Sun Peaks is located in a narrow valley. This local geography tends to limit the air movement in and around the village. As such, the resort has taken numerous steps to minimize local air pollution.
Infrastructure - reduce
- The village has been laid out to minimize the need for vehicle travel within the Resort. Provision of extensive walkways within the resort area encourages guests to walk instead of drive.
- Commercial accommodation and services have been clustered in the resort core, so that guests have no need to drive their vehicles within the resort.
- In 1996, Sun Peaks Resort banned the installation of wood burning fireplaces in all new construction projects to protect valley air quality. To provide an alternative, the Resort constructed a piped distribution system for clean burning propane gas. This system also reduces the number of heavy truck movements in the village that would have been required to deliver gas to individual storage tanks.
Snowmobile Fleet - reduce
- Complete phase out of snowmobiles with two stroke engines. A complete fleet of four stroke snowmobiles will be in place by the end of 2007.
- Benefits of four stroke engines: no oil burned, no smell, decreased noise, more efficient fuel consumption; and decreased air pollution.
Pisten Bully Snow Cats - reduce
- Sun Peaks Resort has made the decision to switch the entire grooming fleet to Pisten Bully Snow Cats.
- Pisten Bully Snow Cats burn an average of 3 to 5 litres of fuel less per hour than the competition. This decrease in fuel consumption equals a savings of 6,400 litres per snow cat.
- 6,400 litres multiplied by 8 snow cats equals 51,200 litres of fuel savings per year for the fleet.
- The average person uses 3,185 litres of fuel per year.
- 51,200 litres of fuel savings divided by 3,185 litres equals 16 automobiles.
If you have any suggestions on how we can be better stewards of this mountain resort environment please contact us.