Traveling: Eco Friendly Living in Las Vegas

Rounding out our Escapes month here at Apartment Therapy we thought we'd look to the future--Las Vegas' future that is. It seems MGM Mirage, one of Vegas' biggest hotel conglomerates is going eco-friendly in an attempt to bring a little bit of green to sin city (no pun intended). Opening in the fall of 2009, the $8 Billion Harmon Hotel, Spa and Residences plans on featuring sustainable design--find out more after the jump.

Will The new Harmon Hotel forgo luxury living in lieu of a more eco-friendly lifestyle? We think they'll probably do a good job at combining both worlds. Harmon's vision of sustainable design is first represented by "CityCenter" the "76-acre city within a city". Little carbon footprint here when you aren't having to travel outside of Harmon's walls. The MGM Mirage chain also boasts water conservation by incorporating low-flow bathroom fixtures and an efficient irrigation system. More conservation efforts will be seen with the power consumed at CityCenter with most of the power being generated on-site. For more views and information, check out The Harmon here.

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[Images from CityCenter]

Comments (5)

How the heck is vacationing in the middle of a desert considered "Eco-Friendly"?

Where does all the food come from? Someplace Else.
How do the workers get to work? By Car.
Where did the building materials and furnishings come from? Someplace Else.
How do the guests get there? By Plane or by Car.

The concept that place this is the least bit "sustainable" is a joke.

posted by bepsf on August 26th 2008 at 2:42pm
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Come on, this is taking it a little too far.

posted by labchick on August 26th 2008 at 4:38pm
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Unless you grow your own food in your own backyard, your food comes from "someplace else." If you live in LA most of your produce comes from either Mexico or the Central Valley.

Flying on a plane is not eco-friendly regardless of your destination, so that's not a very good point, either.

This casino is at least trying to do something right, and at the end of the day I'm sure they will save millions on thier power bills, too. Southern Nevada is one place where all new construction can benefit from the use of solar panels because of the almost year round sun, and thats a good thing.

posted by DiHolmsy on August 26th 2008 at 8:33pm
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The only 'green' development in Las Vegas is no development. But the Harmon Hotel could start by nixing those swimming pools shown in the picture.

posted by PrettyKitty on August 27th 2008 at 12:52am
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Nice try. Las Vegas is the most ridiculously overdeveloped city I've seen. I spent a few days visiting friends who live there. Nothing but rampant and mostly unused development for miles.

They live in a new apartment "community" that, after two years, has something like 15% occupancy. Pretty much the same thing citywide.

Vegas doesn't need more housing. It needs to freeze development and make use of what's already built. The only "green" the Harmon Hotel developers actually care about is cash.

posted by Voodoo on August 27th 2008 at 12:12pm
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