The Sustainable Energy Strategy, adopted in 2008, details Las Vegas’s greenhouse gas goals for its local government operations and the community. The city focuses on energy efficiency and conservation projects, including green building construction and improvements at local government facilities and fire stations, and streetlight energy efficiency upgrades to reduce costs and the amount of energy consumed.
The Sustainable Energy Strategy and 2013 Strategic Business Plan establish the City of Las Vegas’s climate and energy goals and initiatives.
The Sustainable Energy Strategy includes a goal to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.
Las Vegas municipal operations have been powered 100% by renewable energy sources since 2016.
Las Vegas does not have fuel efficiency requirements for the public fleet. The city does not have a formal energy-efficient vehicle procurement policy and it does not employ technologies to increase public fleet efficiency. The City’s fleet is composed of 12% efficient vehicles, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles.
We could not confirm if Las Vegas as adopted a policy requiring efficient outdoor lighting, such as the International Dark-Sky Association’s Model Lighting Ordinance. However, the city has adopted regional standards set forth by the Regional Transportation Commission, which mirror the industry American National Standards Institute/Illuminating Engineering Society of North American (ANSI/IESNA) to upgrade nearly 80% of its streetlight inventory to LED. Currently, 80% of city streetlights are LED. The remaining 20% will be replaced within the next 3 years.
As a part of the Green Building Resolution, adopted by the city council in 2006, the city constructs and upgrades all new or existing facilities to LEED Silver standards. In addition, 25% of existing occupied City buildings and facilities are to be upgrades to meet LEED standards.
Las Vegas benchmarks all municipal buildings. The city of Las Vegas adopted R-32-2017, a resolution adopting a strategy for net-zero energy, sustainability, and community resilience. A goal of the strategy, in addition to the LEED requirement is to ensure that 25% of existing occupied City buildings and facilities meet or be upgraded to a LEED or equivalent standard, pursuant to R-32-2017. Several new buildings have been built to LEED standards or are being replaced with a LEED rated building (a new municipal courthouse, a replacement fire station). All other upgrades are included in the annual Capital Improvement Planning process.
Las Vegas allows four-day work week flexible schedules for City employees.
The City of Las Vegas passed R-32-2017, a resolution which formally adopted the 2045 Downtown Master Plan.
The city does not have a community-wide greenhouse gas reduction goal. Las Vegas is included in regional greenhouse gas inventories conducted for the entirety of Clark County.
The 2045 Downtown Master Plan develops a strategy and goal to achieve net-zero energy status in downtown Las Vegas by 2045.
The city has not adopted a formal policy, rule, or agreement that supports the creation of clean distributed energy systems.
The city passed the Urban Forestry Initiative in 2008 (R-26-2008) to improve air quality, reduce the urban heat island effect, and increase quality of life in terms of shade, beauty, and privacy for Las Vegas residents. The initiative includes an urban heat island mitigation goal to increase urban tree canopy coverage to 20% by 2035.
The city requires all non-residential developments greater than one acre in size to use low impact development techniques in site design. The city has not adopted a private tree protection ordinance or policies that require or incentivize conservation of private land.
The City of Las Vegas has adopted the 2018 International Codes. The city does not have a mandatory benchmarking policy for commercial, multifamily, or single-family buildings. Las Vegas offers financing options for energy efficiency improvements and solar installations.
The State of Nevada is a home rule state and allows local governments to adopt building energy codes for their own jurisdiction. Effective July 2015, the State of Nevada adopted the 2012 IECC with state specific amendments for residential buildings and ASHRAE 90.1-2010 for commercial buildings.
Building professionals from Clark County participate the Southern Nevada Building Officials organization that promotes regional adoption of recommended building codes. [HB1] [AJ2] Since local jurisdictions are still responsible for adopting energy codes, the city adopted the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).
Las Vegas adopted the 2018 International Building Code and 2018 IECC. The city’s zEPI score for their commercial energy code is 45.3.
Las Vegas adopted the 2018 International Residential Code and 2018 IECC. The city’s zEPI score for their residential energy code is 52.8.
Las Vegas incorporates mandatory energy compliance verification into the plan review and third-party review and inspections. The city provides upfront support in the form of one-on-one assistance.
The city offers two incentives and financing programs for both energy efficiency and solar.
Las Vegas offers property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for commercial energy efficiency improvements and solar installations.
Las Vegas does not require any additional above-code energy-saving actions.
Las Vegas does not have a mandatory benchmarking and disclosure policy for commercial and multifamily buildings.
Las Vegas does not have a mandatory benchmarking and disclosure policy for single-family buildings.
Nevada Energy (NV Energy), an investor-owned utility (IOU), is the primary electric utility serving Las Vegas. Southwest Gas, an IOU, is Las Vegas’s primary natural gas utility. The State of Nevada has established requirements for energy efficiency programs provided by the state's investor-owned electric utilities, as well as integrated resource planning. To learn more about the state-requirements for electric and gas efficiency, please visit the Nevada page of the State Database.
Las Vegas Valley Water District and Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) provide drinking water services to residents of Las Vegas. The City of Las Vegas Water Pollution Control Facilities is the municipal utility which provides wastewater treatment services and the Clark County Regional Flood Control District is responsible for stormwater management services.
In 2017, according to Energy Information Administration, NV Energy achieved 143,004 MWh in net incremental savings, representing 0.44% of retail sales. In 2017, Southwest Gas did not report any savings from natural gas efficiency programs. NV Energy offers electric efficiency incentives and technical assistance to residential and commercial/industry customers. Southwest Gas similarly offers natural gas efficiency programs to residential and business customers.
At this time, the City of Las Vegas does not have a formal partnership with NV Energy or Southwest Gas in the form of a jointly-developed or administered energy saving strategy, plan, or agreement. Even so, Southwest Gas, NV Energy, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) work with the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to help fund and promote their GreenPower Outreach programs. Through GreenPower Outreach, DRI offers Teacher Trainings and Workshops focused on STEM subjects including energy conservation and management. Additional resources are also offered to Nevada students in the form of Green Boxes, speakers, and field trips.
In 2017, NV Energy did provide renewable energy incentives for the construction of new distributed solar and wind systems. We were unable to verify data on the total spending and installed capacity from these programs in 2017. NV Energy’s Solar Incentives program provides $0.45 per watt for low-income and nonprofit installations and $0.20 per watt for residential, commercial, and industrial installations.
To our knowledge, the city of Las Vegas does not participate in activities or strategies to help spur or encourage more utility-scale or distributed renewable energy generation from its local electric utility, such as testifying in public utility commission proceedings related to renewable energy, creating a formal partnership with the electric utility on renewable generation, or participating in utility planning efforts to increase renewable generation.
To our knowledge, NV Energy and Southwest Gas do not offer energy efficiency programs targeted at low-income customers.
At this time, NV Energy and Southwest Gas do not offer energy efficiency programs targeted at multifamily properties.
Neither Southwest Gas nor NV Energy provides energy usage data to building managers for input into automated benchmarking services. At this time, the City of Las Vegas does not advocate for improvements in data provision by its utilities.
Southwest Gas and NV Energy collaborate with the Southern Nevada Water District to offer energy and water conservation tips to local business and residential customers as well as provide separate electric efficiency, gas efficiency, and water efficiency programs. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) established a conservation goal of 199 GPCD (gallons per capita per day) by 2035. In order to meet this goal, the SNWA and Las Vegas Valley Water District use a four-pronged approach of tiered pricing, drought and water use restrictions, incentives for purchasing equipment like pool covers and green landscaping, and education and outreach. Southern Nevada has reduced its water demand from about 314 gallons per person per day to about 127 GPCD, a 36% decrease since 2002.
Las Vegas Valley Water District is pursing energy efficiency initiatives in accordance with the city’s Sustainable Energy Strategy, but a specific energy efficiency goal for operations is not in place. The City of Las Vegas Water Pollution Control Facility digesters use methane capture and have 3.3 MW of solar power generated on site. In addition, power transmitted to the wastewater plant is received from the Colorado River Commission which receives power from Hoover Dam’s Hydropower Systems.
The transportation authority and MPO serving the City of Las Vegas is the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC). RTC provides the public transportation for the city and the broader metropolitan area, including bus service. The Las Vegas Monorail Company provdies monorail service parallel to The Strip. The Department of Public Works is the city agency charged with managing the city’s transportation network.
Las Vegas has a Mobility Master Plan in place that makes recommendations for vehicular, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian improvements over a 20 year time frame. The plan includes over 180 multimodal transportation improvements projects. Las Vegas does not have a codified VMT or greenhouse gas reduction target in place.
Las Vegas has adopted individual zoning plans for certain neighborhoods around the city, including the Downtown Centennial Plan and Las Vegas Medical Center Plan, to encourage compact development, and accessibility for pedestrians.
Las Vegas has not removed minimum parking requirements. Downtown has reduced parking.
The City offers an expedited plan check and permitting program in general for applicants. In addition, under the newly adopted Form-Based zoning code, the City of Las Vegas does encourage compact, mixed-use development, including a variety of housing types. As a part of the code’s adoption, and as specified in the Vision 2045 Downtown Las Vegas Master Plan, a new incentive program is under development (including density bonuses for affordable housing and open space, expedited reviews, and bonuses for buildable height and area).
Las Vegas is served by zipcar. At this time, the City does not have a formal policy in place to provide dedicated on-street and off-street parking for carshare vehicles.
The City of Las Vegas is a Bike Friendly Community with silver status. The Regional Transportation Commission has a docked bikeshare program, RTC Bike Share, focused on the downtown area. The City has declined to approve dockless bike share at this time. The City includes bikeshare docking stations as qualifying land use in its streetscape standards.
The RTC and Monorail Company transit systems that serve Las Vegas have received $128,992,014 in average annual funding from 2013-2017. This funding level is $61.06 per resident in the service territory, putting it in the third highest category ($50-99) available in the City Scorecard.
The Transit Connectivity Index measures transit service levels. It is based on the number of bus routes and train stations within walking distance for households scaled by frequency of service. Las Vegas’ Transit Connectivity Index value is 5.1, putting it in the fourth highest category (5-6.99) available in the City Scorecard.
At this time, Las Vegas does not offer incentives for citizens to purchase hybrid, plug-in, or EV vehicles.
NV Energy offers incentives for the installation of public or private EV charging stations. There are more than 300 EV charging station locations available for use region wide.
The City owns 123 charging stations available for public use.
At this time, the City of Las Vegas has no incentives or requirements available for the installation of private or public EV charging infrastructure powered by renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.).
Las Vegas does not have a sustainable freight transportation plan in place, nor does it have any policies that address freight efficiency.
Under the newly adopted Form-Based zoning code, the city of Las Vegas does encourage compact, mixed-use development, including a variety of housing types. As a part of the code’s adoption, and as specified in the Vision 2045 Downtown Las Vegas Master Plan, a new incentive program is under development (including density bonuses for affordable housing and open space, expedited reviews, and bonuses for buildable height and area).
Las Vegas does not currently provide rebates or incentives to low-income residents for efficient transportation options.
In the City of Las Vegas, 77% of low-income households have access to high-quality transit.