carbon neutral sport stadiums

[cul green]

I am working on a projecct to make Ireland's largest sports stadium carbon neutral (more info at www.culgreen.ie),

It involves putting in place a state of the art environmental-improvement programme covering the stadium's electricity, waste and water management systems.

It also involves encouraging fans to make carbon saving pledges through the website (it is estimated that fans travelling to games in Croke Park produce carbon emissions of 15,000 tonnes a year)

I'm interested to hear of any other similar sport stadium initiatives,

Cheers,

[Soylent Green]

A Green Irish Stadium, sound great!

[cul green]

Just an overview of progress on the Cúl Green (www.culgreen.ie) initiative to make Croke Park (Ireland's largest sports stadium) carbon neutral. Since the launch of Cúl Green in May 2008 and the completion of the energy efficient audit there have been several changes at the stadium.
The first change saw Croke Park switching to a "green electricity" tariff with ESB Independent Energy (ESBIE), meaning that its electricity now comes from a 100% renewable source which has immediately cut its annual carbon emissions by two thirds. This means that all electricity needs at Croke Park; from special pitch maintenance lighting to its 140 square meter stadium screen will come from renewable energy provided by wind farms.

Secondly fans are being encouraged to leave their cars at home when travelling to the stadium – a "Park & Ride" scheme was introduced during the summer with several GAA clubs and it is being run for all major match fixtures and a Public Transport Guide with details of all public transport options for getting to the stadium was published.

Thirdly, recycling initiatives have been developed at the stadium these include large recycling stations, wheelie bins for recycling plastic bottles, cardboard balers and a recyclable compactor. Plans are underway to further develop recycling facilities at the stadium with the introduction of plastic bailing and wet waste composting of food waste.

Fourthly the environmental engineers are currently assessing sources of sustainable energy. They have installed wind monitoring equipment at the stadium to help them decide if wind energy is a realistic option for Croke Park given the wind energy generation technologies currently available.

Finally monitoring systems providing data in real time on a web based interface that will enable the Operations Department at Croke Park to identify and eliminate unnecessary electricity, gas and water consumption. Particular attention is being paid to the identification of night time electricity loads and action is being taken to minimise wastage.

Equally important has been the part played by the fans, there has been an excellent response from the public in supporting the Cúl Green initiative with over 14,000 pledges made so far, amounting to over 1,500 tonnes of carbon saved. Although in its early stages Cúl Green is effectively encouraging people across Ireland to reconsider their energy usage and helping them to form more carbon efficient habits.

For more information visit www.culgreen.ie