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Posted on 08/02/2006 8:03:03 AM PDT by Uncledave
Vail Resorts to Switch to Wind Power By KIM NGUYEN Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press
DENVER — Vail Resorts said Tuesday it will buy enough wind-generated electricity to replace all the power used by its five ski areas and more than 135 other stores, lodges and offices.
Vail said it would purchase nearly 152,000 megawatt-hours of wind-generated electricity a year, making it the second-largest corporate purchaser of wind power in the country. It did not immediately disclose the cost.
In January, Austin, Texas-based natural food grocer Whole Foods Market Inc. said it would buy 458,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity annually to replace all of its power consumption.
"By embracing wind power as a clean and renewable source for 100 percent of our companywide electricity use, we want to reinforce our commitment to the natural environment in which we operate and be a leader on this critical effort within the travel industry," said Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts.
Vail is the second-largest ski operator in North America, after Intrawest Corp., based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Vail Resorts owns and operates Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge ski areas in Colorado, Heavenly in Nevada and California, and Grand Teton Lodge Co. near Jackson, Wyo.
In addition to its ski resorts, Vail owns or operates about a dozen lodges and 125 retail stores. The company announced in April it is moving its headquarters from the Vail Valley to the northwest Denver suburb of Broomfield.
Vail shares fell 6 cents to close at $34.51 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ski resorts are perfect candidates for this. The mountain side has already been developed so siting/public approval issues are far fewer; mountain ridge sites usually have outstanding wind resources; and ski resorts typically have the infrastructure advantages to make it economically viable compared to a greenfield mountain site -- grid interconnection (so they can sell the power at night), access roads, built-in load demand, on-site maintenance staff, etc.
One ski area in the Berkshires of MA is installing a 1MW turbine. Their annual energy cost rose from $700k in 2003 to $1.7 million in 2005.
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This is Vail. The windmills will be elsewhere. Unsightly structures are for the little people to look at - just ask Ted the Swimmer over his opposition to a wind farm off Martha's Vineyard.
How many MW of wind-generated electricity are there out there to buy?
Oh, didn't we tell you? We need several billions of dollars in federal subsidies to get the wind generators up and running. But don't worry -- it's helping the environment! Thanks for stopping by!
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Depends on where you live if the programs are available. There's many firms likes these guys: http://www.newwindenergy.com/
Some Xcel Energy customers made out like a bandit buying wind credits at a locked-in rate not so long ago.
10% of US electricity is Federal Gov't built hydroelectric.
20% is nukes, with all fuel made (and pretty much invented) by the Federal gov't and all waste handled by Uncle Sam free of charge, too.
Coal receives massive subsidies, as does natural gas.
The rural grid was built by the Federal Government.
Pretending that electricity is a "free market" without government involvement is goofy. Its always been a government project, why should wind and solar be different?
oh, I forgot one. What percentage of the US military budget would one say is devoted to keeping our oil supplies safe?
What you really want to know is how many MWhr there are to buy. Since there is going to be 12 gw of installed wind power in this country at the end of this year and since each gw of installed wind power equals about 2,200 gwhr of electricity the answer to the question you meant to ask is approximately 26,400,000 MWhr.
The blades of one of those windmills leave a nasty welt when you ski into one of 'em.
Very good points
Are there separate wires for the wind-generated electrons? How do they know they are not getting mixed up with the fossil or nuke electrons? :-)
What exactly are the massive subsidies that coal receives?
Net Generation by Other Renewables: Total (All Sectors)
And for comparison to traditional sources
Who said it was a free market? I'm just getting ready for you guys to stick your hand into my wallet again.
Natural Gas pays large taxes and royalties, it is an income, not an expense to governments.
Devoted? Next to nothing. If a miracle happened and ANWR, NPRA, Bristol Bay, OCS and all our coastlines was openned for oil and gas production, how many aircraft carriers would we sell, tanks? what divisions would we get rid of?
I thought I read the Ski Resorts would soon be a thing of the past due to "Global Warming"™.
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