Jessie @ Sun: My experience at Sun

I recently went to Las Vegas to meet my boyfriend's family.  It was a great trip - and I survived the 116° F high temperature in the late afternoons!  Las Vegas is such a juxtaposition - a city of opulence in the middle of a desert.  Hot desert summers outside, freezing cold air conditioning inside...  Gigantic fountains and lush landscaping surrounded by dry sand and rocks...  Extreme consumption surrounded by miles and miles of empty desert...  And on the famous strip the bright lights from the different hotels compete for your attention.

Since my days are filled thinking about different ways to communicate Sun's commitment to Eco Responsibility, I have started to think more about Eco and the impact of my actions on the environment when I'm not at work.  So, after my trip I started thinking about the Eco impact of Vegas. 

How much electricity does it take to power all those bright lights of the strip?  And how much carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere as a result?  When I got home I decided to search the internet and see if I could find the answer to those questions.

The first place I looked was the Sustainlane city rankings website.  I was surprised to see that the comments they posted were rather optimistic, "Despite a reputation as an environmental dead zone, Las Vegas is making headway in engineering its future around more intelligent uses of resources."  But, they did not post the data or research that lead them to that conclusion.

The Energy Information Administration reports the carbon dioxide emissions by year of each state on the Energy-related Emissions Data & Environmental Analyses page of their website.  The most recent year listed is 2003 when the state of Nevada emitted 43.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, of which 22.9 metric tons was from to electrical power.  I wondered how much of that was from just Las Vegas?

Nevada Power provides energy to 4500 square miles in southern Nevada, including the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson.  To power all the homes and businesses in that area in 2006, Nevada Power generated (54.3%) and purchased (45.7%) 22,408,623 MWh (Megawatt Hours) of electricity.  But, that powers much more than just the strip...  I continued to search, but did not find an exact answer.  I submitted an email inquiry on the company's website, but did not receive a response right away.  (To read the response, see my next blog entry, Las Vegas & Energy, Part II.)

So, I decided to look into why Sustainlane is so positive about Nevada's green efforts.

I began by looking at Renewable Energy page on Nevada Power website where I learned:

• "By year-end 2007 Nevada will be the No. 1 state in the nation based on solar watts per capita and solar as a percentage of retail sales."
• "Currently, Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power get a portion of their power from 22 renewable energy sources. Those plants operate using geothermal, solar, hydro and biofuel resources."

The State of Nevada has an extensive renewable energy program.  The Nevada Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation Task Force was created in 2001 by the state legislature to "...to advise the Nevada State Office of Energy in the development and periodic review of the comprehensive state energy plan with regard to the use of renewable energy and the use of measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or which result in the more efficient use of energy."  The task force's website contains a lot of information about their efforts and the state's renewable energy resources and initiatives.

But, not all the news from Southern Nevada is good, the Las Vegas Business Press reported on June 22, 2007, "State lawmakers recently slashed tax incentives for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects amid fears of a projected budget shortfall."

That said it is good to know that Las Vegas and the state of Nevada are taking steps towards sustainability...