Big Score: Eagles’ Home Becoming Self-Sufficient

story by Lee StabertIt’s not only the Birds’ offense that’s generating firepower. The Philadelphia Eagles have announced a plan to fuel Lincoln Financial Field with a combination of onsite wind and solar power, augmented by a dual-fuel cogeneration plant, a small onsite power plant run on biodiesel and natural gas that captures its own heat for increased efficiency. It will be the world’s first major sports stadium to convert completely to self-generated renewable energy. The team has contracted with SolarBlue (Orlando, FL), a renewable energy and energy conservation company, to install approximately 80 20-foot spiral-shaped wind turbines on the top rim of the stadium, affix 2,500 solar panels on the stadium’s façade and build the 7.6 megawatt onsite dual-fuel cogeneration plant. The transition should save the Eagles $60 million in energy costs over the next 20 years. Over that same time period, they estimate onsite energy sources at Lincoln Financial Field will provide 1.039 billion kilowatt hours of electricity—more than enough to supply the stadium’s needs—enabling them to sell the excess back to the local grid. By using renewable energy, the team will eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to 500,000 barrels of oil or 24 million gallons of gasoline annually. That equates to removing 41,000 cars from the road per year.

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