AFE January/February 2012 : Page 21and with a lot of hard work from AFE volunteers and staff , success was assured. And it was a success. Th e Facilities America conference, combined with Facility Decisions, attracted thousands of participants. More importantly it seemed to herald a new charge of excitement to the organization, as members from across the country and around the world met each other for the fi rst time. Th e 2010 edition of Facilities America was so successful that the organization decided to return to Las Vegas in 2011. Th is was to the delight of the thousands of earlier participants, as well as those who had missed the conference the year before and wanted to fi nd out what all of the 'buzz' was about. For the facilities engineering and operations professionals who had participated in education sessions, and an Expo with hundreds of vendors displaying the latest facilities operations and maintenance technology, Facili-ties America was indeed a “sure bet” on their career success. In 2011, the event gave an even greater number of attendees the opportunity to share notes, experiences and lessons learned from colleagues, educators, subject experts, exhibitors and government representatives. “Th e decision to return to Las Vegas turned out to be an excellent one,” said Roy Nation, manager of Pre-Construction Ser-vices at J. F. Ahern Co., and chair of the Fa-cilities America Committee. “Attendees of The tour, provided exclusively to AFE members, was held in conjunction with Facilities America. It included a one hour tour of the world-famous Fountains of Bellagio, a one hour tour of the facilities central plant, and a one-half hour question and answer period. and casino, along with the capabilities of the whole ventila-tion, heating, and lighting systems.” Larry McCarty, whose interview is featured in this edi-tion, said that he and the three Methodist Hospital opera-tions managers who joined him “thought it was a great tour. Th e presenters were very candid and knowledgeable.” Turany added that the dancing waters display was particu-larly exciting. “Seeing the equipment and operations behind the scenes was extremely impressive," he said. "I never imagined the pool was that large (many acres) or that deep, 18' -20'. It takes a lot of equipment and programming to manage this water show. Th e numbers of pumps and capacities to produce the water heights and volumes of water pushed from these units, amazing.” For those who like numbers, here are some that should impress even the facilities engineer who “has seen it all”: The Fountain Show at Lago Bellagio Q Q Q Q Q AFE members at the Bellagio plant center tour. Photo courtesy of AFE. Q Q “ By far the best facilities tour I have ever been on—and I have been on many good ones. Q ” On a lake of more than 8.5 acres of water 22.5 million gallons of water in the lake Th ere are 1,214 Water Emitting Devices in the lake Water’s highest point reaches 460 feet 208 Oarsmen spray water up to a max height of 70 feet, at 140 gallons per minute 798 Mini Shooters dispense water up to a max height of 120 feet and dispenses water at various pressures 192 Super Shooters spray water up to a max height of 244 feet and can dispense water at varying pressures It takes 40 hours of programming for every 1 minute of showtime The Central Plant at Bellagio Q Q Q Q Q Q “Th e tour was great, those that didn't take the time to go on this tour really missed a big one,” said Dave Turany, a long-time active member of AFE. “Our tour guides were fantastic. Th ere wasn't a question that we threw at them that they didn't answer. We were all amazed at the back-up equipment that they had; i.e. seven generators and other equipment most can only dream about. We learned about the capacity of the hotel 9 Caterpillar Generators at 1750 KW each = 15.75 MW total standby power 10 York Chillers 1325 tons each = 13,250 tons of air condi-tioning (All areas but SpaTower) 9 cooling towers (Main Plant) Acid feed water treatment program 4 Unilux Boilers at 500Hp each 3 Bryan Boilers at 375Hp each January | February 2012 Q  Facilities Engineering Journal Q  www.AFE.org 21 Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
