Going for the Green
Sporting events cater to thousands of fans and have the potential to consume tons of energy and other resources in the process. But what if sports teams and stadiums had the forethought to implement green building efforts in an effort to reduce the carbon footprints of everyone who comes through the turnstiles?
In terms of going green for sports stadiums, there are really two options. First, a team can build a new stadium that factors green building into the design. Alternatively, an existing stadium can add features with the intent of improving its eco-friendliness without starting from scratch.
LEEDing By Example
Since 1990, 17 new Major League Baseball stadiums have opened with another five set to open in the next five years. In the National Football League, that number is 18 new stadiums with another four in planning.
With all this building, it was only a matter of time before one of these developments achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. That honor belongs to Medlar Field in State College, Pa., which opened in the summer of 2006 but officially received LEED certification in July 2007.
Medlar Field seats over 5,000 people and is the shared home of both the Penn State University baseball team and the minor league State College Spikes. Its green features include waterless urinals, recycling of construction waste and connecting to a shared gray water system.
The new Washington Nationals baseball stadium in the nation’s capital hopes to be the first Major League stadium to reach the LEED standard when it opens in April 2008. Located next to the Anacostia River in Southeast D.C., the stadium will focus on storm water management and the minimization of water pollution.
If the Nationals new stadium is unable to make the grade, two different Minnesota stadiums are planning to apply for LEED certification. Both the new University of Minnesota football stadium, which will open in 2009, and the Minnesota Twins new baseball stadium, which will open in 2010, are developing sustainable features with a green goal in mind.
Green Renovations
The Cleveland Indians are just one win away from a World Series appearance, and the product on the field may not even be the most exciting feature of this year’s Fall Classic. That’s because Cleveland announced in June that it had partnered with Green Energy Ohio to install 42 solar panels at the team’s stadium, Jacob’s Field.
The electricity produced from these panels is enough to power all of the stadium’s 400 television sets, and the team also held a “Solar Day” on June 29 to educate on the benefits of solar energy.
While it may be tough to beat the Indians on the field these days, they were beaten to the solar energy finish line by the San Francisco Giants, both in timing and quantity. The Giants installed 590 solar panels at AT&T Park along the San Francisco waterfront back in March.
The panels provide 120 kilowatts of energy which connect to San Francisco’s power grid and supply energy to San Francisco’s residents. The Giants also installed a new scoreboard in 2007 that is 78 percent more energy efficient, not to mention one of the largest in the world. San Francisco partnered with Pacific Gas & Electric on these ventures, one of the industry leaders in solar power.
Lots of stadiums and teams have implemented green ventures recently, from recycling programs to environment appreciation promotions. But the future of sports appears to be in green building and providing enough sustainability to compensate for millions of fans attending these games per year.
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