Xanterra at Crater Lake helps preserve blue skies

Xanterra Parks & Resorts hikes renewable power purchase

CRATER LAKE, Ore. — As concessionaires in Oregon’s only National Park, Xanterra Parks & Resorts feels a unique obligation to preserve Crater Lake’s incomparable beauty with responsible environmental management.

This effort includes purchasing large amounts of Pacific Power’s Blue Sky renewable energy. Pacific Power uses Blue Sky dollars to acquire renewable energy from local wind farms, such as the Stateline Wind Energy Farm along the Oregon/Washington border.

“We operate in some of the most pristine environments in the nation, so we take our sustainability goals seriously,” explained Chris Lane, corporate director of environmental affairs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. “By increasing our participation in Blue Sky, we are able to address our corporate sustainability goals while supporting the development of renewable energy resources. We believe that economic and ecological sustainability can operate hand-in-hand.”

First, Xanterra enrolled in Pacific Power’s Blue Sky Habitat program, purchasing all of its electricity from newly developed renewable resources — a blend of wind, biomass and solar. Under Habitat, customers also make a monthly contribution to The Nature Conservancy of Oregon to support native fish habitat restoration.

Second, Xanterra is buying an additional 756 blocks of wind power each month through Pacific Power’s new Blue Sky QS program for large commercial customers. Blue Sky QS (quantity savings) allows large business customers to buy renewable energy from Pacific Power for less, providing they purchase at least 101 blocks of Blue Sky per month for a year. Blue Sky is sold in 100-kilowatt increments called “blocks.”

Xanterra is the nation’s largest park management company, operating hotels and restaurants in Yellowstone, North and South Rims of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Petrified Forest, Everglades and Mount Rushmore.

When Xanterra took over the Crater Lake property in 2002, it signed up to offset 10 percent of its renewable power with Blue Sky. Paige Prewett, southern Oregon outreach consultant for Renewable Northwest Project, a renewable energy advocacy group, said it was local Xanterra employees who advocated buying renewables through their local utility.

“I continue to be impressed by the breadth and depth of Xanterra’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” Prewett said. “The company is truly a role model for other businesses.”

Craig Peterson, Xanterra’s facility engineer and John Hawkings, environmental risk manager, found that they could take advantage of Pacific Power’s new Blue Sky QS program for large commercial customers to increase its renewable power purchase to 50 percent.

Peterson demonstrated how the company could purchase even more renewable energy, and make it worthwhile by dropping energy consumption.

“The most important thing we accomplished this past year is our ability to reduce energy consumption by 9.5 percent compared to 2003,” Peterson said. “To me that was as critical as the renewable energy purchase.”

Xanterra’s Blue Sky purchase has a significant environmental benefit. Wind power is an attractive form of energy generation because it helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Wind produces no air pollutants, wastewater, smog or acid rain. Xanterra’s Blue Sky buy is offsetting the release of 1,020 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, which is the same benefit as taking 175 cars off the road or planting 33 acres of trees each month.

In addition, to buying renewables and reducing energy consumption, Xanterra also implemented the following measures at Crater Lake:

Began using a blend of bio-diesel fuel (B20), in place of petroleum diesel, to reduce significantly greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants.
Started construction on a new restaurant and gift shop complex in Crater Lake National Park to LEED, U.S. Green Building Council guidelines for sustainable building practices.
Increased total pounds of recycled materials at Crater Lake from 6,000 pounds in 2002 to 60,000 pounds in 2004 diverting more than 20 percent of its total solid waste from the local landfill.
Became ISO 14001 Certified and implemented a property EMS (Environmental Management System).

“As a company we work to be environmentally sustainable,” Peterson said. “We have set some goals that are pretty aggressive. But we’ve found a way to implement them in an economically beneficial way too.”

Xanterra Parks & Resorts

Xanterra Parks & Resorts®, the country's largest park management company, and its 8,000 employees operate 33 hotels and lodges with more than 5,140 guest rooms, 51 retail stores, 64 restaurants and 1,800 campsites within national and state parks. In addition to managing national park properties at Yellowstone, North and South Rims of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Petrified Forest, Everglades and Mount Rushmore, the company also operates facilities at eight Ohio State Parks, the Gideon Putnam Resort and Conference Center in Saratoga Springs, NY and two privately-owned resorts, Furnace Creek in Death Valley and Silverado Resort in Napa, CA.

About Pacific Power’s Oregon renewable power options

Since March 1, 2002, Oregon’s Pacific Power residential and small business customers have been able to choose from three renewable power options:

Blue Sky Block wind energy— Customers can purchase 100 percent new wind energy in 100 kilowatt-hour blocks for additional $1.95 each. Investing an additional $1.95 per month for one year provides the same benefits as not driving for nearly three months.

Blue Sky Usage— Under this option, customers purchase all their electricity from newly developed renewable resources — a blend of wind, biomass and solar for only $0.0078 (less than a penny) more per kwh than Basic Service rates.

Blue Sky Habitat— As with Blue Sky Usage, customers purchase all their electricity from newly developed renewable resources — a blend of wind, biomass and solar — for only $0.0078 (less than a penny) more per kwh than Basic Service rates. In addition, customers make a $2.50 monthly contribution to The Nature Conservancy of Oregon to support native fish habitat restoration.

Now large businesses have two options: Pacific Power’s standard Blue Sky Block offering and the new Blue Sky QS. The new renewable energy option was approved last November by the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

To calculate the cost of buying Blue Sky QS, customers can consult Pacific Power’s online calculator and enrollment information at www.Pacificpower.net/bluesky .