MetLife Stadium, this year's Super Bowl site produced 195 tons of food waste for composting last year. Composting is part of what organizers hope will be the greenest games ever.
Anthony Quintano via Flickr
As our Pacific Northwest-representing Seattle Seahawks prepare to confront theDenver Broncos in the Super Bowl, I thought I’d round up some of the green features for this year’s festivities.
First, I can't resist reposting this from NBC News:
“Given the legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington and Colorado, this year's Super Bowl featuring the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos has already earned a few chuckles as the "green" bowl.”
Marijuana aside, organizers have been working to make this year’s face-off the most sustainable yet. Here are three things that could help organizers earn that distinction:
1. Composting food waste. For the first time ever, all food waste generated at the big sporting event will be composted. Though it's the first time for the Super Bowl, it's not a first for MetLife Stadium, this year's host site. AP reports "the stadium produced 195 tons of food waste for composting last year, up from 153 tons the year before." Stadium officials expect nearly eight tons of food waste to be generated during Sunday's event. Once the compost is processed, green blog Ecorazzi writes the stadium "will use the remains to fertilize and nourish the facility's landscape."
2. Offsetting carbon emissions. NBC reports the local energy utility in East Rutherford, N.J. has partnered with the NFL to offset electricity use by purchasing renewable energy credits. And they're doing this not only for the Super Bowl game itself, but at the team hotels and the associated public event along the route being dubbed "Super Bowl Boulevard." Organizers also sponsored the planting of more than 27,000 trees in the area.
3. Reducing home energy use. Yes, as you congregate with over chili and beer at Super Bowl parties across the country, you could be contributing to a greener game. According to energy software company Opower, once the game begins, energy use across the country goes down. The group analyzed home energy use data from the 2012 Super Bowl compared to typical midwinter Sundays. They found that "over the course of the game, consumption decisively decreased to five percent below normal." It'll be interesting to see if that holds true for this year's game as fans are encouraged to use second screen devices to enhance their bowl watching experience.
-- Toni Tabora-Roberts