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Is Los Vegas Energy Conscious?
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Los Vegas is the gambling capital of the United States. As a matter of fact, it contends as the gambling capital of the world. Family entertainment is also in abundance. When you really think about it, virtually everything in Vegas is abundant including the city's consumption of energy. There's no place like Vegas when it comes to hotels, casinos, and all types of attractions. The city is also known for its incredible display of lighting that needs to be enjoyed in person to truly be appreciated. The initial stroll down the Los Vegas strip in the evening can almost take your breath away. It is New York, San Fransisco, and Orlando all rolled into one. Who pays the electric bill? Who is responsible for energy consumption? Is there anyone paying attention to energy conservation? These questions are being asked more often than not in a day and age where energy prices are skyrocketing and the green movement is taking shape in all corners of the earth.
Obviously the property owners pay their own electric bills in Los Vegas but when you think about it, the demand for electricity actually raises prices in a traditional supply and demand environment. Los vegas residents probably feel that demand when they pay their residential electric bill. Regarding the hotels and casinos themselves, consumers directly foot their utility bills every time they patronize a casino, hotel or fancy restaurant.
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The themed attractions are literally powered by the sheer amounts of energy exhausted in Vegas every day. The first neon sign appeared in Los Vegas back in 1954 at the Boulder Club. It was all uphill from there. No matter where you look, you'll see neon lights, incandescant lights, fluorescent lights, and LED's. Vegas is a city truly known and loved for the incredible lighting. The beam of light atop the Luxor in Los Vegas is actually made up of 39 individual xenon lamps. Recently, the electric bill for the Luxor beam was estimated as costing at $51 an hour for its electricity usage.
The lighting plays a part in the enormous amount of electricity used in Los Vegas but it is only one aspect. Hotels and casinos are everywhere. To give you some idea as to the amount of rooms for rent in the city, imagine spending just one night in each hotel room in Vegas... it would actually take approximately two hundred eighty-eight years for one person to complete that task. each of the rooms not only requires lights, but also climate control and communication capabilities. Hotels need restauarants to feed the many visitors and food isn't cooked out in the sun. Kitchens stocked with large scale ovens, appliances, and refrigeration also account for energy consumption. As a matter of fact, just about everything in the city needs power for one reason or another.
The tide is beginning to turn toward the green movement... well at least it is being mentioned. Because of its desert location, Los Vegas has begun adding emphasis on solar energy. Under one new state law, utilities will be required to get 15 percent of their power from a selection of renewable resources and 5 percent of utilities from solar by 2015. The green movement has begun, albeit very slowly.
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There are already solar panels on the roof of the underground pumping stations which send water into the city. These solar panels provide electricity to run the many pumps, which lift water 200 feet into the air so that the water can cascade down to holding tanks and local homes. Vegas has a long way to go however if they ever want to be considered as energy conscious.
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