Sustainability Dream Team Releases Sports Venue Survey
Center for EcoTechnologyBy Kevin Pink, Customer Service & Marketing AssistantThe American sports world is pretty busy right now. Major League Baseball is barreling down the stretch toward the playoffs, and the NFL has just kicked off another season; the NHL and NBA begin their preseasons in a few weeks. Amongst all the talk of teams and trades, there’s some exciting news about another important part of the sports world: the sustainability efforts of the venues our favorite teams call home!Since March, the Department of Energy (DOE), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Green Sports Alliance (GSA), and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) have been working together to help understand the way sports venues use energy and water, and discover opportunities to promote more sustainable use.Last week, this group of organizations announced the Survey on Energy and Water Efficiency of Stadiums and Arenas. The survey is a way for stadium owners to provide information about how their facilities utilize energy and water. It’s a great way to collate data about opportunities for savings of these resources, but it can also be used as the basis for a scoring system to compare sustainability across sports venues.This isn’t the first instance of sports venues working toward reducing their environmental footprints. According to the United States Green Building Council, there are at least 30 LEED-certified sports facilities either presently in operation or under construction.The following teams currently play or soon will be playing in LEED-certified facilities:
- Miami Heat (NBA)
- Minnesota Wild (NHL)
- Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
- Atlanta Falcons (NFL)
- Minnesota Twins (MLB)