Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is one of the most successful resorts in North America, and growing as a result, but the Wyoming ski centre has also been a strong advocate of high environmental standards for many years and set targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions despite this growth.
This year JHMR met its five-year quantitative goal for its EMS by reducing the company’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, natural gas/propane and vehicle fuels by over 10%. This is measured relative to a per-guest baseline established in 2009.
“These goals demonstrate that we are able to more efficiently use energy resources as our business continues to develop,” said JHMR President Jerry Blann. “We are doing our part to mitigate the risks associated with climate change that affect ski resorts world-wide,” Blann went on to note.
JHMR also received its third re-registration of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) by KPMG. ISO 14001 is an international recognised environmental management system for businesses.
“These external audits prove we walk our green talk by quantifying environmental actions taken by every department in the organization,” said JHMR Environmental Coordinator Jon Bishop.
The Brendle Group, a Colorado-based consultancy also working on National Ski Area Association’s (NSAA) Climate Challenge (of which JHMR is a founding member) developed an Inventory Management Plan for greenhouse gas emissions reductions for JHMR in 2011.
Their plan resulted in updates to building heating systems, year-round use of B10 diesel fuel and conversion of up to four vehicles to run on 100% waste vegetable oil collected from JHMR restaurants. “The Buildings and Areas, Food and Beverage and Vehicle Maintenance departments really stepped up to the plate over the last few years. We are seeing many innovative projects from these groups being completed that, collectively, have resulted in improved efficiencies for the company,” said Bishop.
“JHMR is committed to this Environmental Management System, and is developing new quantitative goals to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste generation per guest visit relative to a new 2014 baseline,” said a resort statement.
A variety of activities, such as conversion of gasoline to diesel vehicles, replacement of two-stroke snowmobiles with E-tec and 4-stroke models, energy efficiency standards for new building and remodeling and potential renewable energy installations, are all being considered as environmental improvements to resort facilities and operations over the next five years.