Vail Resorts
SKI RESORT BENEFICIAL ELECTRIFICATION/DECARBONIZATION MARKET ANALYSIS
JohnRyan Lockman
Executive Summary
Vail Mountain and Vail Resorts appreciates the opportunity to provide this proposal to the University
of Colorado’s Masters of the Environment (MENV) program to support and collaborate with 3-5
graduate students in pursuit of a capstone project partner.
Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Vail Resorts is the leading global mountain resort operator
with 37 resorts in 15 states and three countries as well as travel-centric retail and hospitality
businesses. Our mission, which comes to life thanks to brave, ambitious, and passionate employees,
is to create an Experience of a LifetimeTM for our guests.
In 2017, Vail Resorts announced our Commitment to Zero, which is our environmental pledge to be a
true sustainability leader. In the past 4 years we have made significant strides towards achieving a net
zero operating foot print by 2030, which includes all 37 resorts. Details can be found here:
https://www.epicpromise.com/environment/commitment-to-zero/
Our Commitment to Zero includes:
- Zero net emissions by 2030 with 50 percent progress toward this goal by 2025 (On Track)
- Zero waste to landfill by 2030 and increasing waste diversion to 50 percent by the end of 2020 (50% diversion achieved in 2020 and on track)
- Zero net operating impact on forests and habitat (On Track)
As a part of the Vail Resort’s Commitment to Zero we would work with the CU MENV program to
assist us with our Zero Net Emissions target by 2030. We would like to complete analysis on the
feasibility and impacts (cost and emissions) of electrifying and implementing onsite renewables and
storage at an on-mountain facility.
The team at Vail Mountain will work hands-on with the MENV students to analyze the emissions
footprint of an on-mountain facility and connect with all local/regional stakeholders to gather data.
Students will be expected to analyze a variety of energy loads (HVAC, Kitchen, Snowmelt) and provide
potential cost/emissions impacts. As a final product we would like to understand the potential costs
of electrification (fuel switching) while leveraging all utility partnerships and incentives and all the
short and long term benefits of reducing local/market-based emissions.