SAM Magazine-Vail, Colo., June 2, 2008-Vail Resorts has recently mandated across-the-board cuts in energy use of at least 10 percent for all departments by 2010.

In a company memo, CEO Rob Katz said, "The issue of energy usage needs to be a company-wide imperative. Now, when you waste energy, you are not only impacting the environment and squandering resources-but you are literally burning huge amounts of money. And looking across our company, we spend over $25 million per year on energy (including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane and electricity), so these are serious dollars for us."

According to the memo, the "energy layoffs" are mandatory. "We will be requiring people to lay off their energy usage," said Katz. "We will be targeting a mandatory, company-wide 10 percent reduction in our energy usage. What does that mean? It's a 10 percent reduction off of the quantity of energy we used in fiscal 2008, independent of the price, and adjusted for weather-related fluctuations for snowmaking and grooming. Our plan is to achieve the first 5 percent for all of fiscal 2009 (and have it included in the 2009 budget) and the next 5 percent to come by the end of fiscal 2010."

Vail Resort's snowmaking and grooming operations could be the first departments to feel the pinch of the mandate. The memo concedes that, "A big portion of our energy is used to provide a core part of our experience in the mountains-the snow surface." And, the memo states, "This is an area that will require significant thought and discussion to make sure we consider every possible alternative to improve efficiency." \