Aspen Goes with the Flow

Money has always flowed like water in America’s glitziest ski town. The Aspen Skiing Company is reversing that trend, harnessing snowmelt that flows down Snowmass Mountain to generate electricity-and a revenue stream. The setup is deceivingly simple: Summer snowmelt is channeled downhill through snowmaking pipes. Thanks to gravity, the water hits 320 mph on the way. The speeding-and by now highly pressurized-H2O shoots through a nozzle the size of a dime onto a water wheel, which spins a turbine that generates electricity. Aspen Environmental Director Auden Schendler expects the “micro-hydro” system to generate enough electricity to power 40 homes for a year. “This is ideal for resorts that have steep pitches and huge runoffs,” Schendler says-which just about covers everyone.