Energy and WasteAs with any tourism, the seasonal influx of visitors vastly increases demand for energy and water and places pressure on waste management resources. In fact, a village needs to plan with foresight, since instead of assessing the requirements for their small village – they are in fact planning for a town. For example, some resorts may have a year round population of 1500 but have 9000 bed nights and 2000 seasonal staff. Often, the infrastructural development does not keep up with the commercial development and there are examples of resorts failing to plan properly with catastrophic consequences. Of course, many projects are long term capital investments – however there are areas that can be addressed more quickly.
The use of renewable energy for the whole resort as well as the ski facilities is the goal and local authorities need to pursue this. Many alpine areas are already well ahead in this regard using hydroelectricity and solar energy created locally. Other resorts such as Vail in the United States are switching to wind power. Biomass is increasingly being used for heating and hot water - it is particularly appropriate for mountain resorts as the raw material is in close proximity and villages are generally compact. CO2 emissions in Lech, Austria, for example were cut by over 50% when they built a biomass plant to provide hot water and heating for the village. Additionally, five million litres of oil were saved and 7 tonnes fewer SO2 emissions emitted. Another area to be addressed is waste water treatment. There are examples where mountain restaurants and facilities are not connected to a purification plant and thus their waste water and sewerage pollutes the local watercourses. All buildings need to be connected despite their location. Waste water treatment plants can be run totally organically ie, without any chemicals being used in the processing. All treatment plants should regularly check that the water being returned to the watercourses is of equivalent water purity. There are interesting examples where both areas are combined – in Seefeld, their waste water treatment plant returns the water into a hydroelectric turbine which actually generates approximately 25% of their electricity needs. Domestic waste removal is planned and managed by the local or provincial authority. There are great examples in Europe where it is compulsory to split all waste five ways; paper, glass, plastic, tin and biomass, and any waste that cannot be recycled incurs a variable charge per kilogramme thus encouraging people to reduce their waste. The way forward...1. Ensure all mountain facilities have their waste water and sewage connected to the mains or if impossible for sewage – use composting toilets.
2. Choose renewable energy for the whole resort and investigate local production of renewable energy – such as solar, wind or hydro. 3. Run water treatment plants organically and verify that only water as pure as mountain streams is returned back to the water courses. 4. Investigate the use of Biomass for the heating of hot water for the whole village or public buildings. 5. Ensure that there are measures to reduce waste as well as facilitating recycling throughout all domestic and commercial buildings. |  What do you think? Contribute to our
discussion forum For more great examples of what resorts are doing - check out the case studies
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All resorts need to look to address the above steps in order to contribute to Responsible Skiing
