Washington DC's Football Team Goes Solar

According to Clean Technica, “a typical NFL stadium uses enough electricity in a year to power about 1,000 average U.S. homes, leaving some football teams with annual power bills of more than a million dollars.” But starting this fall, Washington Redskins’ FedEx Field will draw 20% of game day power from their newly installed parking lot solar array. On off days, solar will provide 100% of the stadium’s power.

The team contracted with the New Jersey company NRG to install 7,500 solar panels over top 841 covered parking spaces, 525 roof panels, and “a thin-film structure built into a 30-foot silhouette of a quarterback dubbed ‘Solar Man,’ whose passing pose recalls Redskins legend and Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh”, according to USAToday. The installation also includes charging stations for electric vehicles.

Watch the Video Segment from EnergyNow

Solar energy is one of the priorities of the Green Sports Alliance. The alliance’s co-founder, Alan Hershkowitz explains in the video above that “18 percent of Americans say they pay attention to science, while 56 percent of Americans say they pay attention to sports. So if you want to influence American culture, are you going to send scientists out there to spout out the latest facts about global climate disruption or are you going to send a message to the supply chain that solar panels are being put in football stadiums?”

What do you think?

Take action: Promote green energy that protects wild lands and move America away from dirty coal power.

Update Oct-10: Check out an article where I discuss Redskins owner Dan Synder’s possible motives for going green.

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Photo courtesy of NRG Energy

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sonny H.

1:00AM PDT on Nov 3, 2011

Thanks for the savings this move would make.

send a green star

Cristian P.

1:48AM PDT on Oct 14, 2011

I like such news. I thought that the 10:10 video was presenting this as a joke, but this team really learned something from that video...

Quanta K.

3:31AM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

noted

William K.

10:10PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

That's awesome. More should follow their example.

Nicole G.

4:40PM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

I'm a New York Giants fan, but the Redskins have earned a modicum of respect from me for this!

Hege T.

8:41AM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

Thanks

Grace A.

6:46AM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

It should at least save the team money on their electric bill and might even get their fans to pay a little attention to sustainable energy--maybe even eventually express support for sustainable energy.

Jennifer C.

6:16AM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

Thanks for sharing.

Chris M.

6:13AM PDT on Oct 12, 2011

Solar!!!