Enhancing The Environmental Performance of Major Venues Operations & Supply Chains
Alice Henly
Urban Fellow
Natural Resources Defense Council
What is Greening?
Reviewing an organizations operations and supply chain with an eye towards reducing environmental impacts. Greening incorporates environmental considerations into decisions made about the products and services purchased and offered, in tandem with other factors such as cost, product quality, and availability.
Sports and entertainment greening helps address all key environmental issues:
Waste & Recycling
Global Warming
The Components of Venue Greening: Energy Water Waste Purchasing Smart Growth Health & Concessions & Environmental Transportation Justice Transportation Green Building & Facilities Public Education
Greening operations and supply chain can also provide sports and entertainment organizations with the opportunity to: Strengthen their brand Better engage with their fans (aka their clients) Address environmental liabilities (aka brand risks) Create a healthier work environment for staff Identify new green-based sponsorship opportunities
Arizona State, University of Texas and University of Washington have joined the Green Sports Alliance.
www.greensportsalliance.org @sportsalliance
STEEL INDUSTRY
Sports Greening = Huge Supply Chain Impacts for the $425 Billion Professional Sports Industry
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY
Company-Wide Approach
Involve all levels of staff -- not only the business leaders, but also representatives from all departments Conduct energy, water and waste audits -- then track, in real time data Establish a company-wide Sustainability Commitment and Purchasing Policy Set goals -- both incremental low-hanging fruit & long-term targets Actively request environmentally-preferable products -- flag your goals for your suppliers and work collaboratively with them *See the NRDC Greening Advisor at www.greensports.org.
8.4-kW photovoltaic system Enough to power all 400 televisions in the stadium
STAPLES Center
US Airways Center
345.6-kW PV system Provides 5-10% of energy use at arena and Nokia Theatre
194-kW PV system Able to generate 331,233 kWhs of energy annually enough to power arena for 26 Suns home games
Nationals Parks 6,300 square foot green roof in the left-field concession area helps minimize heat gain and water runoff.
At 2.5 acres, the green roof atop the Target Center captures about a million gallons of stormwater per year, saving $10,000 annually in stormwater charges.
The AT&T Center saves 13.2 million gallons of water a year after installing low-flow toilets, urinals and fixtures, aerating shower heads and using a recycled water system for cooling towers.
Citi Field installed waterless urinals and low-flow toilets and faucets, saving about 4 million gallons of water a year.
www.broadwaygreen.com
Since establishing a partnership with the Recording Academy in 2007 we have established many environmental standards for the annual GRAMMYs events including: recycling and composting programs, the STAPLEs venue energy audit, and up to 100% postconsumer paper products.
The 63rd Tony Awards, in collaboration with the BGA and with guidance from NRDC, took steps to reduce the environmental impact of its annual awards show telecast and related events. NRDC and the BGA are currently working on greening the 2012 Tony Awards.
Ongoing Challenges
Collecting comprehensive and high quality data. Limited expertise (and varying interest) in sustainability/greening. Limited staff time with small back-of-house shops. Keeping up with the fast-paced evolution of green markets/products. Discerning between legitimate green claims and green-washing. Delivering the upfront capital to invest in green initiatives.
Alice Henly NRDC Fellow ahenly@nrdc.org Learn more at: nrdc.org/business nrdc.org/sports @NRDCGreenSports