort to convince them to switch to the renewable fuel.

"I strongly believe that using renewable, domestically produced fuels like biodiesel is the right thing to do," said Breckenridge Mayor Sam Mamula.

Biodiesel is an American fuel made from fats or oils, such as soybean oil. It works in any diesel engine with few or no modifications.

Since resorts are continuously increasing and improving their environmental practices, we update the Green Resort Guide throughout the year. If you have any information about new resort environmental policies/practices or anything that you think we may have missed, please email greenresortguide@skiclub.co.uk.

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