The Sustainable World Series: Both Rockies and Red Sox Swing for the Green

The World Series got underway last night at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, which dates from 1912. The mere age of the facility, coupled with its dense, urban location, makes it inherently sustainable, but the Sox have also quietly started to implement a variety of interesting green features at their venerable old ballpark.

The club is consulting with the Natural Resources Defense Council (”NRDC”) and plan to install photovoltaic panels at Fenway. Their off-season construction manager, Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, has already upgraded the playing field with a sand filtration layer that controls stormwater runoff into the Boston streets. The grounds crew also uses non-toxic chemicals to keep the diamond in shape. And, as the Sox prepare for more extensive upgrades to Fenway in advance of the park’s hundredth anniversary in 2012, Architectural Record reports they’ll be reusing stadium bricks, recycling construction debris, sourcing local materials, and installing fluorescent lighting and low-flow plumbing.

When the Series shifts to Denver’s Coors Field on Saturday night for Game 3, the Rockies will similarly showcase green features at their ballpark. Although Coors only dates from 1995, earlier this season the club announced that it had installed a 9.89 kW solar array to offset the energy consumption of its LED scoreboard. Below the scoreboard, a monitoring system displays in real-time the amount of energy produced by the array. The Rockies also set up an in-stadium educational display for fans to learn more about the system.

Sports teams are slowly catching on to the green movement- see our recent posts about the Mets’ Citi Field, Giants/Jets Meadowlands Stadium, and training facilities for the Jets and Washington Capitals. The NRDC is also working with the Mets, Twins, and Nationals as each of those teams build stadiums that will conform to the USGBC’s LEED rating system. According to Architectural Record, various NHL and NBA franchises are also consulting with NRDC. While we loathe the Red Sox (though we’re indifferent towards the Rox) here at gbNYC, it’s great that as high a profile sporting event as the Fall Classic will offer baseball fans the opportunity to get close to, and hopefully be educated about, various green technologies.

• Sox Pursue Series and Carbon Reductions (AR)
• Rockies Score with Solar Power (Treehugger)
• Citi Field (gbNYC)
• Giants/Jets Stadium (gbNYC)
• Gang Green Goes Green (gbNYC)
• Kettler Capitals Iceplex (gbNYC)

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