This past weekend I needed to get away to clear my head and relieve some stress.  So I decided to go to Las Vegas.  You might be wondering what was thinkGood. doing in Sin City?  Las Vegas is traditionally known for its excessive and wasteful lifestyle.  To my surprise there are very green choices you can make while in the city of sin.

I was privileged enough to stay at the beautifully built new hotel ARIA tucked within the new City Centre complex.  Upon entering you will notice the Zen inspired atmosphere. There are no gaudy gold statues or women dancing on poles.  It is filled with clean lines, eco-friendly lighting, and architecture built from recycled, and local material. Please read below for how the makers of ARIA completed this beautifully green inspired project.

“City Centre was constructed with preference to materials made with recycled content, reclaimed materials or those that could be manufactured locally, as well as paints, sealants, adhesives, carpet and composite wood products that do not contain toxic substances; even the positioning of the buildings to ensure the penetration of natural light was taken into consideration.

“While we weren’t the first project on the Strip to be LEED certified, we were the first project to really add in the element of sustainability into our design,” said Cindy Ortega, MGM Mirage’s senior vice president of energy and environmental services. I think what surprised everyone, is that the idea of the environment and earth actually shows in everything. I had no idea four years ago that I would walk into ARIA and I’d be looking at natural stones and natural day lighting and certified wood, but there it all is. We were able on City Center to really breathe the idea and respect of nature into the largest sustainable project in the United States.”

The property includes:

• A co-generation plant providing about 10 percent of the property’s electricity. The throw-off heat from the plant will be used to heat the property’s water.
• Specially-coated windows on Vdara that help reduce heat transfer into the building by reflecting light.
• Settings on the rooms’ remote system in ARIA and Mandarin Oriental allowing guests to green their stay by indicating their preferred light level, room temperature and frequency of linen and towel changes. Systems can also be programmed to turn these settings down or off when the guest is not in their room. CityCenter is expected to save 50 million gallons of water each year as a result of water conservation efforts, such as efficient irrigation systems, low-flow faucets and showers and low-flush toilets throughout the development. The property offers preferred parking for hybrid vehicles, a bike valet and even has a fleet of limos powered by natural gas.”

Not only was Aria itself built green, but I wanted to mention that they are committed to sustaining and promoting green experiences.  For example, the sheets, pillows, and mattresses are all made of organic cottons, and other earth friendly materials. The beds, furniture and art work in our suite were made from recycled or local material.  I also always try and bring back souvenirs from my travels for my loved ones, and to my delight the Aria gift store sells mostly recycled and environmentally friendly souvenirs.  I found the cutest organic low dye panda bear for my niece, they had organic teas and candles; I even found wallets and sudoku books for my friends. 

As I sat in my Rev Run bathtub and had my thinkGood. thought of the day, I wanted to share with the world the fact that we all have choices.  No one is saying you cannot enjoy a good time, thinkGood. just wants you to make more responsible decisions and empower yourself with choice! 

A big thank you goes out to my Godfather for flying my brother and I to Vegas for the weekend, and putting us up in the sky suites.  Also thank you to my brother for being my reluctant photographer! Check out some pictures from my adventures in Vegas and my stay at the ARIA below.

thinkGood. Lingo:

LEED(Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. (Wikipedia)

Do Good, Feel Good, Live Good.

- Team thinkGood.

Tags: ARIA, CityCenter Vegas, Elvis, Las Vegas, Organic Cotton

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Environment, Lingo, Various. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.