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High Energy Costs May Dim Vegas Glitz30 March 2001LAS VEGAS –March 30, 2001 –As reported by the Associated Press: “With its mammoth, beckoning signs and marquees, the hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are ground zero for eye-blasting, mind-dazzling displays of light. ”All that glitter is coming at an increasingly high price these days, as energy costs throughout the West threaten to short-circuit the state's top industry. ”The amount of electricity used by a megaresort with 3,000 rooms would power 9,000 three-bedroom homes, said Lauran Watson, an executive for Las Vegas-based Nevada Power. At peak demand, just one of these resorts uses more megawatts than a large hospital campus. ”…Glenn Schaeffer, Mandalay Resort Group president, is predicting his company could see its electricity and natural-gas costs rise as much as 30 percent over the next year. ”…Earlier this month, Nevada's major casinos announced plans to cut power usage by 20 percent in light of the power crisis plaguing the West. ”…The MGM Grand recently remodeled each of its 5,000 guest rooms and suites to feature low-watt fluorescent bulbs that use less than half as much energy. Casino-floor lighting has also been changed, says spokeswoman Kristin Koca. ”Treasure Island's hotel-casino parking garage is switching to a system using sodium bulbs that use 30 percent less energy but provide the same light, Koca said. ”Don Gold, a sales representative for Lights of America, says he is working with a number of Strip hotel-casinos to convert room and hallway lights. ”The clear light bulbs that light up the Las Vegas skyline are the least efficient source of light, says Firmin Berta, lighting consultant for Nevada Power…” |