Under Cover: NFL teams score big with green initiatives

Solar roofs, waste-to-energy, and on-site recycling gain yardage for pro teams

By Jim Gorzek

December 20, 2011

The Packers' Lambeau Field has all of its postgame waste recycled. If pro football can go green, can industry follow suit?

How many times have you heard something compared to the size of a football field? ("It was the length of three football fields!") Now that football teams are tackling energy consumption and waste with their own on-site strategies, will football stadiums become the new metric for environmental friendliness? ("… as green as a football stadium.")

Furthermore, if football teams and their stadiums can manage their solid waste, convert organic waste into energy, and be powered by renewable energy, can manufacturers—with plants as big as a football field or two—do so too?

Figure 1 Postgame food leftovers are deposited into a Totally Green ORCA Green Machine™ , installed on-site at Cowboys Stadium. The state-of-the-art biocomposting reactor turns up to 2,400 pounds per day of the organic waste into nutrient-rich greywater within 48 hours. Photo courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys.

What do the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and Washington Redskins have in common? They are all tradition-rich programs with a history of success on the field as Super Bowl champions, and they are champions off the field as well by leading the effort to manage waste and energy usage through ecofriendly initiatives. They are just a few of the many NFL teams finding success by incorporating sustainability into their playbooks.

Huddle up. Let's look at each team's green play calls from the sidelines.

First Down. The Dallas Cowboys franchise has had some memorable teams over the years, and it has transferred that success to its sparkling, new stadium operations by teaming up with manufacturer Totally Green Inc., Tulsa Okla. (see Figure 1).

Some people thought the Doomsday Defense of the 1970s Cowboys teams was fierce—until they saw how effective Totally Green's ORCA Green™ Machine shreds organic waste. An ORCA Green Machine was installed this year in Cowboys Stadium, where over 2 million fans a year attend games. The food and beverage provider for Cowboys Stadium, Legends Hospitality, uses the state-of-the-art biocomposting reactor to turn organic waste that would have ended up in a landfill—up to 2,400 pounds per day—into nutrient-rich greywater within 48 hours.

"The Dallas Cowboys strive to be the best in all endeavors undertaken by our organization both on and off the field," said Jerry Jones, team owner. "We are committed to staying on the leading edge by embracing environmentally friendly practices."

The ORCA Green Machine works by using nonhazardous microorganisms and biochips to break down food waste left over after games. It is fully self-contained. Users dramatically reduce garbage disposal costs, tipping fees, and water and energy usage, which helps them to go green and stay in the black.

Second Down. Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., home to the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, is arguably one of the most impressive stadiums in the National Football League (NFL®). In 2007 the Packers took a different kind of Lambeau Leap when the organization implemented a recycling initiative to help clean up the stadium after games (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Volunteers help clean up postgame litter at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, all of which is headed for recycling. Photo by R. Wood, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Working with Waste Management, the Packers were able to coordinate the difficult task of cleaning, separating, and recycling tons of postgame waste. This effort collected 6.7 tons of recyclables per game, on average, the first year, which increased to an average 6.9 tons the following year. As the amount of recycled waste has gone up, the amount of solid waste headed to landfills has dropped. The use of more environmentally friendly foodware, such as recyclable plates and napkins, also has helped the organization achieve a 15 percent overall reduction of solid waste.

Third Down. Many of today's NFL teams are finding success on the field using high-powered offenses, and many of their stadiums are using solar energy to score big savings. One such team is the New England Patriots. The 525-kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) array that the franchise installed on its Patriot Place, the part of the stadium complex that houses its dining and shopping venues, is believed to be the largest at any professional sports complex in North America. The solar array generates 30 percent of all the energy consumed at Patriot Place.

The Kraft Group, owner of the Patriots, purchases the energy that the 2,556 solar panels generate from a unit of Constellation Energy Group at a fixed price under a 20-year agreement.

Just as Tom Brady, the Patriots' quarterback, uses many different wide-receiver targets successfully, Gillette Stadium also uses different forms of clean technology. In addition to the solar panels, BigBelly solar-powered trash compactors are in position around the stadium to collect and condense fans' leftover cans and bottles. The team's employees hand out recycling bags to tailgaters. All the water used in the stadium is recycled via the stadium's own wastewater treatment system. Cardboard waste is recycled daily. Overall, electricity and natural gas consumption at the stadium has been reduced by more than 25 percent in the last four years—and that's a touchdown in anybody's playbook.

The Washington Redskins have a long and proud history, and that fits the attitude the team exhibits when addressing its focus on renewable energy. In September the team championed a solar energy system for FedEx Field, featuring 525 rooftop panels and 7,500 additional solar panels atop 841 covered parking spaces.

"It's something we're proud of doing for the environment for the future," Redskins owner Daniel Snyder said. "We believe in and understand what's taking place here in the shift and the transformation of the United States and being involved early is really special for us."

The project was completed as part of a 10-year partnership with NRG Energy, based in Princeton, N.J. The system generates up to 2 MW of power—enough to power about 300 homes—and features 10 electric vehicle charging stations. The team hopes to eventually power the stadium entirely by renewables by installing more panels around the top of the 85,000-plus-seat stadium.

Fourth Down. The game is on the line. Your team is lined up and ready to go. When it comes time to make the call on renewable energy and sustainability, do you punt ... or go for it?