In Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton Pushes for Energy-Efficient Casinos

(John Locher / AP Photo)

If Hillary Clinton has it her way, every casino in Las Vegas would soon be getting a makeover.

During her keynote at the 7 th annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas today, Clinton called for companies to retrofit buildings to become more energy efficient, and challenged the city's biggest industry-casinos-to start making the change.

"Imagine if every casino in Las Vegas retrofitted to improve energy efficiency and if they made it possible for all their employees to do the same in their homes," Clinton said. "It would save on utility bills. It would save on energy. It would save on greenhouse gas emissions."

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According to Clinton, retrofitting buildings is "the most overlooked opportunity" for clean energy in the United States, as it also helps to create jobs and save money.

"We are once again not doing the lowest hanging fruit picking that we could."

Clinton cited an initiative created by the Clinton Foundation, which helped retrofit the Empire State building in New York City as an example to emulate. According to Clinton, the project, which included an overhaul of 2.8 million square feet of office space, created 275 jobs over two years, saved the building $4.4 million annually, and dropped the building's annual energy consumption by 38 percent.

The majority of Clinton's keynote was focused on the need to make the United States a global leader in the fight against climate change. Clinton commented on fracking, saying we must put in place "smart regulations" but also know when "not to drill when the risks are too high." And she vehemently put down climate change deniers, saying that Republicans who stop investment in clean energy are denying people jobs and upward mobility.

The Keystone XL Pipeline, however, was never mentioned.

Clinton's remarks came at the end of Senator Harry Reid's annual day-long National Clean Energy Summit, and was followed by a 30-minute Q&A with White House Counselor (and, according to a new report from Politico, a top contender to be Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman should she decide to run for president) John Podesta.