Climate Change

Car Pooling

We have many staff members who live the adjacent communities of Pemberton and Squamish and commute to Whistler to work. Several years ago, a group of Maintenance staff convinced their manager to let them use one of the fleet vehicles to carpool together from Squamish. They all chipped in for gas and used the vehicle outside of operational hours. In the past five years, this program has been formalized and expanded to include 6 vehicles and 53 riders from both Pemberton and Squamish. Commuters use fleet vehicles to travel the highway and pay for fuel and extra maintenance while Whistler Blackcomb covers the cost of the leases and insurance. This makes for a safe, economical and fun way to get to work. The program saves more than 617,000 kilograms of emissions annually.

What we have done to reduce our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions:

Reduced fleet and vehicle size for higher efficiency.
Purchased 39 low-emission snowmobiles representing half of our fleet and continue to purchase low-emission replacement models.
Piloted the use of GM hybrid technology pick up trucks.
Established an employee carpooling program that saves more than 617,000 kilograms of emissions annually.
Carried out retrofits that reduce our annual electricity consumption by 4,575,000 kWh or enough power to run 450 Canadian homes for a year.
Carried out retrofits to our buildings that have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 850 tonnes and consumption by over 6000 gJ.
Changed out 11,000 light bulbs to more efficient and environmentally-friendly models.
Installed a 1.0 megawatt run-of-river turbine in Flute Creek to power the lights and heat in the lift hut and washrooms at the bottom of the Symphony Express Chairlift.