Compared to Las Vegas Sands' sustainability commitment, one could say that of (much larger) Caesars Entertainment looks somewhat lackluster -- a possible casualty of the financial over-extension that led the company into its current bankruptcy situation. Although a sustainability program was first rolled out in 2008, under the "Go Green" banner, the company-wide initiative now known as CodeGreen has, to date, been responsible for installing only 100,000 LED bulbs and 10,000 low-flow showerheads, compared with the 550,000 LED substitutions by Las Vegas Sands (see Part I). Still, we note that the original question posed to us concerned heating/cooling systems, specifically, so we're not delving into the many other areas in which casino businesses, both corporate and small, have taken steps in the areas of recycling, conservation, and sustainability.
Over a seven-year period, Caesars did manage to diminish fossil-fuel consumption per 1,000 air-conditioned square feet by 21 percent, and greenhouse-gas emissions for the same amount of space dropped nearly 23 percent, in excess of the set target, so the company is on the right path. For instance, it set out to reduce water consumption per 1,000 square feet by 10 percent but achieved a nearly 17 percent reduction.
Perhaps Caesars' most notable innovation in terms of energy efficiency, was the 2004 installation of a cogeneration plant at the Rio, which now draws both power and heat from one source. While it generates only 40 percent of the property's total electricity needs, it provides 60 percent of both its hot water and heating requirements, while saving the resort $1.5 million a year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the timeline for recovering the cost of a cogeneration plant is five years, meaning that the Rio's fairly ground-breaking system has been free and clear for quite some time now.
MGM Resorts International recently made headlines by completing the largest U.S. solar array atop the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Installed by energy manufacturer NRG, the array will not only help enable MGM to leave the NV Energy power grid (a sore point with the company) but provide as much as 20 percent of Mandalay Bay's electricity on sunny days. Said MGM Chief Sustainability Officer Cindy Ortega, "The great thing about solar power is that the panels produce the most electricity during the hottest part of the day, which is also the time of day when electricity is most expensive. We’re offsetting costs during those peak hours. We think this marks the beginning of a series of arrays that will show up … on rooftops around the city."
One innovation that MGM made when it built Aria was to put the air-conditioning outlets in the bases of the slot machines. This was done because much cold air is lost in the mechanical process of pushing it down toward the casino floor from overhead ductwork. By putting the ducts in the floor, Aria was able to achieve a more economical distribution of cooled air. The only aspect of the decision that MGM regretted was putting the outlets in the podiums of the slots themselves, preventing the Aria slot floor from ever being significantly reconfigured.
MGM says it has saved 194 million kilowatt hours in the past five years, deploys 31 corporate vehicles powered by compressed natural gas and has installed charging stations for electric cars at 14 hotel-casinos (resulting in 3,200 charging sessions, or 229 per property in 2014). It has set the goal of converting 1.3 million light bulbs to LEDs. According to a company report, 60 percent of hotel tower water-cooling needs are achieved by on-property wells.
Meeting the LEED Gold Standard is a basic goal of all new MGM properties and the company says it was the first to report its carbon footprint, starting in 2009. The company has also made a public commitment to repurposing everything from air-conditioning units to exterior signage in its corporate campus. Electronics are also included in the company's recycling program. It long ago replaced incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents, which use only a quarter of the energy, in addition to retrofitting hotel rooms with "smart" thermostats that self-regulate room temperature.
Locals-oriented Rampart Casino achieved a significant economy in its parking garage when it replaced 468 halide lights (185 watts) with 80-watt, compact-fluorescent bulbs. Rampart was rewarded for its thrift with a $15,000 rebate.
Other little guys are getting in on the action. At the Golden Gate, Las Vegas' oldest casino, co-owner Greg Stevens was looking to the future when, in 2009, he had a system of 10 wells drilled into the ground below the property, to create a closed-loop geothermal system. (Stevens happens to be an engineer by trade.) The loop reaches far down into the earth, tapping into groundwater that maintains a 68-degree temperature. In the summer, the building's heat is transferred underground via the tubing, and cooled for use and recycled into the casino. During cold weather, the process is essentially reversed. The Golden Gate doesn't have to pay a dime for hot water, consequently, and the system recouped its cost in four years.
Some eco-friendly measures have been criticized as mere "greenwashing." While Luxor no longer uses 45 7,000-watt xenon bulbs to power its notorious beam, it still has 39 of them blazing away all night long. In 2009, not long after the dawn of the "green" era in Las Vegas, Newseek rated the 500 "greenest" companies in America: Wynn Resorts clocked in at number 176, Las Vegas Sands led the industry at #128, and MGM was #184. Fast forward to 2016, and Caesars Entertainment failed to make the cut once again, while Wynn Resorts is nowhere to be seen; on the other hand, Las Vegas Sands was ranked at a very respectable #39, while MGM Resorts has risen to the #109 spot. So kudos to both.
No matter what, providing power to a casino megaresort will never be cheap -- especially in the middle of the desert. An average Vegas Strip resort is equivalent to 3,000 homes, in power-usage terms, and the average Southern Nevada house uses 1,141 kilowatt hours a year. That's 3.4 million kilowatt hours and change to run a Vegas megaresort (every spin of slot machine costs 154 watts alone, making table games a more eco-friendly alternative to the one-armed bandits, in addition to generally being a better gamble).
