Mount Sunapee Resort Leading the Way for a Sustainable Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mount Sunapee Resort
Newbury, NH
Bruce McCloy, Director of Marketing and Sales
(603) 763-3500 or bmccloy@mtsunapee.com

Newbury, NH – (August, 2007) – Mount Sunapee is participating in a number of initiatives that will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and help manage electrical consumption in New England.

In the fall of 2006 Mount Sunapee Resort, along with sister resorts Okemo Mountain in Vermont and Crested Butte Resort in Colorado, entered into an agreement with Gunnison County Electric Association to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates from Sterling Planet, the nation’s leading retail renewable energy provider.  Renewable Energy Certificates ensure that the amount electrical energy used (27 million kilowatt hours for the three resorts) is replaced onto the power grid with wind energy.  Over a year this will save an estimated 18,800 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

“Protection of the environment is one of our core values. It is also very important to our guests,” says Tim Mueller, owner of the three resorts. “We have the ability to demonstrate that Okemo, Mount Sunapee and Crested Butte are good community and corporate citizens working toward energy independence for America through clean, renewable sources like wind energy.”

For the 2007-2008 season Mount Sunapee is purchasing 18 energy efficient snow guns from Snow Economics.  These guns can produce the same amount of snow in temperatures above 25 degrees (which are common during early season snowmaking) as older less efficient guns, while using only 12-25% of the compressed air per gun.  This will allow Mount Sunapee to produce the same amount of snow during these temperatures without running the equivalent of three 1,600 cfm (cubic feet per minute) diesel air compressors.

The resort is also enrolled in the ISO-New England “Emergency Demand Response Program.”  This program is designed to quickly reduce the electrical load on the New England electrical grid in the event of a region-wide electrical emergency situation.  Mount Sunapee has agreed to shed 100% of its snowmaking load within 30 minutes should ISO-New England call an emergency between November and March.  Mount Sunapee’s superior snowmaking firepower allows the resort to participate in this program without affecting the quality of the snow surfaces at the resort.

For more information visit mountsunapee.com.