Where does Las Vegas get its power from?
With all its pomp and glitz, Las Vegas is infamous for its excess. In 2011, the state of Nevada consumed more than 28 million megawatt-hours of power, and all that juice has to come from somewhere. Like every other US city, Las Vegas draws power from a national electrical grid supplied by more than 6,000 power-generating units fuelled by coal, natural gas, oil, the Sun, moving water and more. The only exception is the sprawling new CityCenter hotel and casino complex, which is so large that it boasts its own ‘off-the-grid’ electrical powerplant (and its own fire department). The Hoover Dam, only 48 kilometres (30 miles) from Las Vegas, is one of the largest dams in the world, and generates more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually – 95 per cent of which is consumed in other US states.
Answered by Dave Roos.