From nonstop arrays of food at buffets to the gravity-defying Bellagio fountain show in the middle of the desert, the Las Vegas Strip has always been the country’s symbol of excess.

It’s Michael Gulich’s job to make sure the reality tells a different story.

“When we developed our sustainability initiatives and programs, it was at a time that it seemed that luxury and sustainability were at odds,” Gulich said. “We were intentional about hiding our initiatives, making them invisible to the guests and minimizing impact on the guest experience. As that perception has changed, we’re fighting that legacy.”

Gulich, 55, is the vice president of sustainability at MGM International, a Las Vegas gaming giant that operates 14 hotels on the Strip, including the Bellagio, Aria and Mandalay Bay.

While he’s not the first to fill such a role at the company, and other companies have similar positions, MGM stands out with bold commitments as the largest employer in the state of Nevada.

From higher ed
to the Strip

Prior to taking the mantle at MGM, Gulich worked in West Lafayette, Indiana, as university architect at Purdue University.

Gulich has always been interested in how buildings can be more sustainable, first working as an architect in the private sector in the ’90s.

That job led him to work on auditing the sustainability of the World Trade Center redevelopment project post-9/11.

The jump from Purdue’s campuses — about 26 million square feet in total — to MGM’s portfolio of 94 million square feet of buildings was a big upgrade in responsibility, he said.

MGM’s standout accomplishments include its diverse solar portfolio that will allow 100 percent of peak energy daytime demand to come from renewable energy. It has put solar panels on the top of Mandalay Bay, as well as building two solar farms north of the valley in rural Nevada.

“We have the largest direct-source solar project in the world in hospitality, and we’re going to more than double that at the end of the year, with battery storage as well,” Gulich said. “It’s good for us financially. There’s a risk mitigation component to it, and it’s driving our carbon reduction.”

Ben Leffel, a UNLV professor who studies climate change and teaches a course on corporate sustainability, said the renewable energy commitment is impressive and should be a model for the industry.

“MGM is where I think people should look to as a hospitality and sustainability paragon,” Leffel said.

Thriving partnership

Arguably the biggest driver of action on the Strip comes from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency created in the 1990s to get the city on track to secure future water resources.

The outlook for Lake Mead, Southern Nevada’s primary source of drinking water, remains poor as climate change and overuse throughout the Colorado River Basin draw too much water from the system.

That means no new flashy water features, golf courses or water-intensive swamp coolers in the modern era because of local ordinances. While the Bellagio fountains may raise some eyebrows, its water use is completely confined to groundwater use and doesn’t have a tie to Lake Mead.

Not a single blade of real grass remains on MGM’s Las Vegas properties, including a switch to artificial turf under the Statue of Liberty replica at New York-New York.

The water authority has strongly encouraged homeowners through rebates to make the switch to desert landscaping in an effort to save water, because any water that’s not used indoors and recycled is lost from the system.

The grass conversions are a testament to its willingness to adapt to the needs of the city, said Michael Bernardo, enterprise conservation manager at the water authority.

Bernardo is the contact for the resort sector to facilitate more water savings through big projects, and he and Gulich have become friends since they began working together about 2½ years ago.

“When I started going out to the different resorts and to business leaders throughout the community, Michael’s name kept coming up,” Bernardo said. “He’s really a thought leader on sustainability within our community.”

More projects to come

One water-saving project they have collaborated on is a water atmospheric generator in collaboration with the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Using the humidity of a cooling tower at MGM Grand, it creates water to minimize Formula One’s footprint.

MGM is in the process of piloting a first-on-the-Strip hybrid cooling tower at the Bellagio. The project alone is expected to save 18 million gallons of water annually, though it does require more power.

The company also committed $500,000 last year for its employees to receive an extra $1 per square foot if they apply for a landscaping conversion rebate from the water authority.

“The resorts and the community have always rallied together when we know we have a struggle,” Bernardo said. “We get behind one another to get through it.”

Aside from those water initiatives, Gulich said a lesser-known fact is that every bag of waste that comes from an MGM property is hand-sorted before it leaves the premises.

The company partners with a pig farm that takes some of its leftover food, and some goes to food banks through donations to the hunger relief nonprofit Three Square.

“There’s a lot going on in sustainability that’s not visible to the public,” Gulich said. “It’s energy, water, waste. It’s across the board.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.