Tempe, Arizona (NAPSI) - The next time you catch a football game, while you’re admiring the energy expended on the field, you might give a thought to how the sport is helpingAmerica save energy.
Bright Ideas
Take, for example, the towering symbol that’s the 30-foot-tall “Solar Man” at FedExField in Landover, Maryland. Designed to mimic a quarterback sending an epic spiral pass down the field, Solar Man is actually lined with a flexible solar film that draws energy from the sun, and he serves as a unique expression of how professional football stadiums are embracing alternative energy sources and introducing them to the gridiron audience.
Solar Man is unique, but he isn’t alone. The trend toward adopting smart energy technologies, such as solar and wind, is growing, and leading professional football teams, with their acute sense of responsibility to both their fans and their local community, are working with companies like NRG Energy to integrate sustainable solutions into their iconic home stadiums.
This trend is no doubt top of mind for fans at San Francisco’s brand-new Levi’s Stadium. As each fan enters the stadium, he or she traverses one of three pedestrian bridges covered in solar panels. These, along with solar panels atop the stadium’s Solar Terrace, help generate enough energy in a year to power a season of home games.
The trend reaches far beyond solar installations, as fans at Houston’s NRG Stadium will discover. The stadium will soon become the first professional football venue to have energy-efficient LED lights shining on its field—they use 60 percent less energy than the previous system—and that’s in addition to its new eVgo parking lot, where electric cars can charge up during the game.
Expert Opinion
“Americans are growing tremendously more aware of the limitations of our current energy system and are open to new solutions that are economic, resilient and good for the environment,” said NRG CEO David Crane. “Professional football, and particularly the football teams with whom we partner, touch almost every segment of our society and act as role models of what smart energy use looks like for individual homeowners and businesses alike.”
Combine all these energy innovations with the micro-wind turbines atop Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, and the Solar Ring that colors the top of East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium blue or green, depending on the home team, and fans can quickly start to see that no matter their favorite team’s colors—clean and green are the way stadiums are going.
Learn More
For further facts on meeting energy needs, go to www.nrg.com.
