Nevada’s Greening Hospitality Industry
By Anthony Cosentino
When you are in the business of entertaining thousands of guests around the clock, 365 days per year, devouring vast mounts of energy is part of the business model—or at least it used to be. With soaring consumption costs and a growing concern over the environment, Las Vegas has emerged as a leader in the green movement.
In a city famous for excess, it may be a surprise to know that in 2007 the nation’s largest privately funded project certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) was The Palazzo casino and resort. The project achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver certification. When the Las Vegas Sands Corp. opened The Palazzo, it was not only the largest LEED-certified building in the United States, but it was more than four times bigger than the second-largest LEED project.
The city government is also going green. Union Park, a $6 billion, 11-million-square-foot mixed-use project under development in the heart of downtown Las Vegas on land owned by the city, was awarded LEED Gold certification. Union Park is part of a Neighborhood Development national pilot program. The in-progress mixed-use project includes The Charlie Palmer, a 400-room boutique hotel.
Next up is the $9 billion CityCenter, an urban metropolis Perini Building constructed on 67 acres on the Las Vegas Strip. MGM MIRAGE pursued LEED certification at CityCenter. As planned, the 18-million-square-foot multi-use project became one of the world’s largest environmentally sustainable urban communities. The project is currently the largest privately financed green development in the history of North America.
Opened in late 2009, CityCenter is a joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corp., a subsidiary of Dubai World. Using a campus approach, each of the development’s resort, entertainment and residential buildings will pursue an individual LEED submission. The project includes ARIA, a 61-story, 4,004-room resort casino; luxury non-gaming hotels, including Vdara and Las Vegas’ first Mandarin Oriental; Veer Towers, the development’s only strictly residential buildings; approximately 2,400 luxury residences; and Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district. Additionally, The Harmon, a luxury 400-room boutique hotel, is slated to open at CityCenter in late 2010.
Certainly not all of Las Vegas’ new hospitality and gaming projects have attempted LEED certification, but by most accounts, many have implemented green techniques that save operating costs and are helping sustain Nevada’s landscape. By employing green practices, project owners also earn bragging rights to market eco-friendly claims aimed at attracting a growing number of environmentally conscious consumers.
In a fiercely competitive industry, marketing green has proven to be an effective tool to lure customers. If a consumer has a choice between two comparable hotels, except one promotes superior air quality and abstains from using products made from old growth forests, you have a potential tiebreaker.
For established hoteliers that would eventually like to retrofit systems with more energy efficient equipment, there are immediate low-cost steps that don’t require structural changes and can be readily implemented for miniscule costs. Owners can initiate corporate-wide recycling programs. Many hotels are moving to natural cleaning products and asking guests to reuse their linen and towels. Resorts are offering preferred parking for guests and employees who drive low-emitting or alternative fuel vehicles. Resorts are also providing carpooling employees with preferred parking.
According to Nancy Johns, LEED project manager for Perini Building, “In addition to marketing benefits, the greening of the desert makes good economic sense. Building a more sustainable facility saves operating costs over a building’s lifetime.”
In the Southwest, conserving energy and water are two major areas that can positively influence a project’s return on investment. Long before LEED, Nevada desert dwellers have been conserving water through desert landscaping, efficient irrigation systems and low-flow bathroom fixtures. CityCenter is employing low-flow fixtures in addition to normal desert practices to better manage its water usage.
An innovative example of reducing energy costs is CityCenter’s plan to conserve energy by generating much of its own power. CityCenter’s cogeneration solution will utilize the excess heat generated by its onsite power plant to heat water used by guests. This will reduce demand on the power grid, benefiting the entire community.
A key to building green is to make high performance or green building standards part of your program requirements. There is no doubt that, at first glance, the requirements outlined in standards guides such as the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design, seem daunting. If, however, planning starts during the program development phase and a plan is laid before design begins, building a LEED project isn’t any more difficult than what contractors are already used to.
To achieve LEED certification for any building doesn’t require a new skill set; rather, it requires a different level of consciousness. Team members need to understand that every decision affects another. To design an efficient project and gain the most points, the owner, designer’s and general contractor’s team need to look at the project from every perspective. Team members need to think holistically about the project. Once a design decision is made and the level of certification is agreed upon, it is the team’s job to manage the process.
Green hospitality buildings, like all efficient construction, should include the whole team at the front-end in order to work out obstacles in advance of design and construction. If the intent is to obtain LEED certification, as opposed to just going green, decide as a team which credits make sense for the entire project.
For example, if there is a consensus to earn LEED points by treating storm water, an engineer needs to be consulted before the system is designed to ensure that pollutants can be successfully collected. Working with the design team, engineers can recommend the most efficient products and structures for the intended purpose and to fit the finished facility.
As a general contractor, we urge owners and architects to involve the contractor’s team in the conceptual stage. The contractor can help the designers with constructability and scheduling issues, procurement-based decisions and site-related considerations. For instance, contractors can determine which materials are available within a 500-mile radius to earn specific LEED points. This avoids availability issues, especially when constructing mega projects. On large projects there may not be enough specified green product available, such as wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, in time to meet the construction schedule. Knowing this in advance allows the designer to employ either a new product or use a variety of products to guarantee availability to meet project deadlines.
Critical steps to LEED planning for the general contactor include selecting subcontractors that are willing and able to meet LEED requirements. “Hire a ‘green-spirited’ team that is enthusiastic about contributing innovative ideas about how to make a project sustainable and high performance,” Johns said. “Having the right team is critical to your success. Along that same line, select suppliers that have proven quality products that can assist in meeting green standards.”
The building team doesn’t need to be comprised of all LEED-accredited individuals, but have at least one experienced LEED accredited person on board. Not only is it an opportunity to earn one point toward the certification of the project, but having a knowledgeable source who can serve as the primary project liaison between the USGBC and the project team to ensure progress is accurately tracked and documented will improve the process.
According to Johns: “A green champion on the owner’s side is also crucial to the project’s progress. Having a high-level executive driving the effort can significantly streamline the process.”
Having a contractor with experienced LEED persons will help to ensure that that the owner’s desires are understood and will enable the contractor to better counsel and educate the subcontractors, vendors and suppliers.
Make sure you have an adequate construction budget to get the job done right, and make sure the schedule is realistic. Determine in advance of construction that there is adequate time to incorporate high performance strategies. General contractors need to have a clear understanding of the requirements needed to achieve the desired level of certification. Armed with this information, project milestones can be incorporated and activities sequenced accordingly. Always identify extra credits that can be obtained as the project moves through the different phases.
“Perception is often one of the biggest hurdles to going green,” Johns said. “Green design and construction is not new, we have just deviated from it. Once owners, developers and the general public realize that you can go green without exorbitant costs and without a total reversal in habits, sustainable design and construction will someday be the norm, not the exception.”
It’s true—sustainable building isn’t new. In the desert, before the advent of air conditioning, buildings were built with brick and adobe for insulation. Homes were designed to face north/south, not east/west. Facilities had root cellars, which stayed cool despite the blistering heat; windows had awnings and were designed with split openings to let cool air in from the bottom while hot air escaped from the top. Simple techniques were utilized to make everyday living more bearable. As products became more sophisticated, the design and construction industry shifted away from green building because it could. Now the pendulum is shifting back toward more common sense building practices that work in tandem with the environment rather than opposing it.
According to the U.S. Green Building Council Nevada Chapter, the state is up for the green challenge. In 2008 the Nevada Chapter released a Position Statement on Energy that stated: “There is a growing body of scientific and practical evidence indicating that Nevada can meet its future energy needs through a combination of energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy sources while also improving its economic stability. Nevada holds incredible potential for the creation of a balanced portfolio of clean energy sources using solar electric, solar thermal, geothermal, hydro and wind technologies. Through this, we would demonstrate leadership to the nation and the world.”
Las Vegas has the opportunity with its large, high profile projects to lead the way in the commercial construction theatre. With industry giants like MGM MIRAGE and Las Vegas Sands taking green initiatives, and the state’s leadership involved in a national LEED pilot program, Las Vegas is garnering a new, somewhat unlikely, responsible reputation of going green.
Anthony Cosentino, RA, is Project Design Coordinator and LEED Manager for Perini Building Co. He can be reached at tcosentino@periniwest.com or702-792-9209.