Sustainable Travel

By Dave Buchanan

When this year’s rating of the environmental friendliness of ski areas was published, both the highest and lowest scores were from Colorado.

Aspen Mountain, which graded at 85.7 percent, received the top “A” while Copper Mountain Resort was ranked at 31.9, an “F”, according to a grading system from the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition.

Powderhorn was rated an “A” with a score of 76.2 percent.

The score card rates 83 ski areas in 11 western states. Results are available at www.skiareacitizens.com.

Copper Mountain was marked down mainly for its plans to expand its snowmaking system, open lift-served skiing in nearby backcountry areas and for proposed real estate development, said coalition research director Hunter Sykes.

Aspen benefited for attempts to minimize its development impacts, Sykes said.

Sykes said other resorts, such as Telluride, which received an “A” this year in spite of some expansion, improved their scores by providing insight into policies and programs.

However, Copper Mountain spokeswoman Lauren Pelletreau said the resort hadn’t bothered responding to the survey.

“Because the survey is so heavily weighted against some aspects, the time of our environmental manager is better spent carrying on our environmental work in the community,” Pelletreau said.

She said Copper Mountain’s “green” efforts included buying renewable energy credits, installing a solar system on a transportation building, pairing with the National Forest Foundation to raise $140,000 for “on-the-ground conservation projects” and giving a grant to a local elementary school to produce reusable shopping bags.

But Pelletreau adamantly refused to discuss possible expansion plans, saying “it isn’t relevant to the story.”

“We have certain projects approved from the EIS,” she said. “Some projects may never even happen, but resorts are evaluated (on those projects) as part of the scorecard.”

Instead, she fired back at the report, accusing the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition as being a front for Colorado Wild, whose Web site states the group opposes “industrial ski area development on public lands.”

“I think it’s important your readers look at the folks putting the survey together,” she said. “I think skiers and riders should understand which group makes up the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition.”

Sykes readily admitted the presence of Colorado Wild.

“Colorado Wild originally started the survey and now the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition is part of Colorado Wild,” he said. “We award ski areas for (adopting) certain policies and practices, but the big weight is mainly development and related criteria.”

Sykes applauded Copper Mountain for its efforts but noted the size of the planned expansion.

“Expansion is the single biggest impact to the environment a ski area can have,” he said. “This impact is quite local and can be quite severe in the area it’s occurring.

“You can’t overcome impacts to wetlands, riparian systems and ecosystem health by buying energy credits.”

Telluride, which opened 50 acres of skiing in Revelation Bowl, received an A in light of the area’s other environmental work, Sykes said.

“It’s hike-to terrain” rather than requiring a new lift, Sykes said. “There will be an impact from more skiers but not that great a physical impact.”

Crested Butte spokesman Todd Walton said that area raised its score from a D in 2007 to a C this year by actively engaging the coalition.

“It’s something we are taking more and more seriously,” Walton said. “We didn’t receive any requests for information, so we contacted them and asked them how we can be more involved and more proactive.”

Walton noted that most of the areas receiving the highest scores are those “mature areas” without plans for expansion.

Crested Butte is caught up in a local controversy regarding a proposed expansion onto nearby Snodgrass Mountain, a favorite skiing, biking and hiking area for locals.

“There are some realities to (expansion),” he said.

As for Snodgrass, “we are going to be as careful and environmentally sensitive as we can,” Walton said. “We are doing it in ways to make it as sustainable as possible.”

There’s no getting around that ski area expansion can be controversial, he said.

“It all depends on your view,” Walton said. “The world isn’t always in terms of black and white.”

This echoes what Sykes maintains: A ski area’s acceptance of the score card relies heavily on that resort’s plans for expansion.

“It depends. If they get a poor score card, they complain it’s biased against the success of the area,” he said. “I guess they equate expansion with success, and I would argue that’s not necessarily the case.

“There are fewer skiers now than there were 20 years ago.”

In other cases, he said, some ski areas see a good environmental score card as a positive.

“Some resorts even use the score card in their marketing effort,” he noted.

Source: The Daily Sentinel

Posted by BrianM at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

IHG will work with other leading commercial real estate firms, retailers, financial institutions, and two of the DOE's national laboratories to produce measurable energy saving design solutions

As a part of the effort to find real-world solutions to the growing problem of climate change, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), [LON: IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], the world's largest hotel company by number of rooms, is pleased to be one of the 23 companies selected to participate in the ground-breaking Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The CBI brings leading commercial real estate firms, retailers, and financial institutions and two of the DOE's National Laboratories - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) together to produce real-building design solutions that yield significant and measurable energy savings in commercial buildings.

To be considered, the DOE requested proposals from its National Labs and private sector companies to achieve cost-effective savings of 50 percent above the standard set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for new commercial building designs, and a savings of 30 percent for retrofits to existing buildings. Each private sector company proposed to have their design and facility management teams work with DOE's PNNL and NREL to design, build, tune and operate at least one new prototype building and to

retrofit an existing building project for 50 percent and 30 percent energy savings, respectively, over the next three to five years.

The DOE is awarding $15 million in technical assistance to provide access to the labs' unique expertise in low-energy building design and retrofit. These real building projects will provide unprecedented insight into private sector decision processes, business models, and financial drivers for achieving low-energy buildings.

"Sustainable tourism means tackling the environmental impact of hotel development and operations from the inside out - evaluating everything in the lifecycle of a hotel from site and design to management and operations. We're thrilled to be a part of this effort in the U.S. Being chosen to work with other world-class companies and the DOE to design and deliver real world commercial building solutions to help minimize our carbon and ecological footprints supports our commitment to be a responsible hotelier," says David Jerome, senior vice president of corporate responsibility, IHG.

As a part of its longtime commitment to corporate responsibility and environmental protection, many of IHG's more than 4,000 hotels, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo® around the world already have in place a number of environmental initiatives, please visit our online CR report to find out more.

"Our partnership with the DOE is part of our efforts to more effectively minimize greenhouse gas emissions, conserve energy and water resources and manage our waste and recycling. With more than 4,000 hotels around the world we are committed to a long-term strategy to deliver real environmental benefits, Jerome went on to say.

For more information, visit ICG's website.

Posted by BrianM at 6:31 AM | Permalink

Like a Chevy Volt, but available now and at half the price

by Adam Stein

The Chinese firm BYD (Build Your Dream) has leapt dramatically into the electric car market with the introduction of the F3DM, a commercially available plug-in hybrid that can travel for 60 miles without using its gasoline engine.

The car retails for about $22,000 in China, well below the projected price of the Chevy Volt, which it closely resembles. Of course, the F3DM isn’t available yet outside China yet, and both Toyota and Chevrolet may beat the company to market in the U.S. Nevertheless, Warren Buffett owns 10% of the company, and it’s a good bet that it has its eyes on world markets. The car made a big splash at the Detroit auto show this year.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this story is that BYD isn’t an car maker by pedigree. The company makes batteries — a lot of them: “65 percent of the world’s market for nickel-cadmium batteries and 30 percent of the lithium-ion cell phone batteries.”

Electrification of cars is coming. No one yet knows whether the route will be via a car-as-a-service scheme like Better Place, or whether battery prices will drop so quickly that people will just buy the vehicles themselves. In either case, the next decade will likely be the most interesting one in the long history of automobiles.

Source: TerraPass

Posted by BrianM at 6:06 AM | Permalink

The 2008 NTA Annual Convention, held Nov. 15-19 in Pittsburgh, set a record for the amount of materials that were recycled from a single show at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The center is the first and largest certified green convention center in the world.

Officials at the convention center reported that everyone who attended the NTA Convention helped to recycle 9.435 tons of material. The figure includes nearly 3.465 tons of composted materials, 3 tons of cardboard and 2.97 tons of bottles, cans and loose paper. Additionally, 123,500 gallons of water was reclaimed. In addition to being the highest amount recycled from one event, the total represents 49 percent of all the recycling for the convention center.

"These numbers reflect a true partnership" says Mark J. Leahy, general manager of the convention center. "It is amazing what can be achieved when an association and a facility work so closely together to lessen the impact on the environment."

The 2008 Annual Convention was NTA's first green convention, as part of the association's ongoing efforts to support sustainability. In 2007, NTA adopted a new strategic plan, in which the NTA Board of Directors officially recognized sustainable travel as part of its core values. That commitment was applied to NTA's largest annual event, the NTA Annual Convention, through a wide range of initiatives including an altered transportation schedule and the use of recyclable materials.

"Delegates of the 2008 NTA Convention should be commended for their tremendous efforts," said NTA Chairman and CEO Michele Michalewicz, CTP. "The conscious effort to be more environmentally responsible made a huge impact, as evident in these astounding numbers. We learned a lot from this first effort and look forward to applying those lessons to future NTA events."

As this was NTA's first green Convention, the association wanted to confirm that these record numbers were not just a reflection of the amount of trash generated by the Convention. However, convention center officials said that was not the case and instead attributed the record total to two factors. First, attendees were very conscious to place recyclable items in the bins around the center. And second, the composting total was much higher than other shows because NTA has more food events and larger ones than other shows.

The National Tour Association is the preferred association in the tourism industry for packaged travel professionals. NTA's diverse membership and progressive nature make it an industry leader as the place to do business. NTA consistently seeks innovations for the services and business tools it provides to members, and the leadership keeps its fingers on the pulse of the ever-changing world. In turn, NTA members are some of the most creative in the dynamic travel industry. NTA membership represents 36 countries, and tour and travel packagers of all types, including a group, independent, student, and more. To learn more, please visit www.NTAonline.com.

Posted by BrianM at 11:24 AM | Permalink

JustDoOne.org, an online community for sustainable living, has issued a global call for personal green solutions. The Just Do One organization invites ideas for more sustainable living summarized in short YouTube-style videos. The organization will share the entries online, and the best video entry, as judged by an expert panel, will win $5,000.

Video entries may be up to three minutes in length. Entries will be accepted from January 1 to March 1, 2009. Winners will be announced April 1, 2009, in time for media coverage leading up
to Earth Day.

Link: http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15016128/videocontest

For additional RFPs, visit http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_environment.jhtml

Posted by BrianM at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)