Eagles’ Stadium Going Green With Wind Power, Solar Panels
By: Erin Vanderberg
Published on November 19th, 2010 in the Press of Atlantic City
Picture: This is a picture of Lincoln Financial Field after the wind turbines, solar panels and cogeneration plant were added.
Summary: The Philadelphia Eagles, which are a NFL team, are making their stadium eco-friendly. They are working with SolarBlue, a renewable energy company based in Orlando, Florida, to accomplish their mission of being green. To start the process wind turbines, solar panels and a cogeneration plant are being added to Lincoln Financial Field. The combination of these things will make the stadium “self-sufficient and will let the Eagles sell some power back to the electric grid.” This change will really help the environment and promote fans to go green. Eagle’s owner, Jeffery Lurie believes that it is the Eagle’s job to lead the way. Lincoln Financial Field is seen all across the country. If the Eagle’s stadium goes green it will be leading the way to an eco-friendly country. The Eagles are planning to mount 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines to the stadium’s roof and attach 2,500 solar panels to the outside of the stadium. These things will provide the Eagle’s stadium with 30% of their total energy. A cogeneration plant will power the rest of the energy. A cogeneration plant is “a small power plant that captures its heat for increased efficiency.” The changes that the Eagles are making to their stadium will really benefit the environment, but it will be very expensive to make these changes. SolarBlue is willing to pay $30 million to install the changes and keep them running for 20 years. The team will have to pay the firm for its power, which will increase by 3% annually. This is a great opportunity for the Eagles and they are definitely taking advantage of it. In the long run, this project will save the Eagles $60 million dollars in energy costs. The Eagles are not the only sports’ team that is pairing up with SolarBlue to become green. The Boston Red Sox are also looking to become eco-friendly with this company. The more stadiums that turn to alternative energy, the better.
Opinion: This article was really cool! I never thought that a sport’s stadium could be so eco-friendly. I am proud to say I am a Philadelphia sports’ fan after reading this article. It makes me so happy to see that the Philadelphia Eagles can promote alternative energy to cities across the country. It is amazing to think that the stadium is getting all of its energy in a renewable way. I wish that more large buildings would install wind turbines or solar panels and do what the Philadelphia Eagles are doing. If every sports team around the country installed solar panels, our country would be saving so much nonrenewable energy. I hope that the Eagles’ stadium inspires other sport’s teams to go green. This connects to my personal life because I have season tickets to the Eagles. I love going to the games and supporting my city. It makes me feel so good going to the games and supporting the Philadelphia Eagles in going green. I have seen commercials on TV that advertise the Eagles new eco-friendly stadium and I cannot wait to get a better look at it and really appreciate it when I attend the next game. I really hope that everything in the Eagles’ new stadium works the way it was planned and it inspires other teams and fans across the nation.
Questions:
1. 1. When you buy your own home would you invest is solar panels or wind turbines to power your home? Why or why not?
2. 2. What is another example of how alternative energy is being used, besides using wind turbines or solar panels?
3. 3. What are more effective, solar panels or wind turbines? Why?
4. 4. Are Eagles’ players going green in other ways outside of their stadium? If so, how?
After reading this article, I am starting to feel reassured that our country is slowly starting to take bigger steps in helping the environment and going green. I agree with Julia, that it feel great to be a fan of Philadelphia sports team, seeing that they are taking our land into consideration and helping out. The Eagles going green is a great deal, because it will cause a chain reaction and since there are tons of fans of the Eagles, it will maybe make them want to support their favorite sports team by going green as well. I think it is amazing how effective wind turbines and solar panels can be in saving energy. In class, we learned about how alternative energy sources can help our environment with creating less pollutants, for example sources like wave power, tidal power, and hydro-electric power. In class I only learned about how it can work, and its benefits and its absolutely wonderful to see it put into play and especially with such a big sports team. If our nation starts to follow in the footsteps of the Eagles, our country will be able to be eco-friendly in a greater range. In my opinion the fact it will cost a huge amount of money to build up the solar panels is worth it, because saving $60 in the long run is a huge result. I definitely think that since the Eagles have gone green, more teams will follow to make sure they seem like they care about the environment to, but hopefully they actually do it out of care. The Boston Red Sox looking to go green as well shows that teams are starting to realize the importance of helping our environment save energy.
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http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/wind-power/index.html
This above link talks about wind power and how it works. This site shows a picture portraying how the wind turbines function and shows a diagram. This website also has information on various types of wind turbines. This site provides a link to a video that shows how wind turbines operate and produce clean power from the renewable source of wind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22BzFMfpgw
This link is of a video that explains the benefits of using solar power, and how it helps the environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CTceusK9I&feature=related
This link is to a video that shows how solar energy works through solar panels. It uses an animation to show how solar energy functions.
I feel the same way as Julia; I never knew a sports stadium could be eco-friendly. I feel that this can start a trend, and stadiums across the country can also create eco-friendly stadiums to help the environment. I feel like the environment is important and money should be invested on ways to make things eco-friendly. This reminds me of how one day in class Mrs. DeLuca and the class had a discussion on ways to save energy and make things eco-friendly. I’m interested to see how the stadium will turn out, and if other sports teams will make their stadiums eco-friendly.
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http://www.ecoxplorer.com/2011/02/eco-friendly-green-football-stadiums-help-environment/
This link lists the most eco-friendly stadiums, from number one to ten. They also list ways in which they are eco-friendly, and they all vary from having solar panels to reducing waste in various ways. For example, the top eco-friendly stadium is the Qwest Field, who installed solar panels to help the building offset double digit percentage increases in electric rates.
I agree with Julia and that the idea of making the Lincoln Financial Field eco-friendly is really cool. It is also very brilliant because not only is it saving the environment, but it is also going to influence other owners of stadiums to become more eco-friendly. Big places (e.i. stadiums and complexes) need something like solar panels or wind turbines because of how much energy they use in games. After playing all those games in one year, the amount of energy that was used must be outrageous. This connects to my life because with all the energy that we would be saving through this stadium could be used in homes all over Philadelphia area and suburbs. Plus our resources for energy before the solar panels and wind turbines (fossil fuels) will not run out as quickly as predicted by scientists. Thus, leaving the future generations like me to have more energy to use and supply our homes with. I think this idea should be used in every stadium across the country.
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1)What other stadiums across the country are becoming eco-friendly like Lincoln Financial Field?
2)How else can other sport teams (Phillies and Flyers) be more eco-friendly like the eagles?
3)Will alternative energy ever make enough energy that one day, the country will not be using fossil fuels anymore?
http://laurascheer.wordpress.com/national-geographic-nfl-energy-challenge-2/ - Here is a picture of some of the solar panels and wind turbines on the stadium.
Opinion: Wow. I find it amazing that the eagles stadium is going green. I go to many eagles games, and now I am going to be on the lookout for signs of them going green. The fact that it is one of the first sports stadiums to go green is a huge accomplishment and hopefully we will be leading the way for other stadiums to do the same. I wonder if the rest of the Philly sports complex will choose to go green with the eagles? I hope they choose to follow in the eagles footsteps because that small little chain reaction will hopefully turn into something huge and all over our country. One step at a time is the moto that we have to live by, and this is a start for all the sports stadiums to go green. Also, I find it amazing that the eagles will be able to sell some energy back to the grid. That means that they are actually making more than they need, and using their energy to help other homes or structures in the Philly area.
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http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/community/earth_day.jsp
This link talks about how the Boston red sox went green with Fenway Park. For example they also added solar panels and also have clean transportation for fans to and from the park.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/healthy-people-healthy-planet/green-stadiums.aspx
also this link talks about some other ways stadiums and sports centers are becoming eco-friendly and going green.