Las Vegas bets on environmentalism

By Steve Friess, Special for USA TODAY LAS VEGAS — The popular image of this desert gambling mecca is that of indulgence and indiscriminate consumption. Words that rarely come to mind: Conservation. Sustainability. Green. Yet it's the famous Las Vegas Strip that's modeling eco-friendly practices. In Nevada, plans are underway to build more than 100 million square feet of new construction to the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program. More than half of that involves casino-resort projects on and around the Las Vegas Strip, not including the 8.3 million square feet of the 7-month-old, $1.9 billion Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, which, in May, was designated the nation's largest LEED-certified building. GOING GREEN: What's your eco-score? The scale of the... [read full story]