VEGAS GETS NEW ENERGY

Some great ideas that ought NOT to stay in Vegas:

The greening of Las Vegas
Michael Kanellos, March 9, 2007 (CNET News)
- There's one sure way to make money in Vegas: rip out your lawn.

- The Las Vegas Valley Water District pays residents $2 for every square foot of grass they remove and then replace with desert landscaping…
- In addition, a huge portion of the water from the sewage system in this city of nearly 2 million is treated and reused…
- Vegas doesn't seem like a green city at first glance. The zillions of lights of the Strip blaze 24 hours a day…the city's marquee economic activity is one of conspicuous consumption…
- But city officials, as well as the Nevada legislature, have begun to implement environmental programs that will, ideally, ease a bit of the burden of trying to keep a growing [desert] metropolis humming…
- …there are two government-owned hydrogen filling stations. Different city agencies are experimenting with hydrogen-powered utility vehicles and pickup trucks…

- Energy and water are hot topics for residents…
- Because of Las Vegas' desert location, a major emphasis is on solar energy. Under one state law, utilities are required to get 15 percent of their power from renewable resources and 5 percent from solar by 2015.
- This explains the solar panels on the roof of the underground pumping stations sending water to the city. The panels provide electricity to run the pumps…The water agency…will put solar-power systems on six [pumping] stations…the solar system at the Grand Canyon pumping station generated 38,000 kilowatt-hours of energy…Spain's Acciona Solar next month plans to begin pumping power out of Nevada Solar One, a 64-megawatt facility 40 miles outside of town…Potentially, the site, which is now 300 acres, could be built up to provide 2,000 megawatts of power.