Monday, December 27, 2010

How green are my Eagles?

Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback adds a green update with the gridiron talk this week.
The Eagles announced last month they would run the first self-sufficient alternative-energy sports stadium in the country. They'll install 80 spiral wind turbines to the stadium and mount 2,500 solar panels. Together, those devices will power about 30 percent of the stadium's energy needs. In addition, a biodiesel plant will be built nearby and that alternative energy source will help power (along with natural gas) the remaining 70 percent of the stadium's power needs. In addition, the project to install all the devices will employ 200 people for a year in, obviously, a down economy.
Over the course of the stadium's life, the team believes it can save $60 million in energy costs. That was big to Lurie, who's aggressively conservation-minded. He told Obama he was happy to put a plan like this in place, but he wouldn't have done it unless it made some financial sense. "It's good business for us, which is the point,'' Lurie said. "We talked about policy and what he hopes can happen with alternative energy, and he raved about us being the first to put a plan like this in place.''
Making conservation make financial sense is the path to go. Whining about the opposition to your utopia isn't the path to go.
Stadiums are an interesting place to work on your green agenda. They are only used a few times a year. And owners have deep pockets and the desire to spend less on their bills. Because less money going out means they get to keep more.

1 comment:

Brian J. Noggle said...

By "the owners," you mean "the people who own the team AND the politicians who use public money to build the stadiums," right?