The image on the right is of Las Vegas and like you I would not have considered that a city of this nature could actually be considered a "Green" city? But it is - and way ahead of what we are doing anywhere in Australia I believe.
Now I admit that Las Vegas is a city that is situated in a desert but then so is a city like Perth in Western Australia basically and especially seems so in the last few years as the temperature rises and both water and power consumption become more problematic.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District are :
- Giving $2 for every square foot of grass residents remove and replace with desert vegetation! Millions of square feet have been removed (enough to stretch from Vegas to Sydney and beyond) with a consequent reduction in water usage
- A huge portion of the water from the sewage system is treated and reused. Some goes to golf courses, while water that is treated further is returned for human consumption. The city gets 300,000 acre feet (370 gigalitres) a year from Lake Mead, and it reclaims more than 200,000 acre feet (246 gigalitres).
Under one state law, utilities are required to get 15 percent of their power from renewable resources and 5 percent from solar by 2015.
In response to this requirement, the Las Vegas Valley Water District are also using solar power to pump water and although this will not produce all the power required it does reduce there reliance on the grid and so qualify the authority for incentives and rebates from the state.
With the issues we have with water in Australia can you believe that we are still not discouraging lawns, recycling water for human consumption and using solar power far more than we have to date especially as we are world leaders in solar power technology.
See the full story here: http://news.com.com/2100-11392_3-6166027.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
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