I had a great trip to Vegas last week. What a crazy city. It's really non-stop 24-7. Quite beautiful with it's unnatural constructed form next to canyons and mountains in the distance.
Yet, I couldn't help but think how unnatural it was for humans to live in the desert. The power consumed by that city must be enormous. All that constant air conditioning & spraying a fine mist of water into the street around restaurant decks and shops to cool the air.
It was over 40 degrees Celsius when we arrived. The hottest I recall feeling in the past was 35 degrees in Belize City -and I nearly melted...it was a humid 35 degrees. But 40 degrees is equally unnatural even with a dry heat. It makes you stay indoors. The sun beats down on all that rock and concrete heating it up like a bowl in the sun.
The elevators, lights, casinos open 24/7, all those slot machines are such a constant drain of power. I thought it would be interesting to know how much electricity Las Vegas consumes, so I did a little digging...
Each new resident will need 20,000 kWh of electricity a year. That will be 400,000 megawatts at a cost of $40,000,000 a year producing 160,000,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum.The average American uses 10,000 kWh of electricity a year - shocking - twice as much.
Another thing that stood out in my mind was the working seniors.
I've never seen so many seniors working. One lady was so old her hands had tremors as she passed me my change. I felt sorry for her, wondering why she hadn't retired. Had she lost her pension in the recession or did she gamble it away? I'll never know but it seemed strange. In PEI, it's rare to see a senior working, in fact, early retirement is what we seem to strive for around here.
All in all, Vegas is a freak show. Likely a city that should never have been built in the first place...too hot and dry of a climate to sustain life, but if you get a chance to go you'll get to see human consumption in high gear, from high rollers to freaks. Vegas has it all.
I didn't gamble. Ah well that $20 is best spent on my early retirement. ;)
|
