Sports Facilities Focus on Being Green

As major and minor league sports struggle with sagging attendance and less cash flow, they are learning that going green can help them save green, as in cash. Sports facilities have learned that by using innovative ways to reuse water and build their facilities with recycled steel, they have not only helped the environment but saved considerable cost in the process.

Infineon Raceway uses unique solutions to go green.
Although no one thinks of NASCAR as a green sport, Infineon Raceway has devised some unique solutions to help make a positive impact on environment. Infineon employs animals to keep the grounds maintained and pesticide free.

The story NASCAR The Greenest Sport in America?, details how Infineon Raceway manages over 3000 sheep that roam the grounds, maintaining fire lanes and hillsides by grazing. Also to eliminate pesticides, the facility has 15 boxes that house families of barn owls. The owls patrol the grounds and dive bomb rodents and gophers. One family of owls will feast on 30-40 rodents an evening.

New York's Citi Field is the greenest new stadium built in New York.
2009 in New York City saw two stadiums open to the public. The New York Yankees new stadium was a beautiful facility but not very innovative when it came to going green. The New York Mets opened Citi Field, on the other side of New York City, in Flushing, and implemented many green innovations when they built their facility.

In a story on the website, Green Buildings New York, the architect of Citi Field discussed the specifications of building stadiums to LEED specifications. Citi Field was built with 95% recycled steel, uses energy efficient lighting on the field and 270 waterless urinals.

Transportation is a key to making any stadium green or environmentally friendly. Many stadiums are now building in the middle of downtown areas where fans can take public transit when they attend the games. Citi Field is located within walking distance of seven subway stations. The Mets are also encouraging their employees to help them with their green efforts. The Mets have created incentives for their employees to either ride bicycles to work or car pool to work.

Washington Nationals were first green stadium built to become LEED certified.
The Washington Nationals built the first major league ball park to become LEED certified in 2008. According to the Washington Nationals website, their stadium included their own recycling center and water conserving plumbing fixtures are used throughout the project, saving an estimated 3.6 million gallons of water per year and reducing overall water consumption by 30 percent.

The stadium also utilized energy conserving light fixtures saving 21% of the energy of normal lighting. Other green aspects of the stadium were their use of regional materials which is essential in cutting transportation emissions.

What more can stadiums do to become 100% sustainable?
What other aspects of being green can sports facilities utilize that will save them money and help the environment? The following are five more ideas that should be implemented in the next few years.
1) Recycle the cooking oil used used on property and use it to power any diesel engines or vehicles the stadium uses.
2) Use biodegradeable bags made of compostable materials such as the Sun Chips potato chips bag, see here.
3) Utilize wind power to provide electricity for lighting. This would be an easy adjustment and would save the stadiums millions in the long run.
4) Solar power. All new stadiums should be required to use solar power, it makes perfect sense and they could make millions selling back the electricity to the power grid.
5) Build new stadiums with more skylights, so lights would not always be necessary during day games. Along with this idea, more traditional day games throughout the season.

By their very nature, sports facilities are not completely conducive to creating a green environment but the efforts that are now being made by most sports facilities will make an impact.

Sources:
www.greenMarkSports.com
www.greenbuildingsnewyork.com
www.leed.org