Many in the sustainability movement were wondering if it would ever happen. An energy-sucking cornucopia of thrills and entertainment, Las Vegas will soon be dealing in a whole new kind of green. Last week, MGM Mirage and Dubai World unveiled their joint venture, CityCenter, an $8.5 billion, 67-acre “city within a city,” located on the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. CityCenter’s developers plan to roll out featured sustainability designs of the urban metropolis at the National Clean Energy Summit on Monday, when Bill Clinton, Al Gore, T. Boone Pickens, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others descend on Sin City for the annual discourse on American sustainability.
“CityCenter captures the energy and diversity of Las Vegas in one of the world’s largest green urban developments,” said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage in a press statement. “Designing CityCenter with sustainable elements and practices reinforces its permanence and creates a healthier environment for our guests and residents, as well as for the 12,000 people who ultimately will work at CityCenter.”
Opening in December, CityCenter’s energy efficiency initiatives promise to reduce the energy consumption equivalent to 7,700 households annually, and MGM Mirage hopes to achieve both silver and gold LEED ratings from the US Green Building Council. Features include the Strip’s first on-site 8.5 megawatt natural gas co-generation plant, which will provide 10 percent of CityCenter’s energy. For transportation, a fleet of limousines will be powered by more eco-friendly compressed natural gas. As for water conservation, specially designed water fixtures and technology will reduce indoor water consumption by up to 39 percent and 60 percent for outdoor landscaping. In creating this funplex, builders recycled 230,000 tons, or 95 percent of construction waste headed for landfills, including 80 percent of the imploded Boardwalk Hotel, which was cleared for the site.
Heralded as a blueprint for future sustainability initiatives, the 18-million square-foot mixed-use project will feature ARIA, a 61-story, 4,004-room gaming resort, plus multiple hotels including a Mandarin Oriental and Vdara. On the residential side, Veers Towers offers luxury sustainable living adjacent to Crystals, a 500,000 square-foot retail and entertainment district that boasts a permanent Elvis-themed Cirque du Soleil production, on top of a fine art collection exhibiting the works of Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, among others.
For Las Vegas, a monument to the worst of American consumption, any reduction in energy and water waste deserves some applause. If it sets the tone for the city’s future, even better. Now if they’d just crank up those odds a little ….
Photos: Above, courtesy Lisa Norwood, via Flicker. Below, model of CityCenter courtesy Wikipedia Creative Commons.