Yankee Stadium Hits a Greener Game

New York has been diligent in its efforts in going green. One of the many green initiatives contributed by the Big Apple includes the famous Yankee Stadium. In 2009, Yankee stadium purchased over 33 million kilowatt hours in renewable energy certificates, which encompassed 100% of the stadium's purchased electricity usage for the next two years. The Stadium's supplier, Hess Energy, uses its power in bulk buying to purchase enough certificates from high-quality, green energy producers. This helps the Yankees reach their green goals and saves money and energy for the environment.


Later in 2009, the Yankees started to utilize another Hess Energy product called C-Neutral, which compensates for the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the teams natural gas energy consumption by investing in sustainability projects. Yankee stadium has also improved their lighting system - each lighting fixture above Yankee Stadium consumes approximately 300 fewer watts than a typical lighting fixture found in other sports venues. These are important contributions for a sustainable lighting system and make a difference by saving nearly 207,000 pounds of CO2 during one night game. This data emulates to one tree being planted for every pitch of the home season!

Beverage cups at Yankee stadium are made of biodegradable material, instead of petroleum-based plastics. This makes recycling much more feasible. Any waste is carried out through composting and recycling cardboard, glass, metal and plastics/paper and about 40% of Yankee Stadium's trash is moved away from landfills. This is a great contributor towards maintaining fewer trash pickups and trash trucks on the road - another awesome green initiative. Each year, Yankee Stadium succeeds in saving 3.1 million gallons of water because of its improved plumbing system and also reduces the water consumption by 22%. Another important fact, Yankee Stadium now uses GoJo hand soap, which, amazingly, doesn't require water for use. It is estimated that close to one million gallons of water will be saved, per season, if this soap is used by every guest who attends Yankee Stadium. 

Sports teams around the country are now becoming more green than ever before. In 2010, The Green Sports Alliance was formed to connect sports venue operators, sports team executives and environmental scientists to discuss information about environment-friendly initiatives and find solutions to challenges that reduce cost and preserve resources.  A recent report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recognizes the sports industry's efforts on going green, and how the industry is encouraging fans around the country to do the same. The report is detailed with a collection of case studies of the most prosperous and innovative practices identified in the sports industry.

It's an excellent idea for sports teams to take on green initiatives. Sports are a major influence in American culture and are followed by millions of Americans every day. Sports bring an astounding number of people and backgrounds together. Because of the dedication of its fans, sports teams and leagues should do everything in their power to get the message across about the importance of environment-friendly planning and practices.

(Source)
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=green_initiatives

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