HN Explorer

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Fr0ntBack
I must admit I hadn't thought of Las Vegas as a champion of sustainability, but maybe I should revise my views.
SamReidHughes
It's easier when you're both in a desert and near a big dam.
Namrog84
Except to my understanding, they aren't currently using any big dam power. Though they plan to soon.
jobu
Third sentence in the article:

The power flows from a mix of solar panels and hydroelectric turbines including the Hoover Dam.

It seems odd to think about hydroelectric power in a desert as a renewable resource, but it does come from snow in Colorado.

toomuchtodo
Its not sustainable at current Las Vegas water consumption rates.

http://www.ibtimes.com/lake-mead-water-level-drops-record-lo...

niftich
California is apportioned 14x more water from the Colorado Basin than Nevada, Arizona 9x more [1]. Las Vegas has implemented several water conservation measures [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact [2] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2015/05/02/5-fac...

wlesieutre
California also has 14x the population of Nevada, so that's not too surprising
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ams6110
Really? I would have thought that nearly all the power used in Las Vegas would come from the Hoover Dam.
patoGigante
No need to revise... Las Vegas is no steward of environmental leadership.

They've been been among the fastest growing American cities since the 1980s. The impact on water useage has been substantial. ProPublica has an excellent series online: propublica.org/series/killing-the-colorado

  This is one of those issues no one wants to talk about & Vegas suburban sprawl the past 30 years is a big part of the problem. A few solar panels the city puts up is a nice try, but no dice Las Vegas!
aramadia
This is the more accurate headline, only government facilities are renewable not the entire city itself.
disordinary
Surely this isn't a big deal? The entire city of Wellington, NZ generates enough energy from windfarms that frame the city to power every single household - I'm sure plenty of cities in Europe are the same.
ilaksh
Except NVEnergy is still 78% natural gas generation. I think they are just trying say that some portion of the other 22% is allocated to Vegas city government and supposedly none from the gas although I doubt that.
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