Environmental Leader

With the New York Jets running around in green football uniforms, along with a host of green and sustainable innovations at the new Meadowlands stadium, New York and New Jersey football fans will be seeing a lot of green this fall.

When complete, the stadium, which also hosts the New York Giants, will feature environmentally friendly materials and construction practices. The Environmental Protection Agency is lending support to the venue’s construction, according to a press release.

EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou called plans for the forthcoming stadium “a blueprint for new sports venues everywhere.”

Plans call for:

• cutting the stadium’s annual water use by 25 percent, making it 30 percent more energy efficient than Giants Stadium
• increasing total recycling by 25 percent
• recycling 75 percent of construction waste.
• saving the equivalent of the emissions of nearly 1.68 million metric tons of carbon dioxide during the stadium’s construction and its first year of operations.
• using some 40,000 tons of recycled steel to build the stadium and recycling 20,000 tons of steel when Giants Stadium is demolished
• installing seating made partially from recycled plastic and scrap iron
• building the stadium on a parcel of rehabilitated land, a former brownfield
• reducing air pollution from construction vehicles by using cleaner diesel fuel, diesel engine filters, and shortening how long engines idle
• using environmentally-friendly concrete in construction
• providing mass transit options for fans
• replacing traditional concession plates, cups and carries with compostable alternatives.

Other sports venues have taken measures to add sustainability and energy efficiency.

The Phoenix Suns are making their arena more green.

The University of Minnesota is adding sustainability to its football stadium.