The Green Restaurant Association has certified three Las Vegas restaurants: Carnevino in the Palazzo, and B&B Ristorante and Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian. Owned by Chef Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich, winemaker, these venues, are among The Strip’s first green restaurants, which is no easy feat. Qualifying restaurants must acquire a minimum of 100 points on such conservation efforts as water and energy efficiency, recycling and sustainable food. In addition to the point system, restaurants must have a full-scale recycling program, be free of Styrofoam and provide yearly education for staff. Qualifications must be maintained on a daily basis and are evaluated every year by the association. And if those requirements weren’t daunting enough, restaurants are given a new checklist every year to help improve upon the previous year’s green efforts. But the Palazzo didn’t start or end its conservation efforts with one restaurant. The hotel is the largest Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certified building in the world and is more than four times larger than the second largest. It features such energy efficient measures as solar-heated pools and plumbing that uses 37 percent less water. The hotel also supports local growers by hosting a Farmers’ Market every Thursday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.