Eco-Friendly Green Football Stadiums

With football season beginning again, it’s a good opportunity to ackowledge eco-friendly green football stadiums, and basketball stadiums, that help the environment by being green.

Here’s a list of the top ten green professional sports stadiums in the in the USA, compiled by SunRun, which provides and installs solar panels and energy saving solar systems for private homes.

1. Qwest Field, Home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners – The stadium has installed solar panels to help the building offset double-digit percentage increases in electric rates.

2. Lincoln Financial Field, Home of The Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles produce as much as 97 percent of their energy through renewable sources. The team also calculates their travel emissions and plants trees to offset their carbon footprint.

3. STAPLES Center, Home of the Los Angeles Lakers – This venue was the first arena in the USA to be awarded coveted ISO 14001 Certification, in 2010, for its green, eco-friendly construction and operations.

4. Nationals Stadium, home of The Washington Nationals –The stadium is building LEED certification and has an in-house recycling center.

5. Cowboys Stadium, Home of the Dallas Cowboys – The $650 million stadium is aiming to reduce solid waste by 25%, energy use by 20% and water consumption by 1 million gallons annually.

6. Qualcomm Stadium, Home of the San Diego Chargers – The stadium boasts 350 ninety-four gallon recycling bins in the tailgating area.

7. Gillette Stadium, Home of the New England Patriots – Recycling bags are handed out at the parking lot and solar-powered compactors collect plastic bottles and cans around the stadium.

8. Meadowlands Stadium, Shared by the New York Giants and New York Jets – The seats are made from recycled plastic and the Environmental Protection Agency was consulted on best practices during construction.

9. Progressive Field, Home of The Cleveland Indians – The stadium uses recycled paper and cornstarch cups in their concession stands.

10. Levi’s Stadium, Home of the San Francisco 49ers – Opened in 2014, with solar panels and a green roof, recycled water, and a plan that would have nearly one quarter of all fans arriving via public transport.

And let’s include Europe — the soccer stadium in Augsburg, Germany, near Munich, is the world’s first CO2 neutral stadium in the world. Augsburg has another connection to eco-friendly activities – this is the hometown of the founder of Columbia Spotswear, Paul Lamfrom, and his daughter, Gert Boyle. Augsburg was a wealthy textile town, and Lamfrom was the largest shirt manufacturer in Germany. The family fled the Nazis and wound up in Portland, Oregon. I discovered this on a recent visit to Augsburg, where some Lamfrom family memorabilia is on display in the small museum that is part of the Augusburg Synagogue, which has been refurbished and used most often these days as a concert venue.