
Las Vegas’s city government is now powered by 100% renewable energy - tnorton0310
http://qz.com/867024/las-vegas-100-percent-renewable-energy/
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aramadia
This is the more accurate headline, only government facilities are renewable
not the entire city itself.

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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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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.

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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.

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SamReidHughes
It's easier when you're both in a desert and near a big dam.

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Namrog84
Except to my understanding, they aren't currently using any big dam power.
Though they plan to soon.

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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.

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

[http://www.ibtimes.com/lake-mead-water-level-drops-record-
lo...](http://www.ibtimes.com/lake-mead-water-level-drops-record-low-drought-
dries-colorado-river-basin-2372146)

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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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact)
[2]
[https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2015/05/02/5-fac...](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2015/05/02/5-facts-
you-need-to-know-about-lake-meads-water-crisis/)

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wlesieutre
California also has 14x the population of Nevada, so that's not too surprising

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cjensen
That's not why California gets more water. It has to do with how Water Rights
in the Western US work [1].

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior-
appropriation_water_righ...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior-
appropriation_water_rights)

~~~
jessriedel
Well, sort of. The fact that CA has 14 times the population today is strongly
related to the fact that it applied 14 times the water for productive use in
the past.

