Wind power is increasingly seen as the most promising and cost-effective renewable energy source available today. The benefits of using wind power instead of traditional electricity sources include significant reductions in smog, acid rain and air pollution. Wind power prevents carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, from reaching the atmosphere. 

"By using wind power at Zion and Crater Lake operations, Xanterra prevents 570,650 pounds of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere each year," said Chris Lane, director of environmental affairs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. "This is the equivalent of saving 611,400 miles of car use or planting 113 acres of trees."

Xanterra Parks & Resorts has entered into a partnership with Green Mountain Power and Pacific Power to purchase renewable energy that is produced at a wind farm at the Foote Creek Rim in southeastern Wyoming.  The wind-generated electricity is fed to Xanterra's operations through the same transmission grid that distributes power from traditional coal-fired plants.

Presently, purchasing wind energy costs 30 percent more than power from coal derived energy. As the number of wind farms continues to increase, the price of wind power is expected to fall from its present level of up to six cents per kilowatt-hour (kwh) to 2 cents per kwh in 2005. 

In addition to using wind power, Crater Lake National Park operations also use geothermal energy, which taps the earth's underground heat sources to power electricity and provide heat.

Zion and Crater Lake National Parks are the only Xanterra operations that are presently connected to a renewable energy source, said Lane.  "We will use renewable energy in other locations as soon as it becomes available."

Xanterra Parks & Resorts operates lodges, restaurants and other concessions at national parks and state parks and resorts. Xanterra is the country's largest national park concessioner. The company operates concessions in the following locations: Yellowstone National Park, the North and South Rims of Grand Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Death Valley National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Everglades National Park, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial; and at the Silverado Resort in Napa, Calif.; Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and eight Ohio State Parks.