Greening the game

As the famous frog once sang, “It’s not easy being green” and that’s especially true when it comes to sports stadiums.  Bringing tens of thousands of humans together to converge for a single event has its inherent challenges when it comes to sustainability—from the traffic and waste generated to the energy and water needed to keep these stadiums functioning. But, increasingly, teams from different sports around the world are introducing eco-friendly practices as well as modifying their stadium’s infrastructure so they can do better by the environment.

Here’s a roundup of some of the best stadiums, when it comes to playing the green game.

NRG Stadium, Home of the Houston Texans 

Earlier this month, NRG Stadium was the first NFL stadium to illuminate its field during a night game entirely with LED lights. These 65,000 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) use 60 percent less energy than the previous lighting system.  Rumor has it that the SF 49ers also considered going for some LEDs to illuminate the playing field at Levi’s but decided against it because there were concerns the uniforms might look pink on broadcast video.

Nationals Park, Home of the Washington Nationals

This Major League Baseball stadium was the first in the US to be LEED Certified. They’ve got a green roof, energy saving lighting, a low flow water system, and even a program to recycle used hot dog wrappers.

Citizens Business Bank Arena, Home of the Ontario Reign

Making ice for each NHL rink takes about 12, 500 gallons of water. Citizen Bank Arena recently became the first in the NHL to use reclaimed water for its ice as well as for cooling towers. These two efforts are expected to save 5 million gallons of water annually. That’s good news for drought ravaged  California.

TCF Bank Stadium, Home of the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers 

Football stadiums are one of the least eco-friendly sports because these large complexes only play a few games in their stadiums, relative to the rest of the year when they often sit empty or underutilized. But this stadium gets high marks for the being the first LEED-certified college stadium. One of its notable features was the use of 97 percent recycled steel in its construction.

Arena Pernamubca, Recife Brazil 

This relatively new soccer stadium was built for the 2014 World Cup and is powered by a 1MW solar plant in a nearby site. Now that the World Cup’s over, the solar facility supplies power to about 6,000 local households.