Source: USGBC Nevada Chapter Newsletter
Over the past decade, the City of Las Vegas has made significant progress in clean energy, water conservation, recycling, green building, and alternative transportation that have resulted in positive impacts to the environment, economy, and community. As a result, the City is on track to reduce City energy costs more than $6 million annually, putting it on the course to achieving its goal of being America’s first net-zero city.
In 2008, the Mayor and City Council to resolved to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and construct new City buildings and facilities to LEED standards. Since then, the City performed the following actions, already saving the City more than $4 million:
- Renewable Energy – The City completed 1.7 megawatts of solar at City parks, community centers, fire stations, and other public facilities. A 3.3 megawatt solar generating station at the City’s wastewater treatment plant that will open in soon and will bring the City’s installed capacity to 5 megawatts. The panels generated 2.7 million kWh of clean renewable energy in 2012 and will generate more than 10 million kWh at the end of this year.
- Energy Efficiency and Green Building – The City has made green building improvements at 18 City facilities, fire stations, and community centers and streetlight energy efficiency upgrades to reduce costs and the overall amount of energy consumed. Among the green building projects was a replacement to City Hall. The new City Hall uses 40% less energy and has building-wide daylighting, use of efficient lighting, energy efficient glass, efficient air conditioning systems, water efficient fixtures and landscaping, and a 145 kW forest of 33 solar trees and rooftop solar. The City has also replaced 35,000 of its 52,000 streetlights with energy efficient LED lights.
- Water – The City has converted more than 8 acres of grass at City parks and sports fields to synthetic turf as a first step to conserve water. The City also recycles billions of gallons of water at its wastewater treatment plants, which is returned to Lake Mead for credit back to the Colorado River system. In addition to the conservation efforts previously enacted by the drought ordinance, the City incorporated additional xeriscaping at parks, facilities, and median islands using drought tolerant plants and metal sculptures.
- Waste – While employees were already participating in an a recycling program, the City deployed and continue single stream recycling at all City facilities and introduced recycling at 30 City parks.
- Transportation and Land Use – Nearly all City vehicles run on alternative fuels – the City also has four electric powered cars, including the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. The City participates in the RTC’s transportation demand management program that encourages employees to bicycle, walk, take public transit, or carpool to work. It also has built 125 miles of bike lanes and 50 miles of trails since 2006; by the end of 2013, the City will have more than 180 miles of bike lanes.
Even though the City has made a lot of advances, the Mayor and City Council have set the bar higher: to become a net-zero user of resources by 2020. This means in the future, the City will continue to build or purchase more solar, more green buildings, more efficient lighting, achieve greater water reduction savings, and embark on new recycling efforts, composting, and possible use of City waste as a fuel source.
If you’d like to learn more, download Sustainability in ACTION (PDF), the City’s semi-annual report on sustainability.
Marco Velotta, MS, AICP, LEED Green Assoc.
City of Las Vegas
Office of Sustainability