Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial To Become NFL’s First Sustainable Stadium

Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, is a progressive with a track record of putting his money where his mouth is — like when he recently produced “Inside Job.” Now he’s turning Lincoln Financial into the first sustainable stadium in the country: PHILADELPHIA (AP)—The Philadelphia Eagles are taking their gridiron off the grid. The team said Thursday that it will add wind turbines, solar panels and a cogeneration plant at Lincoln Financial Field over the next year, a combination that will make the stadium self-sufficient and let the Eagles sell some power back to the electric grid. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said the plan was part of the Eagles commitment to be a socially responsible organization. “Owning an NFL team, I think you have an opportunity to lead the way,” Lurie told The Associated Press. “It’s a public building seen across the country and, sometimes, the world.” Under the plan, approximately 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines will be mounted on the stadium’s roof and 2,500 solar panels attached to the stadium’s facade. Together, they will contribute an estimated 30 percent to the total energy production. An onsite “dual-fuel” cogeneration plant, a small power plant that captures its heat for increased efficiency, powered by biodiesel and natural gas will contribute the rest of the energy . The system is designed to produce at least 8.6 megawatts of power, enough to meet the stadium’s peak energy use of around 7 megawatts. The construction project will employ an estimated 200 workers over the course of the next year. SolarBlue, an Orlando, Fla.-based renewable energy company, will pay $30 million to install and run the system for 20 years. The team will pay the firm for its power, the cost of which will increase at a fixed 3 percent annual rate. The project is expected to be finished by September, and the team estimates it will save $60 million in energy costs.

Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial To Become NFL’s First Sustainable Stadium

Posted by on November 20, 2010. Filed under News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry