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supplier member and one of the nation’s leading consultants specializing
in innovative sustainability approaches, to do the third-party commissioning Taos Ski Valley
on the LEED certification.
One of the most important environmental initiatives undertaken for
The Blake is its use of renewable, geothermal energy for heating and
cooling. Fifty separate geothermal wells were dug into the ski area’s begin-
ner hill, each 500 feet deep, to reach geothermally heated ground water
that Mother Nature maintains at a constant temperature of 55° F. These
wells serve as the heating and cooling source for the hotel’s HVAC system,
and the water is returned back to the mountain after its use—in fact, there is
no net consumption of the groundwater in this process. Given the constant
warmth of the geothermal water, The Blake only needs to heat the water by
about 20° F, significantly minimizing heating costs and eliminating a huge
The Blake's sophisticated southwestern interiors feature thermostat occupancy
amount of energy usage.
censors, LED lighting, and refillable bottle dispensers in the bathrooms.
Other smart features include the thermostats tied to occupancy
sensors in each guest room to minimize needless energy use when the home as a gift. It’s a low cost concept with an enormous impact: a further
rooms are not occupied. There are also LED lighting systems throughout reduction in plastic use and waste, and sustainable branding and
guest rooms to further minimize energy usage. Because of the narrow marketing for The Blake.
valley where the ski area’s base village is located—surrounded by the Likewise, The Blake has also embraced the complete elimination
steep mountainsides that are the hallmark of the resort’s skiing—there of individual miniature soaps, shampoo, and conditioner bottles in each
was not optimized space for the installation of solar panels on the hotel. guest room, instead moving to tasteful, refillable bulk dispensers in
So instead, Taos worked with its local energy cooperative outside of the the showers. Again, this seems like a no-brainer that all hotels should
valley to support its solar capacity for use by the resort. embrace: It saves labor costs and time for cleaning hotel rooms and
Another brilliant environmental strategy was The Blake’s installation of dramatically eliminates all the individual plastic packaging from one-time
a food dehydration unit, which acts like a giant food composter to dramat- use of shampoos or soaps. Importantly, this practice also eliminates signifi-
ically minimize food waste and, importantly, reduce methane emissions. cant waste from the leftover soaps and shampoos when people only use
According to Eduardo Sampere, The Blake’s general manager, the system not a portion of these products during their stay. The Blake even contracted
only eliminates daily trips to the landfill (with savings on trash transport, fuel, a Sedona, Ariz., cosmetic boutique to design specifically branded spa
labor, and landfill fees), but also the resulting chemical-free, natural fertilizer products for the shower dispensers with unique southwestern scents
is used for village plantings and to naturally revegetate parts of the ski area instead of standard hotel soaps and shampoos used by large hotel chains.
and base village. This reduction in overall waste has been critical for the Taos watershed
The resort invested approximately $50,000 for the dehydration unit, as well. The Blake directly overlooks the Lake Fork stream, which runs through
and F&B employees are trained to separate out food waste from other the base village and ultimately connects with the Rio Grande about 15 miles
waste for use in the dehydrator at The Blake as well as two other base area downstream. Given the sensitive Rio Grande watershed, the resort felt it was
restaurants. Every night, the dehydrator essentially heats and decomposes its responsibility to improve the watershed by widening the Lake Fork stream
the food waste at a high heat level (there is no fire source), significantly bed through the village, and thinning parts of the forest around the river to
reducing the waste from about 250 pounds daily to 25 pounds overnight— improve the habitat. The direct result of this watershed initiative is immedi-
a 90 percent reduction in waste. This heated dehydration process kills ate and dramatic: For the first time in decades, rainbow and cutthroat trout
bacteria, producing dry and odor-free compost—all while using no fresh returned to the Lake Fork stream that runs through the village. In fact, resort
water or chemicals in the process. Because methane gas is far more dam- guests are now fishing in the Lake Fork, and there is a boutique fly-fishing
aging to the environment than CO emissions, reducing food and landfill outfitter guide service—called Wild Rivers on the Fly—located in the base
²
waste was critical in the resort’s decision to invest in the dehydration unit. village, across from The Blake.
The Blake donates the excess compost to employees and local organic The totality of these efforts at The Blake reinforces the ski area’s
farms, and also provides extra compost material to a local nonprofit overall commitment to the environment and sustainability, and hope-
biofuel co-op (the resort donates its used fry oil from their restaurants fully will inspire and motivate guests to embrace their own efforts to
to the co-op too). minimize their environmental footprints back home. The Blake stands
And speaking of waste reduction, the entire resort has completely elim- as an exemplary, and enviable, paradigm of environmentalism for a
inated plastic bottles for water. In every Blake room, guests receive two free ski industry increasingly challenged by climate change, while smartly
reusable water pouches emblazoned with The Blake logo that they can embracing investments that will add to the resort's bottom line
reuse while skiing at refill stations sprinkled around the resort and take without sacrificing style or convenience.

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