Since you mentioned the Venetian, let's start there. According to Las Vegas Sands spokeswoman Kristin McLarty, "Maintaining the temperatures of the exhibit halls requires constant attention and maintenance by our engineering team including constantly monitoring the external temperatures, the types of events, the types of equipment in use on the floor, the attendance in the halls and the overall event hours and any special functions.
"Our engineering team performs all required tasks during the early morning hours when temperatures and the energy rates are lower. We pre-cool the exhibit halls during off-peak hours when the sun is not at its brightest. We make sure to keep all freight doors closed when the HVAC systems are operating and we have implemented a load-shedding program which reduces the operating hours of the HVAC systems during peak demand times, without affecting the comfort of our guests.
"In the first half of 2016 compared to 2015, we have experienced a 5 percent increase in exhibit hall usage (from 9.9 million square feet to 10.4 million square feet) and a 6 percent increase in event attendance (from 374,000 to 399,000 attendees), but have saved over 660,000 kilowatt hours of energy, which equates to an 11 percent drop in consumption, or enough energy to power 60 average American households for an entire year."
Yes, but what is "load-shedding"? McLarty explains the concept: "if we have 20 HVAC units cooling an exhibit hall which provides an equal distribution of cool air throughout the hall, and there is a concentration of energy intensive equipment in the core of the hall (which is typical for there to be a ‘center’ of the event), we know we can shut down the units on the perimeter of the hall without affecting the comfort levels of the guests. Further, once the event passes the hottest point of the day (3 p.m.-4 p.m.) and the hall temperature is at a comfortable level, we will begin shutting down units in groups of two-to-three every 30-60 minutes, which allows the hall to remain cool and receive consistent air flow, while we systematically ‘shed the load’ from the HVAC systems as the event gets closer to closing.
"With this systematic shut down, we have the ability to have (possibly) 50 percent of the HVAC systems shut down by the time the event ends and no one had any issues with the temperature or comfort. Another element of the load-shedding is the pre-cooling of the halls that I previously mentioned. It is easier to cool the hall earlier in the day when temperatures are lower and maintain the temperature with fewer units rather than trying to battle the heat during the peak temperatures during the afternoon with all our units running at 100 percent."
McLarty adds that this supplants the old-school theory of adjusting air-conditioning levels based on guest feedback, which meant running all HVAC units at 100 percent, but at a different set point. As practiced at Sands, the perimeter units are shut down, reducing the building's energy load "while achieving the goal of adjusting the temperature to the guests' preference."
Last year, climate-change-monitoring agency Trucost evaluated Sands' performance and concluded that the company "has implemented excellent processes and software systems to collect relevant data and uses an online tool to calculate greenhouse gas emissions … Las Vegas Sands has previously set long-term (5-year) targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction, and is currently in the process of establish new science-based emission reduction targets for the company."
According to a written statement by CEO Sheldon Adelson, Sands had reduced carbon emissions by 8 percent at its older properties and 20 percent at its newest ones. He conceded that progress on the water-conservation front was "slower than expected" but congratulated Sands for making the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. The company also listed "green meetings" as one of its core priorities.
Sands' sustainability focus isn't strictly domestic. The company uses rainwater collection at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, wind turbines at Sands Macao and all-LED (light-emitting diode) illumination at its St. Regis-branded hotel in Macao. It promises that Parisian, which opens in Macao on Sept. 13, will be its most sustainable resort to date. It points with pride to the silver and gold LEED certification of several properties (including Sands Expo Center), among other "green" accolades, including a Water Hero award for its Strip properties. According to a company report, rooftop solar arrays provide electricity, and heat pools and spas. Over the last five years, Sands has replaced 550,000 conventional light bulbs with LEDs, thereby saving 90 million kilowatt hours of energy.
Sands concedes that, try though it does, it doesn't always hit the mark when a resort opens. For that reason, it has an ongoing commissioning program to find room for improvements, including five revisions of Venetian and Palazzo. In some cases, this involves using more electricity, as when the company disposed of phone books and checkout paperwork in favor of electronic documents and signage.
Tomorrow: What are Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and their smaller brethren doing to keep pace with Sands?
