Well, when thinking about eco-tourism, the last place you want to refer to is Las Vegas right ? Giant A/C machines, enlighted desert strip 24 hours a day, huge swimming pools, 40 million tourists a year ….
Conservation. Sustainability. Green. These notions rarely come to mind when thinking about Vegas …
However, out there in Vegas, plans are underway to build more than 100 million square feet of new construction to the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.
One of the landmark casinos is the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, which, in May, was designated the US largest LEED-certified building. Some LEED-inspired innovations in the Fontaineblau Resort, the Caesars Palace, the Echelon Resort and the CityCenter Complex include:
• recycling building waste by using materials left over from the Stardust resort that was imploded to make way for it, such as part of the concrete used in its fountains.
• building own energy generator and using the excess heat generated to warm the water to be used for hotel rooms and condo units as well as the dozens of shops, restaurants and other amenities planned.
•Solar panels heating both pools and water in guest rooms.
•Fontainebleau planing the “first paperless hotel room” by providing an iMac computer in each room to display information normally found in paper brochures
Good Luck Vegas !
This new “City Center” will be an interesting model that hopefully other properties in the city will follow. From what I understand, its design is taking into consideration even the smallest details, such as the custom design of low-flow water features that will save an estimated 76 million gallons of water daily.
http://www.terracurve.com/2008/06/10/las-vegas-moving-towards-green-with-new-citycenter/#hide