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Interesting article on ski resorts, global warming, and environmentalism
An article in the online magazine Salon discusses the ski industry's
response to global warming and other environmental challenges. Here are two interesting excerpts: "Global warming predictions vary, but it's clear to all but climate change skeptics that if current trends persist, most of the world's ski resorts may not survive the next 100 years. ... But on top of struggling with warmer weather this winter, studies reflect that in the past 50 years the East Coast has seen a 15 percent decrease in snowfall. New research on California's Sierra Nevada range, meanwhile, indicates that if spring temperatures rise by a mere 5 degrees on average, and scientists say they've gained more than 2 degrees since 1950, the Golden State may lose 89 percent of its natural snow pack. Aspen and Park City, Utah, have sponsored their own studies that show winter shrinking by about three weeks over the next 50 years, and this too has got them worried." * * * "Rather than embrace ethical business models favored by conservationists, many resorts have become fixated on terrain expansion, carving new runs, installing new chairlifts and upgrading snow-making capacity. As a result, wildlife suffers, forests get logged, and despite vows of energy conservation, electricity bills continue to soar. Beaver Creek in Colorado, also owned by Vail, even has heated sidewalks. Consequently, resorts demand higher prices for lift tickets, while trying to entice more out-of-state and international skiers to fly in, pushing second-home sales and real-estate schemes whenever possible; in fact, a scan of resort Web sites reveals that real-estate shares billing with environmental education and skier safety campaigns." Worth a read in its entirety: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/26/skiing/ Joe Ramirez |
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Yean, but... (was: Interesting article on ski resorts, globalwarming, and environmentalism)
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Yean, but...
VtSkier wrote:
This winter, the Okemo Mountain resort here became the first New England ski resort to get all of its electricity from wind turbines, including the power used to run its arsenal of 1,000 snow-making guns. Everybody is hustling to claim green power (including the local) but it's all bull****. They're not building new wind farms; they're "transferring" power from utilities that already have wind farm sources and would sale that power into the market anyway. It's a shell game played because of a perceived greenish patron base who will be (easily) impressed. They have ridges with wind, they have ponds, they could build their own wind farms and use pumped storage hydro power for calm days and really make an impact (primarily an impact on the beauty of their wilderness ridges, but what the hey!) |
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Yean, but...
On Jan 26, 4:22 pm, lal_truckee wrote: Everybody is hustling to claim green power (including the local) but it's all bull****. They're not building new wind farms; they're "transferring" power from utilities that already have wind farm sources and would sale that power into the market anyway. It's a shell game played because of a perceived greenish patron base who will be (easily) impressed. They have ridges with wind, they have ponds, they could build their own wind farms and use pumped storage hydro power for calm days and really make an impact (primarily an impact on the beauty of their wilderness ridges, but what the hey!) Huh. I'm not really up to speed on the business of power gen and delivery, but maybe I should be. My company says it uses only wind power. What does that mean? I never really thought about it. Don't have time now, but I'll hypothesize when I get back, and then you can start in with the flames, politics etc... JP *********************** We also burn our scrap for heat. |
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Yean, but...
Jay Pique wrote:
On Jan 26, 4:22 pm, lal_truckee wrote: Everybody is hustling to claim green power (including the local) but it's all bull****. They're not building new wind farms; they're "transferring" power from utilities that already have wind farm sources and would sale that power into the market anyway. It's a shell game played because of a perceived greenish patron base who will be (easily) impressed. They have ridges with wind, they have ponds, they could build their own wind farms and use pumped storage hydro power for calm days and really make an impact (primarily an impact on the beauty of their wilderness ridges, but what the hey!) Huh. I'm not really up to speed on the business of power gen and delivery, but maybe I should be. My company says it uses only wind power. What does that mean? I never really thought about it. Don't have time now, but I'll hypothesize when I get back, and then you can start in with the flames, politics etc... JP *********************** We also burn our scrap for heat. Uh, Jay, aren't you near the large wind farm on Tug Hill Plateau? Could it be that your company really is only using wind gen power? Unlike Okemo and others whom LAL correctly points out are simply playing a shell game. |
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