Get Mammoth News and Ski Updates by E-mail

Enter your e-mail address to be notified when we post the latest Mammoth breaking news and skiing articles.

Your E-mail Address:

subscribe
unsubscribe

Mammoth Is Interesting

Among the items on the Mammoth Stakeholders' wish list is a call to push for "green building" in the town's future architectural endeavors.

The ad hoc group, led by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO Rusty Gregory, argued for green architecture standards in its "10 Points" document, put before the Town Council last Aug. 2.

According to Lisa Issacs, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area's Environmental Specialist, green, or "smart building," as she prefers, is the wave of the future for environmentally progressive communities such as Mammoth is aimed at becoming.

The most important aspect of "smart" building in this community, Isaccs says, is energy conservation achieved through the channeling of renewable resources such as sunlight and geothermal heat.

Strategic and liberal placement of windows and glass walls, for example, will decrease the amount of artificial light needed to sustain daytime activity, while geothermal heat could replace gas to warm showers.

The use of recycled materials like paint, insulation, wood and linoleumin the construction process, Issacs says, are other factors that contribute towards the overall "greenness" of a building, as do fixtures like low pressure shower heads and "low flow" toilets.

She says that unlike other similar recreation destination towns such as Aspen, Vail and Whistler, Mammoth is at ground zero for sustainable building.

A few houses in the Owens Valley are certifiably "green" (projects can be audited and certified by the United States Green Building Coucil in Washington D.C.), but thus far, no public buildings in the Eastern Sierra have done so.

Isaacs says the town's new Forest Service visitor center is incorporating some "green" aspects into its construction but is not likely to be certifiably "green."

"There really aren't many people specializing in smart building in climates like this," Issacs says, "and it could -- and probably will cost more do it here for that reason."

But, she continues, with some creativity and research, there is potential to build "green" structures at a comparable price, such a what Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is attempting to do with the new Eagle Lodge.

Tom Hodges, the director of planning at the ski area, says he is not anticipating much of a price increase but says any increase in capital on the project will pay for itself within ten years.

Hodges points out that Mammoth Mountain is ready to embrace the movement totally.

"Maybe in ten years all new projects we take on will be green," Hodges says. "Maybe, maybe not, but that's certainly the goal."