Clean Energy Innovation Powers Aspen Ski Resorts

Chase Jarvis, Elk Creek Coal Mine, Aspen/Snowmass

In a six-part video series, Our Story chronicles the people and places that make Aspen/Snowmass unique. One of those stories is the Coal Mine Methane Project.

Aspen/Snowmass has invested in a three-megawatt power plant at Oxbows Elk Creek Mine in Somerset, Colo. to generate electricity by capturing and combusting waste methane gas emitted from the mine.The company now generates as much energy as it uses during an entire year of operation from this unlikely partner. This type of clean energy collaboration is a business first in the United States.

We love this project because its bipartisan, its has a huge impact on cutting greenhouse gases and it makes money, says Auden Schendler, VP of Sustainability, Aspen Skiing Company. Its the only project of its kind in the West right now but we want to do many more.

#OurStory – EP02: Coal Mine from Aspen/Snowmass on Vimeo.