Energy & Water Conservation at Yellowstone National Park
- Installed a “tunnel washer” in the laundry and employs a water recovery system that saves 3,500 gallons of water daily for the 2.2 million pounds of laundry we wash annually.
- Replaces towels and linens in guest rooms after three days to reduce water and detergent use unless visitors request more frequent replacement.
- Shuts down boilers where applicable on locations during times of low demand. Some boilers operate on clean propane or biodiesel.
- Replaced to date over 22,000 incandescents bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL’s). CFLs are 75% more efficient and last 10 times longer than incandescents.
- Rebuilds vehicles, thereby reducing the need for natural resources and energy to generate new vehicles.
- Implemented an aggressive energy management program in Food & Beverage focusing on managing and minimizing energy use including water, electricity, and propane. We distribute posters, stickers, and checklists that make managing the program straightforward and user friendly.
- Housekeeping has created an energy conservation program that includes unplugging appliances (hair dryers and fans) in vacant/due-out guestrooms to conserve energy.
- In 2008, Xanterra’s engineering department designed, tested, and implemented equipment allows the 10,000 gallons of cooking oil generated from food service to be injected directly into the boiler system for fuel. This project achieves significant environmental gains, most notably by reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by 223,800 pounds from the replacement of 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel with cooking oil. The project also eliminates the fossil fuels (and the associated 12,729 pounds of CO2 emissions) needed to transport the material offsite for recycling.
- Replaced 20 watt halogen bulbs with 3 watt LEDs in the gift shop at the Old Faithful Lodge—this reduces greenhouse gas emissions by over six tons a year!
- Upgraded over 500 light fixtures at Mammoth from T-12 to T-8 lamps (which use on average 35% less energy), and reduced number of existing lamps by half.
- Utilizes vendor misers—a power saving device—on many of the parks vending machines.
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