My daughter has been extremely happy at Middlebury, and that has been the experience of her friends as well. They spent the fall term, J-term, and the first few weeks of spring term in the oldest and most dilapidated dorms there, and enjoyed it all.
At least at Midd, there is a strong environmental philosophy, and they have gone carbon neutral. All of those things that you mention require a large amount of energy for what are, essentially, luxuries.
They have many cold-weather activities, from skiing to winter hikes, rather than trying to avoid going outside. While it is cold in the winter, there are many more sunny days than there were in, say, Chicago, and the NE is beautiful every season.
We should also remember that the majority of students at these colleges come from states with cold or very cold winters. The only “warm” state from which there are a large number of students is California.