Wind power is used in large scale wind farms for national electrical grids as well as in small individual turbines for providing electricity to rural residences or grid-isolated locations. Wind energy is ample, renewable, widely-distributed, clean, and reduces the Greenhouse Effect when used to replace fossil-fuel-derived electricity.

According to Energy Star statistics, by replacing an average of 10 bulbs in every Beaver Creek Lodge guestroom, the annual energy saved could light more than 117 homes for one year and save the emissions equivalent to taking nearly 880 cars off the road for one year.  In addition, only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb produces light; the rest is given off as heat.

Programmable thermostats are in place throughout the resort, ensuring energy efficiency.  Lighting upgrades to fluorescent lights and electronic ballasts are complete in all office areas, ensuring energy efficiency.

Guest rooms and public restrooms feature low-flow toilets (less than 1.6 gal/flush), reducing water consumption. Assuming 2 flushes per day per guest room, these low-flow toilets save more than 3 million gallons of water per year. An important fact, considering that 40% of the world’s water supplied to homes is flushed down the toilet.

Water faucets in public restrooms have been upgraded with automatic water conservation features, reducing water consumption. Depending on intensity of use, these new faucets are estimated to save between 10 and 50% of previous total water use.

Extensive cardboard recycling program in place, reducing total waste. Last year, Beaver Creek Lodge recycled more than 100 tons of cardboard, or the equivalent weight of about 25 adult elephants. This saved more than 900 cubic yards of landfill space. Recycling corrugated cardboard cuts the emissions of sulfur dioxide in half and uses about 25% less energy than making cardboard from virgin pulp.

Plastic recycling program in place (and soon to be expanded) in public areas and back-of-house areas, reducing waste. According to the National Resources Defense Council, it takes 70% less energy to recycle plastic versus using raw materials to manufacture.

Office paper recycling program in place (and soon to be expanded) in back-of-house and business center, reducing waste.

Beaver Creek Lodge is currently developing a newspaper recycling program for guest participation, reducing waste.

The lodge uses all natural amenities in guest suites and is donating partially used amenities to charities.

The resort is now purchasing post-consumer recycled content for targeted paper products, reducing waste. As the “green lodging” movement grows, more products utilizing recycled contents are expected to be available, giving the resort more opportunities to make a difference in the area of purchasing.

The resort participates in bulk purchasing, reduced packaging and manufacturer take-back initiatives, reducing waste. For instance, by switching to a bulk dilution control system for our cleaning products, we were able to substantially reduce packaging

Ink cartridge and toner cartridge recycling program at on-site business center, reducing waste. According to Office Depot, each remanufactured toner cartridge keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills, and conserves about a half-gallon of oil.

Beaver Creek Lodge is now transitioning to recycled paper for its printing needs. And for a good reason! It takes 64% less energy and 58% less water to manufacture paper from recycled stock.

The Convention Services department is communicating group details to other departments electronically.

The Sales department now provides detailed meeting-specific invoices – sometimes large enough to fill an entire binder via email.

Payroll now offers an option to view pay statements online, eliminating the need to print a pay statement for every STAR employee.

We have consolidated regular deliveries from our primary food supplier by 50%, to three days a week. In one year, this will eliminate more than 150 two-way trips from the warehouse.

Beaver Creek Lodge restaurants and banquet chefs have committed to supporting local and organic farming. Some industry publications estimate that the average meal travels approximately 1,500 miles before it reaches your table. Eliminating air travel and shorter transit distances drastically reduces the amount of fossil fuel consumed in bringing foods from farm to table.

The resort supports sustainable fishing and agriculture programs, changing purchasing requirements in response to external factors and as new information is made available.

Beaver Creek Lodge is working with individual meeting planners to incorporate “Earth-friendly” components into their meeting plans. Some easy changes include:

• Using potted plants instead of “cut flower” arrangements on banquet tables
• Eliminating bottled water in favor of pitchers of water.
• Asking banquet bartenders not to automatically give a cocktail napkin with every drink.
• Using fewer disposable items at food functions, when appropriate.
• Only setting pads of paper and ink pens when necessary, or having these resources available at the front of the room.
• Providing meeting flyers and hand-outs electronically, via a special Internet site or email.
• Reusing name badge holders.
• Accepting all Banquet Event Orders (BEOs) electronically during the planning phase, meeting planners can save a substantial amount of paper.
• By incorporating a volunteer or eco-logical activity into a meeting, a meeting planner can offset the “carbon footprint” of the function.

Beaver Creek Lodge will soon introduce several “green meeting” packages for meetings that may find it difficult to hold such a meeting otherwise.

A new internal campaign – called GET Green -- provides ongoing Grand Performer communications and training:

• Upon hire, Grand Performers are provided with the following:
  GET Green incentive programs – each month a Grand Performer is recognized for their dedication to the environment whether it is hotel related or not we want to support our GP’s efforts for sustainability.