Sustainable solutions in professional stadiums: an imperative need!

With all the sporting events season comes joy and excitement of all the fans, but also a great deal of energy usage, which can be harmful during a time of extreme climate vulnerability.

How much electricity does a stadium use?

A professional sports stadium can use 5-10 MW of electricity during an event, the equivalent of 5,000 American homes. What effect does it have on the climate? Well, not a great one. The average American household produces around 16 tons of carbon dioxide per year, this suggests that huge stadiums such as AT&T have the ability to pump out carbon at insanely high rates.

Sustainable stadiums should be commonplace in pro sports!

To preserve the world that we have inhabited for the past two million years or so, we must come up with creative solutions to the climate crisis and sports arenas present an interesting case study. How can these buildings contribute to a cleaner future?

New venues such as SoFi Stadium, the home of the 2022 Super Bowl, wowed the sports world with its energy efficiency and environmentally friendly practices. For instance, the roof of SoFi Stadium — made up of several operable panels — can open to allow free airflow and hot air to escape, which allows the stadium to be at a comfortable temperature even when at capacity. Most stadiums stay cool with energy-consuming air conditioning systems and SoFi figured out a way to cut that cost — which is already a good thing, but unfortunately this is not the case of the majority.

The release of methane and other greenhouse gasses is causing the ozone to deteriorate — the layer of our atmosphere that protects us from the sun and keeps us alive. Methane can be emitted in thousands of ways: the construction of concrete, the burning of fossil fuels and the powering of an air conditioning system to name a few.

While achieving net zero emissions is an impossible task, the push for carbon neutrality is vital to slow down the concerning changes in weather and climate patterns. Sports teams, as billion-dollar companies, have a responsibility to their fans, surrounding communities and world regarding their energy choices. Adapting to a changing climate and serving the earth more effectively by taking into consideration their carbon footprint it’s an imperative need!

There are plenty of ways to use clean energy and opportunities to research efficient climate-friendly solutions — and for sure self-powering through solar energy it's amongst the great ones!

source: Daily Trojan - https://dailytrojan.com/2022/02/09/the-world-of-sports-sustainable-stadiums-should-be-commonplace-in-pro-sports/