Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 24)

Insider Report: Gaming Edited by MeetingNews staff elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Greening Las Vegas Sin City demonstrates tenacity for conservation; CES shifts trend into overdrive Las Vegas hasn’t installed dimmers on all of its neon lights, but the green trend has begun to take hold in Sin City. Of note, several of the destination’s major meetings hotels and convention facilities all pitched in with recycling efforts as part of the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) green initiative for the big Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) earlier this month. “Having our show leave less of a [carbon] footprint is something we have requested for a long time,” said Kristina Taylor, CEA’s manager of environmental communications.“We received gracious support from all our vendors.” The suppliers that helped out with the green effort for the citywide show included the Las Vegas Hilton, the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and Sands’ Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. At the LVCC, GES and Aramark were involved, too: the former used recycled light bulbs and recycled the show’s carpeting, and the latter used biodegradable utensils and food containers. Exhibits at the Sands were recycled, as were show materials at the Sands, the Venetian, and the LVCC. In late November, the LVCC expanded and made permanent its recycling program, which now includes items that come off the trade show ﬂoor.All the venues employed recycling bins during the show. Las Vegas News Bureau From the Las Vegas Convention Center (above left) to eco-attractions like Springs Reserve (above right), Las Vegas suppliers are developing environmental awareness. “We had 5,000-plus tons of waste per year from the exhibit ﬂoor, and we had to think of how we could divert some of it from the landﬁll,” said Taryle Spain, director of client services for the LVCC. “We now recycle as much as we can, such as cardboard, wood, carpet padding, and plastic.” Since the program began, the LVCC has averaged a 50-percent recycling rate, double Nevada’s state goal of 25 percent. For the big electronics show, CEA printed communications on recycled paper with soy-based ink, and it recycled extraneous materials after the event. And, CES paid Carbonfund.org to offset carbon emissions for 600,000 hotel rooms. Carbonfund.org calculated CES’carbon consumption, using previous show data. “We have the largest show in Las Vegas,” said CEA’s Taylor.“Often, practices are changed forever, which means you have immeasurable impact.” New projects in Las Vegas are on the green trend, as well. Two of the largest under way, the $7-billion CityCenter Resort & Casino and the $4-billion Echelon Place, plan to use reclaimed and natural materials, water conservation, energy-efficient designs, and recycle construction waste. Meanwhile, the Springs Preserve, an event facility with 50,000 sf of indoor and outdoor function space that opened last summer, is being marketed as “an exhibit of sustainability practices.” It is the largest Platinum LEED-rated building in the Southwest. Said Michele Polci, director of catering sales for the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, of the greening of Las Vegas,“People are more sensitive to it. New developments like CityCenter are building power plants on site. Planners love to hear that we are one of only a couple of hotels here that generate power and heat water [it has its own plant].We have gotten more requests for environmentally sensitive practices. “We include things like serving water in cups, recycling meeting documents, and printing services at our business center, where most paper is made from recycled materials,” she continued. “It’s a different mode of thought on all kinds of things.” —Heidi Waldrop Bay www.meetingnews.com ‘Reno’vations Revitalizing Downtown Meetings Scene Even as the $25-million, 28,000-sf Reno Ballroom opens in February, hotel renovations will continue and two new projects have been announced that will further regenerate Reno’s downtown. A 10,000-seat Triple-A Baseball stadium, slated to break ground this spring, will be the anchor of a new $81-million ballpark district with a variety of retail and entertainment options; the traditional, brick-style ballpark is expected to open in spring 2009. Meanwhile, the city of Reno has reached an agreement to purchase the circa-1934 downtown post ofﬁce and plans to create a historically driven, mixed-use center of shops, restaurants, and ofﬁce space. And, the city plans to build a public plaza that extends the Riverwalk district along the banks of the Truckee River by two blocks. Triple-A Baseball will throw Hotels are active, as well. A $12-million renovation was comits ﬁrst pitch pleted at the 1,720-room Silver Legacy Resort Casino last in Reno in October, and Circus Circus is spending $5 million to refur2009. bish its 1,575 guest rooms and add a swimming pool on top of the skybridge across Sierra Street by year end. The 351-room Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel, which recently changed ownership, just completed $3 million in improvements and is developing a plan to redo its guest rooms, restaurants, and entertainment venues. —Heidi Waldrop Bay 24 MeetingNews January 28, 2008 http://www.Carbonfund.org http://www.Carbonfund.org http://www.meetingnews.com

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