Can a huge property such as The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel be considered green? Yes, says its owner Sands China Ltd, which has invested a swathe of effort and resources to reduce its carbon footprint across all of its properties in Macau.

Even after achieving some significant improvements, management is still gunning for more.

Sands China Ltd is well aware of its environmental responsibilities to the wider community and the planet, says Michael Naylor, executive director of facilities at The Venetian Macao.
“We have been working continually over the last three years to improve our green footprint,”
he says.

“A lot of that improvement has been around getting better building controls and reducing our electricity consumption either through operations, people power as well as changing
out lights.”

The changes have resulted in a 9 percent fall in electricity consumption at The Venetian Macao between opening day and now, even as the number of rooms and retailing area has increased dramatically. At the Sands Macao, the reduction has been even more pronounced, a 14 percent drop.

Sands China Ltd hopes to go beyond those achievements, with a company-wide target of a 25-percent savings. To make that a reality sooner rather than later, it has created a Green Action Team.

Progressive planning

Changing light bulbs for energy saving lamps is one of “the biggest single things that any property can do to make their building greener,” says Mr Naylor. Sands China Ltd is much further down the path than that and is now looking for new and more ambitious projects.

This year, it will roll out a million dollars project which helps to monitor in real time its energy spending across its three properties in Macau –  The Venetian Macao, Sands Macao and The Plaza Macao. The control centre will be located inside The Venetian Macao complex.

It was a logical next step, Mr Naylor said, because monitoring was essential for further gains to be made and sustained in the long run. Linking the trio of properties also permits easy sharing of best practices.

“Our next step is to strategically develop better control policies for air-conditioning systems within our properties. What we will actually see is reduced energy consumption and improved guest comfort,” he says.

It is the step after that which is perhaps the most innovative. Later this year, Sands China Ltd is expected to roll out a new project that will generate its own renewable energy. “At The Venetian Macao, there is a project that we will probably put on the table on the next two to three months to basically provide about 30kWh worth of power developed from solar and wind energy,” Mr Naylor says.

The energy produced will be used to power electric cars from a dedicated power station in the car-parking area. Visitors will be able to charge their electric vehicles at the station. Any surplus energy generated will be diverted to power up offices.

Efforts to become more environmental friendly have also entered the hotels’ rooms. Several devices to save water and energy have been installed across the properties.

Sands China Ltd also requests help from the guests, namely by avoiding unnecessary towel and linen changes and by turning the lights off when not needed.

The company extends the request to its employees. Energy conservation and environmental awareness is promoted to team members on a regular basis, either through training and awareness initiatives or posters and videos.

Those materials remind team members that a single photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to produce 1,500 copies. They would also be able to tell you that leaving the lights on in the office once the workday is over wastes enough energy to heat water for 1,000 cups of tea.

Sands China Ltd recycles more than 400 tons of waste every year. At the same time, its procurement policies favour purchasing products and services that are certified as “environmentally friendly”.

The Sands China Ltd shuttle buses also follow the highest environmental regulations. All comply with the Euro IV emission standards, meaning lower levels of pollution. The company’s vehicle fleet also includes some petrol-electricity powered hybrids.

Silent revolution

While these changes are taking place all around them, the impact on the company’s guests is negligible. Sands China Ltd says not one green initiative has impacted on the quality of stay for guests, nor have there been any complaints.

Mr Naylor said the secret was to run realistic pilot tests before applying new programmes across an entire property. That was the route the company took when installing low-flow showerheads,
for example.

“We did this on a pilot program. We wanted to see if our guests would notice it or if we would get any comments and we haven’t had any,” he said.

“We are actually now rolling it out full scale.”

Quite to the contrary, what Sands China Ltd is actually seeing is a growing trend of environmental awareness among its guests. It is a classic case of consumer awareness helping to bring change.

“What we are finding is that our clients in our meeting and exposition space are very keen to know what green certificates we have,” says Mr Naylor.

It has created a situation where both The Venetian Macao and Sands Macao are eager to display their Macao Green Hotel Award. Mr Naylor said it was important to have the territory’s most significant award for environmentally friendly practices in the hospitality sector.

The awards are organised by the Environmental Protection Bureau and Macau Government Tourist Office. They aim to demonstrate the importance of environmental management, and honour the hotels that have made a commitment.

From the top

The Venetian Macao welcomes the support it has received from the government towards its green initiatives. “They are anxious for us to implement any initiative that we can,” says Mr Naylor. “They are very supportive, obviously, of our work. So, we get a lot of encouragement.”

A commitment from the top also helps to keep the company’s environmental programme in shape. “Our corporate office, acting chief executive officer Michael Leven and chairman Sheldon Adelson, are very keen to roll out all these initiatives,” says Mr Naylor.

“This company wants to be a good corporate citizen in Macau. We want to do the right thing. We are a huge energy user and it is our duty to do whatever we can to be more economical”.

It is an ongoing process, as lessons learned in the past are applied to the new properties in the pipeline. “We are trying to find the best practices to give us the most environmentally-friendly buildings that we can produce,” he said.

“When parcels 5 and 6 open, from the very beginning, we will be able to monitor more accurately what we are actually consuming. We will have better control over our air-conditioning systems, so that the area will be properly cooled more efficiently.”

Mr Naylor says the effort to become greener is taking place across the entire gaming industry. It is a healthy competition between the facilities departments from the different casino operators.

“It is important that, as a casino community, the department heads that are in-charge of this area share their good initiatives. At the end of the day, that is what is good for our environment and good for Macau.”