The Philadelphia Eagles are green in more ways than one

The 2018 Super Bowl winners the Philadelphia Eagles have been leaders in sustainability among professional sports teams for years.

And the team’s latest move is to partner with technology company PDC Machines, who will provide Lincoln Financial Field with a SimpleFuel hydrogen refueling unit to power vehicles and material handling equipment.

Philadelphia Eagles love green

The NFL team has the Go Green program that incorporates green energy production, recycling, composting, energy efficiency, and reforestation.

The Eagles were also the world’s first professional sports team to be awarded the ISO 20121 Event Sustainability Management System certification, in June 2018. ISO 20121 is an international standard designed to help organizations involved in the events and hospitality industries integrate sustainability into management practices and processes.

And in December 2018, Lincoln Financial Field was awarded LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council.

Further, Lincoln Financial Field’s microgrid of around 11,000 solar panels — the largest solar power system in the NFL and the Philadelphia area — provide more than 3MW of generating capacity. It powers around one-third of the stadium’s energy consumption annually, and the rest is offset with green energy purchases.

The stadium had wind turbines for nearly a decade, but the Eagles removed them last year and are deciding whether to repair or replace them.

The Eagles offset 100% of all team travel through the “Go Zero” program. Further, the installation of water filtration fountains at the team’s facilities has saved more than 174,000 water bottles since 2015.

Also, the team diverts more than 99% of their waste from landfills, and two onsite bio-digesters help decompose pre-consumer food waste to eliminate the need for landfill disposal.

Electrek’s Take

Electrek recently reported on Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium using recyclable aluminum cups at Super Bowl LIV. The NFL is big business, and a lot of people attend those games. That’s a lot of consumption and a lot of emissions. So, in addition to green energy, we’d also really like to see EV chargers put in at Lincoln Financial Field — and all stadiums — for fans asap.

The Philadelphia Eagles were ahead of their time with green energy initiatives, and continue to push for ways to reduce their consumption and carbon footprint. Other professional teams in a variety of sports should look to, and emulate, the Eagles’ example.

Know of any more good green energy initiatives in professional sports? Let us know about them in the comments below.

Photo: Drew Hallowell/Philadelphia Eagles