Who would have thought they could associate the concept of environmental sustainability with the world capital of luxury, entertainment and excess, Las Vegas? Yes, we are talking about the American city born in the middle of the Nevada desert, famous above all for its casinos and hotels with a thousand colored lights, with a metropolitan area of 2 million people to which about 40 million are added every year. visitors.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Who would have thought they could associate the concept of environmental sustainability with the world capital of luxury, entertainment and excess? Las Vegas? Yes, we are talking about the American city built in the middle of the Nevada desert, famous above all for its casinos and games hotels with a thousand colored lights, with a metropolitan area of 2 million people to which about 40 million visitors are added each year. A city where it is used twice as much water as the already unflattering American average, among scenic fountains, exclusive clubs and reproductions of the Grand Canal, the Sphinx and the Eiffel Tower.
Staying on the subject of quantity, we also turn to you a rather curious fact: between appetizers, snacks and dinners, in the clubs of Las Vegas are consumed every year more shrimps than in the rest of the United States. Does this seem trivial to you? Yet, mind you, we are not talking about a port center. Such disproportion is only apparently irrelevant, as it shows how the entertainment and luxury that for years have made the city so popular from a tourist point of view have very high environmental costs also in terms of transport and distribution of goods.
In short, it is difficult to talk about sustainability in relation to a place traditionally characterized by waste and excesses. Nevertheless, some effort in the direction of a slightly greener development has been made and continues to be done, also thanks to the new and more unstable economic scenario. At the end of 2009, for example, the first phase of opening the new CityCenter of MGM Mirage Corporation will begin, an investment of more than 8 billion dollars which, according to the project and the financial crisis permitting, will be fully usable by 2010. This is of an immense complex of buildings that occupies an area of approximately 31 hectares of land and which includes a casino, shops, a swimming pool, a 4000-seat hotel, three residences and a spa. A decidedly pharaonic work, which it aspires to become the largest green building in the United States and to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, according to the standards set by the US Green Building Council.
Yes, because the materials used in the construction of the CityCenter come for the most part from reuse (such as wood and bricks) or from recycling (such as carpets), most of the furniture, accessories and furnishings derive from the luxurious casino that once stood. in the same area, the glass cladding was designed for avoid heat dispersion and for lighting and heating the structure will draw on a special cogeneration plant, in order to be self-sufficient and to achieve the highest possible energy efficiency standards. In addition, the project is designed for make the most of ventilation and natural lighting. Once completed, i various buildings of the complex will be connected to each other by an electric train, and all guests, tourists and employees who will reach it with Ecological cars will have a preferential parking available.
We still don't know if the CityCenter will really get the LEED certification and, if applicable, what its rating will be. However, beyond possible environmental concerns, numerous reasons explain the willingness of the builders to pursue this goal: not only a "green building" allows you to save on bills ma LEED certification also allows for higher rental rates and sales prices, so the investment becomes even more profitable. Finally, some studies show that employee productivity is greater if the building is healthy and makes the most of natural light.
Whether it's for love of the environment or pure economic calculation, in the past two years in the Las Vegas area they have been registered well 30 LEED projects, including Boyd Gaming Corporation's Echelon Place. It is a complex under construction since 2007 and, if possible, even more ambition than the CityCenter. L'Echelon Place it covers an area of 35 hectares and the planned investment is around 5 billion dollars, a figure that could be destined to grow. The project includes, among other attractions, a 13 m2 casino and a 5300-room hotel. Initially, the opening was set for the second half of 2010, but the financial market crisis forced it Boyd gaming to interrupt the works, promising to resume them as soon as the economic situation returns to stable.
In fact, for many years now Las Vegas is America's fastest growing city, attracting investors and capital from all over the world: this has resulted in a remarkable building speculation, with new structures that opened, closed, were demolished and rebuilt at an absolutely frenetic pace. A trend that was slowed down by the economic crisis and the instability of the stock exchanges, so much so as to induce the most pessimistic to believe that the capital of luxury and entertainment is now destined for a slow decline.
In the difficult situation that has arisen, betting on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency could be a good way to contain costs and optimize, in the long term, the relationship between costs and benefits. Thus, while the state of Nevada has staked everything on geothermal, significantly increasing the number of power plants, with the aim of providing in this way the 25% of its energy needs, in the glittering entertainment capital of the world sustainable construction has become a real trend. Of course, the road to making Las Vegas an eco-friendly oasis is still very, very long, but the direction, for once, could be the right one.
Lisa Vagnozzi
