LATITUDE
GREAT SNOW FOREVER? Snowmaking in Europe is getting more creative, given the warmer winters that ski resorts are enduring. Here, the iconic Matterhorn in Switzerland adds to the fun.
MAKING SNOW IS GETTING MORE COMPLICATED IN EUROPE—BUT A FUTURE BYPRODUCT COULD KEEP THE LODGE WARM Warmer winters have made for some less-than-stellar skiing conditions in Norway and other European
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research institute, have come up with a new approach. The project, called Snow for the Future, aims to make snow in an energy-efficient way, even at warmer temperatures. The Norwegian approach relies on heat pumps, like those in freezers and refrigerators, to cool water for snow at even higher temperatures. How is that environmentally friendly? The heat generated by the pumps can be diverted to buildings.
countries. Advances in snowmaking are therefore a hot topic, especially where the economy depends on skiers and their pocketbooks. Conventional methods simply spray water into cold air. Obviously, that doesn’t work in warmer temperatures. One advance seeds water with a protein from a bacterium to create snow at temperatures around the freezing mark. But supply for that process can’t keep up with demand.
56 | PEG SPRING 2018
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