Will Michigan Stadium Go Green?

Solar Panels On the Big House?

By James David Dickson For the Daily Tribune

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Since 1927, Michigan Stadium has been an icon for good football, played hard, played fair, played the right way.

But if a petition drive this fall is successful, the Big House also will become the biggest athletic venue in North America with solar panels. Ann Arbor 350 is a project of the Ecology Center. Monica Patel, a policy specialist with the Ecology Center, will be organizing the petition drive.

Patel believes that in installing solar panels at the iconic stadium, U of M will be perceived as a leader in alternative energy. The petition drive will make its presence seen and heard on football Saturdays this fall. Between in-person sign-ups and on-line supporters, Patel is hoping to gather some 10,000 signatures, which would be presented to U of M President Mary Sue Coleman.

The U of M athletic department did not respond to a query by press time. But Terry Alexander, director of the U of M Office of Campus Sustainability, said that solar panels at Michigan Stadium wouldn’t generate much energy and would take decades to pay off.

The U of M OCS works with dozens of student groups in the Student Sustainability Inititive. Despite how the numbers work out, solar panels at the stadium remain a curiosity among U of M students, Alexander said.

One group even produced a 22-page study on the feasibility of solar panels. Conventional wisdom says that the panels wouldn’t make financial sense unless they were on all year. Even then, the payoff period would take more than 26 years, the study found.

Michigan Stadium wouldn’t be the first major sports venue to install solar panels. Basketball courts such as The Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play home games, and football stadiums such as Gillette Stadium, where the cold-weather New England Patriots play home games, have installed solar panels.

To learn more about Ann Arbor 350, visit http://www.aa350.org/.

Will Barbi get an Eco-Friendly Dream House?

This was simply TOOOO funny not to pass on.

Barbi's Eco-Friendly Dream House

With a collection of hot pink sports cars and her endless wardrobe, Barbie is a far cry from a sustainability role model.

But now it looks like she may be getting an eco-friendly dream house, after Mattel and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) unveiled the winning entry of the AIA Architect Barbie® Dream House™ Design Competition.

Decked out with solar panels, operable shading and bamboo flooring, this dream house also comes with a low-flow toilet (which in real life could save about 4,000 gallons of water per year) and sink fixtures, all made from locally sourced materials.

Barbie also gets a 1,500-square-foot entertaining space and open chef’s kitchen, a separate library and client-meeting room, a full-floor “inspiration room,” a greenhouse on the roof, and a landscaped garden for her pets.

Recent Harvard graduates Ting Li and Maja Paklar both won the most public votes for their collaborative effort in designing the dream house.

The AIA and Mattel teamed up for the design competition in honor of "Architect Barbie," the newest addition to the career-themed "I Can Be" series, hitting stores August 15.

Mattel has no plans to turn the blueprint into either a dollhouse or a real mansion, but experts say the house would sell for around $3.5 million if a life-sized version were built. According to Mother Nature Network, Mattel will instead make a $1,000 donation in their names to the Charter High School for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia.

“The intent of the partnership with Mattel to promote the launch of Architect Barbie was to engage and inspire young girls to experience the world of architecture and the range of possibilities that design thinking offers,” said AIA President, Clark Manus, FAIA. 

The competition comes only a month afterBarbie got dumped by Ken in a Greenpeace International campaign to raise awareness of Mattel's packaging, supplied in part by Asia Pulp Paper, which reportedly sources materials from Indonesia's depleting rainforest.

Since then, the Los Angeles Times reports that Mattel has agreed to cease work with its sub-supplier APP until they have investigated the deforestation allegations.

Wrap Up Of The First Green Sports Sustainability Summit

In Case you missed the recap of the first  Green  Sports Alliance Here is the link  and the story: Three-day summit provided common ground for sports,  sustainability executives PORTLAND, Ore. - The city of Portland welcomed sports  and sustainability executives from across the country this  week for the inaugural Green Sports Alliance Summit.  The three-day event, hosted by the Green Sports Alliance  (GSA), utilized an array of stories, case studies, lectures, panels, breakout groups and site visits to  demonstrate and share the best sustainability practices with industry leaders.   The Trail Blazers, widely considered as a leader in sustainability among professional sports  franchises, had team representatives speaking throughout the summit, including President  Larry Miller, who joined Portland Mayor Sam Adamsand Sacramento Mayor and three-time  NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson for opening remarks Monday evening at Gerding Theater.   "With the enthusiasm and connection that people have for sports, we are provided with an  excellent platform to drive home important issues around sustainability," said Miller. "The  position that the city of Portland has with sustainability makes it clear that the Trail Blazers  need to be in theforefront when it comes to sports teams."   "Sports have a way to draw different groups of people together like nothing else," added  Mayor Adams. "Using sports to communicate sustainability is the missing piece in our  effort to have everyone adopt a sustainable lifestyle."   The Trail Blazers are one of six founding members of the GSA, which launched in  March. The rapidly expanding organization now boasts more than 45 sports teams,  venues and leagues. The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Lacrosse  League (NLL) recently joined, as did one of the largest operators of arenas and stadiums  in the world, AEG.   "The sports industry represents a vast opportunity to make meaningful strides towards  environmental responsibility and sustainability," said GSA Executive Director Martin Tull.  "We look forward to expanding the Alliance to include teams and venues across North  America so that we can help each other reduce our environmental footprint and create  positive change in our communities."   The majority of the summit's breakout groups and panel discussions were held at the  World Trade Center in downtown Portland. Trail Blazers speakers included: Chief  Operating Officer Sarah Mensah, Vice President of Communications and Community  Relations Traci Rose, Director of Community Outreach Ian Jaquiss, Director of  Sustainability and Planning Justin Zeulner, Sustainability CoordinatorJames  Jedibudiah and Senior Manager of Corporate Partnerships Steve Scott. The GSA was conceived of and initiated by Trail Blazers Owner Paul Allen and members  of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the fall of 2009. Based in the  Pacific Northwest, other founding members include Major League Baseball's Seattle  Mariners, the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks, the National Hockey League's  Vancouver Canucks, the Women's National Basketball Association's Seattle Storm and Major  League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC.

Is it a green panel of sports influencers or green influencer with sports ideas?

Green efforts in sports has been taking the front seat this week with the media looking at the Sports Green Summit, which rapped up today.

Some of the level of panel participants efforts are what will drive this project forward with momentum. It’s almost like “get on the bandwagon or get out of the way, cause this thing is a run-a-way.”

Panel included: 

Severn from Nike, who brought Hannah Jones, vice president for sustainable business and innovation, aboard the senior management team.

The Blazers' who have several green initiatives, some of which resulted in the team and its business partners achieving gold LEED certification status for the Rose Garden. The team president Larry Miller said the team is seeking platinum status, the highest level possible.

One of the biggest energy usage impacts for the team is the number of people who use automobiles to travel to and from the stadium. The Blazers have advocated for its fans to use public transit and bicycles.

Team owner Paul Allen, who provided seed money for the creation of the Green Sports Alliance. In its formative stages, the organization was dominated by Northwest teams: the Trail Blazers, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, Seattle Storm, Vancouver Canucks and those teams' playing arenas.

Vice president of stadium operations Abernathy for the Cardinals who have implemented major recycling programs, with help from key business partners Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola, he said. And the team casts a critical eye on the vendors' proposals that claim to be green.

"The challenge becomes not only making the right decisions," he said, "but seeing if you could get payback for that. We wanted to make business decision that will reduce the among of energy use, reduce the amount of water use, reduce the amount of solid waste."

 The NFL began its league-wide emphasis on sustainability at the singled out the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Field as a top example of sustainable practices in the league.

The team's retrofit of the 67,000-seat stadium includes the addition of wind turbines along the upper facade of the stadium, solar panels on overhangs and building facades plus a 7.6 megawatt co-generation bio-diesel power plant in the parking area.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the former NBA All-Star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, who said a planned downtown sports arena would be crucial to keeping the Sacramento Kings from moving from the city. He noted that the arena's location would benefit from public transportation and the structure would be built with sustainability in mind. 

Can’t wait to see some of the ideas coming from the conference!!

Green Sports Summit is About the Only Thing Teams Agree On

Going "Green" has become possibly the only thing that the leagues can agree on.

The "Green Sports Summit" that is expected to draw more than 100 participants from 23 professional sports teams and 19 sports arenas. 

At the forefront of the effort is NBA's Blazers with Miller being the Keynote speaker yesterday afternoon.

"We have prided ourselves on being trailblazers in the forefront of greening as far as sports is concerned," Miller said.

The Blazers have launched a number of green initiatives over the past five years, which include:

Reducing energy and water use at the Rose Garden.

Earning LEED Gold Certification for the Rose Garden, the first time an existing sports arena in the world has earned such recognition.

Advocating for recycling as well as alternative transportation.

Most recently, the Blazers joined Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) -- a coalition of consumer brands that work to bring attention to sustainable business practices. The coalition includes Nike, eBay, Levi Strauss & Co. and Starbucks. The Blazers are the first professional sports franchise in the coalition.

As a League attribute, IndyCar will showcase through R2Ei how an entire LEAGUE can bring together their partners across the board and make a difference.

2012 will definitely play host to a lot of great things within sustainability.

Executives Gather To Make Sports Greener

It's exciting to see professional sports taking a real interest in how they can make a difference. According to OPB News, starting today there is a real "think tank" of sports executives addressing how to get this done.

With the partnership of IndyCar and R2Ei, IndyCar will be the first League to really embrace the effort with not only within the league, but also getting teams, tracks and sponsors involved.

At the IndyCar finals in Vegas, R2Ei will showcase IndyCar's commitments to this effort, and how they plan to include all their partnerships to achieve the goals of sustainability.

Keep you posted...in the meantime here is the article from OPB.

http://news.opb.org/article/executives-gather-make-sports-greener/

Hundreds of sports executives from major-league teams are in Portland starting Monday -- to figure out how to make their sports more environmentally friendly.

Earlier this year, a half-dozen northwest teams came together to form the 'Green Sports Alliance.' The founders include the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle Seahawks and the Vancouver Canucks. The alliance is a think tank for creating greener stadiums and sports fields.

Now, dozens of other teams have joined and their executives are in Portland for a brainstorming summit. Spokeswoman, Bethany Waggoner, says they'll be talking about everything from composting concession store left-overs to water conservation.

"I know the NHL has done a lot with off-setting their water use because you know a hockey rink consumes quite a bit of water to keep it frozen and fresh and working. So there's a lot of things like that that are being looked at," she said.

The Trail Blazers recently announced that the Rose Garden Arena earned LEED Gold status. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, it's the first major league sports arena to manage that in the nation.

Kelley Beamer of the Cascadia Green Building Council says that's great. But more can still be done.

"I'd love to see the players take a more visible role in promoting sustainability and really being more vocal leaders in terms of representing what the facility has done. And so that's something I think would have great impact," Beamer said.

She says sports teams should also consider making some of the tchotchkes they sell out of sustainable materials. She also questioned whether they're being made locally. The summit's opening ceremony is open to the public. Tickets are $35. It's being held Monday at the Gerding Theatre.