Wembley Stadium, venue for this Saturday’s FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Manchester United, is going green with a series of eco-friendly measures to cut back its carbon bootprint.
The all-new stadium will be reportedly powered by energy from renewable sources, and the 90,000 seater’s groundsmen have installed a watering system that monitors the amount of moisture on the pitch and shuts down when the pitch is sufficiently soaked.
Despite being plagued by controversy over the spiralling costs of the stadium’s construction, coupled with delay after delay over its completion - and more recently the seats turning pink in the sun - Wembley is finally getting some good press.
The beautiful game itself also seems to be developing a conscience. Keen to follow the national stadium’s lead, the English Premiership is investing in greener practices.
Manchester City recently produced the world’s first eco-friendly football programme in addition to getting planning permission for a 400ft wind turbine to power their currently under construction new stadium (see related story below).
“I doubt going green will help win extra fans but it cements relationships with existing fans,” says Peter Bradshaw, Manchester City’s social responsibility officer. “And associating it with football clubs demystifies climate change. It’s not just about tree-hugging.”
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough, known to their rivals as the ‘smoggies’ owing to the poor air quality in the North East, are currently transforming their Riverside ground into football’s first eco-stadium, with renewable power providing the energy.
Click here for related Global Cool story
The UK government and others seem happy to jump on the climate change wagon yet at the same time consistently miss opportunities to lead the way. GBP798mln for a stadium that does not seem to have been designed from any kind of a real sustainable persepective despite all the local and international expertise available is beyond belief. Where are the solar panels, green roof, use of sustainable or recycled materials, ecological sewage systems? How about spending GBP130mln like Arsenal and investing the balance GBP660mln into alernative energy technology and real projects that will make a difference? (a sum that would dwarf current investment into this area). It would be a real tragedy to allow this enourmous waste of resources to pass without consequence and worse still to sit back and watch them pat themselves on the back as they announce spurious initiatives that are clearly designed to make themselves look better rather than make a real difference. Fantastic to have Wembley back but with all our abilities, resources, passion and effort…could we not have done better?
Comment by Adam — May 19, 2007 @ 1:56 pm