Sports leagues and franchises are increasingly “going green”, and the NFL is no exception. The Super Bowl 2012 (aka Super Bowl XLVI) host committee, the NFL, the Indianapolis community, and people around the country are looking to improve on the greening of the Cowboys stadium and Super Bowl XLV. Check out the various green initiatives below, and don’t forget to participate in some energy-saving measures today!
NFL & Super Bowl Host Committee Purchasing Renewable Energy Credits
“As you can imagine, the Super Bowl with it’s jumbotrons, dazzling half time show, and NFL Experience theme park, uses a lot of electricity,” Kara Scharwath of Triple Pundit writes. “To help reduce the impact of that energy consumption, the National Football League and the Indianapolis Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee are partnering with Green Mountain Energy to purchase 15,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated at wind farms in North Dakota to offset the power associated with the event.”
And these renewable energy credits don’t just cover the game—they cover a month’s worth of activity!
“The NFL actually purchases enough to offset the electricity consumed during the NFL’s entire month-long tenancy at the stadium and Indiana Convention Center, as well as the week-long occupancy of all four of the major NFL hotels. According to a press release from Green Mountain, the RECs purchased will avoid the release of over 14,000 tons of greenhouse gases.”
Other Green Initiatives
The league is also organizing the “1st & Green Environmental Challenge” for the first time ever. “Participants can track their carbon and water savings on the website and the winner of the challenge will be recognized on stage at the Super Bowl village.” To put it simply, giving people the opportunity to get on stage at the Super Bowl is BIG, and the challenge is cutting millions of pounds of carbon emissions and millions of gallons of water.
Beyond the above, Green Mountain Energy Company is also engaging in the following:
- Buying carbon offsets to cover the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the AFC and NFC Super Bowl teams’ air and ground travel.
- Supporting urban forestry programs in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl and in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl.
- Donating a residential solar array in conjunction with the non-profit Rebuilding Together, which will be incorporated into a low-income home renovation project in Indianapolis.
- Providing RECs for the electricity used at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii for the 2012 Pro Bowl.
And, if you’d like to see all this and more in infographic format, here’s that:
Source: Triple Pundit | h/t Grist
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
