By 11th Hour Racing

The post Finalists for 2019 Urban Water Challenge Announced appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Fabri-Kal News

Foodservice Operators Can Skip the Straw with New Fabri-Kal Lids!

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (August 20, 2019) ? Fabri-Kal, known for exceptional customer service and product quality, is excited to launch their innovative Cold Drink Cup Sip Lids. Fabri-Kal?s Sip Lids are the perfect solution for foodservice establishments looking for straw alternatives. Consumer habits were researched to design a lid that is ideal for on-the-go customers. Fabri-Kal?s Sip Lids safely protect beverages while preventing liquids from splashing during transport. The Lids provide a great beverage drinking experience with a smooth beverage flow.

Fabri-Kal?s Sip Lids are compatible with Kal-Clear®, Nexclear® and Greenware® cups. The PET Sip Lid fits five popular Kal-Clear PET Drink Cups and four Nexclear Polypropylene Drink Cups. The new Greenware Sip Lid is made from plants, not petroleum, and fits three popular Greenware Drink Cup sizes. Greenware Cups and Lids are made from Ingeo biopolymer (PLA) and are compostable in commercial composting facilities, which may not be available in your area.

?Fabri-Kal is dedicated to producing innovative, stylish packaging with a reduced environmental impact,? said Mike Roeder, president and COO, Fabri-Kal. ?Our new PET Sip Lids fit recyclable PET and Polypropylene Drink Cups, and our Greenware Sip Lids and Drink Cups are commercially compostable. We are proud that all of our products are made in the U.S.A. by American workers.?

About Fabri-Kal
Fabri-Kal is a leading provider of foodservice and custom thermoformed packaging solutions. One of the largest thermoformers in North America, Fabri-Kal?s customer base includes foodservice operators and consumer product manufacturers. Fabri-Kal specializes in a variety of materials including renewable agricultural fiber. Headquartered in Kalamazoo, Mich., and in continuous operation since 1950, Fabri-Kal employs more than 1,000 people in five manufacturing, printing and warehousing facilities throughout the United States. More information about Fabri-Kal may be found at the company?s website, www.fabri-kal.com.

Read the full article here.

The post Fabri-Kal Introduces New Sip Lids for Cold Drink Cups appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Chattanooga Lookouts

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? The Chattanooga Lookouts announced that they will become the first minor league baseball team in America to play a game that is 100 percent carbon-neutral. The ?Green Power Night? home game against Montgomery will be played Friday, August 23, and is being powered through locally-generated solar energy credits provided by EPB of Chattanooga in partnership with Tennessee Valley Authority.  To celebrate this historic partnership, the Lookouts will be donning special green jerseys during the game.

            ?The Lookouts strive to be an environmental leader in minor league baseball, and we?re proud to have local partners like EPB and TVA help us make history on Green Power Night,? said Chattanooga Lookouts President Rich Mozingo. ?Chattanooga is our home, and every effort to help clean up the air we breathe creates a better fan experience while adding value to the community we love.?

EPB?s Solar Share, which is Chattanooga?s only community solar installation, is powering the game. Solar Share panels located along Holtzclaw Avenue will provide solar energy credits to generate the 2,500 kilowatt hours needed to power a game and support operations. This solar energy credit is equivalent to 1.98 tons of carbon.

?EPB is committed to providing energy solutions like Solar Share which gives our customers an easy and affordable way to support locally generated sustainable energy,? said EPB President and CEO David Wade. ?We are honored to power this history-making minor league game through EPB Solar Share.?

TVA, the largest public power provider in America, coordinated the partnership.

?TVA was founded on renewable energy from hydro dams 86 years ago, and today nearly 60 percent of the electricity we make is carbon-free,? said Doug Perry, TVA Vice President of Commercial Energy Solutions. ?We continue to grow and evolve our green power programs, and this game is a great example of the renewable energy solutions TVA makes available across our region to make businesses more competitive and better environmental stewards.?

Tickets are available for purchase at the Chattanooga Lookouts website: Lookouts.com. EPB customers can sign up for Solar Share at www.epb.com/solarshare.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving nearly 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.

EPB is a municipally-owned utility that provides energy and connectivity solutions as a means of enhancing quality of life and supporting job creation for customers across the Chattanooga area. EPB serves more than 170,000 homes and businesses in a 600 square-mile area. In 2010, EPB became the first provider in the United States to deliver up to 1 Gig (1,000 mbps) internet speeds utilizing a community-wide fiber optic network that provides access to every home and business in its service area. In 2015, EPB became the first, and to date, only American ISP to make up to 10 Gig (10,000 mbps) internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.

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The post Chattanooga Lookouts to Host America?s First Carbon-Neutral Minor League Game – Powered by EPB?s Solar ShareTM in partnership with TVA appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Lew Blaustein, GreenSportsBlog

Greenworks Commercial is a mid-sized company with big ideas: Disrupt the power tools market in the same way that Tesla is disrupting the auto market, through Lithium-Ion battery powered electric models that replace their dirty gasoline and diesel counterparts.

What does this have to do with sports?

Potentially plenty. 

That?s because it turns out that sports stadiums, arenas and golf courses use a wide variety of power tools for their daily operations.

An important part of the clean energy future can be found in a former cotton mill in Mooresville, North Carolina, not far from Charlotte.

That is where Greenworks Commercial, the B-to-B division of China-based parent Greenworks Tools, calls home. The company is pioneering the use of a wide range of electric power tools among landscape professionals, many of which are used at sports venues.

I visited Mooresville earlier this summer to see how 15 year-old Greenworks Tools is doing in its efforts to revolutionize the power tool market by electrifying/greening it, and to get a sense of where sports fits in on the Greenworks Commercial side of the business. And, in the I process, I also got to take a spin on electric power mowers that can trim the grass at a stadium or on a fairway and to use a zero-emissions leaf blower that can clean the aisles in arena seating bowls.

While Greenworks Commercial?s share of the North American power tool market is in the single digits, the three year-old Business-to-Business (B-to-B) focused division is poised for growth.

?More battery/electric-powered mowers, leaf blowers, and trimmers were shipped than gas products in North America in 2018,? reported Anthony Marchese, Business Unit Leader for the Greenworks Commercial Americas region. ?Battery/electric powered mowers sales are up 200 percent since 2015, while gas powered mowers are down seven percent. That?s because the electric powered products perform better than gas, offer better value, and of course are better for the environment.?

Tony Marchese (Photo credit: Greenworks Commercial)

Performance

Three key performance benefits were evident when I tried Greenworks Commercial mowers and leaf blowers in Mooresville:

1. Their products start with the push of a button or the squeeze of a trigger ? no more pulling cords and hoping the mower starts.
2. The electric motors weigh and vibrate less as compared to their gas-powered counterparts. That means far less user fatigue.
3. Like the Tesla, Greenworks products are really quiet. As in you-can-have-a-conversation-without-raising-your-voice quiet. The auditory and mental health benefits are obvious. ?Inside voice? volume levels allows landscapers to work in the growing number of cities and towns with noise restrictions in place. And, according to Marchese, quieter operation means, ?workers can start their days earlier and work later ? all without disturbing their clients.?

Value

Electricity generated from Lithium-Ion batteries costs much less than gas¹, so Greenworks Commercial users can expect to save up 40 percent over a product?s lifetime. And with no carburetors to service, no oil to change, and no spark plugs to replace, downtime and maintenance costs are far lower for electric power tools.

Environment

Switching from gas to electric should mean a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Founder and CEO Yin Chen has challenged the Greenworks team to figure out the carbon footprint of every product by the end of 2020 at the latest to help determine the scale of the company?s environmental benefits.

Yin Chen (Photo credit: Greenworks Commercial)

The time is of course right for the move to Lithium-Ion battery-powered products in the $16 billion global outdoor power equipment (OPE) market, $8.5 billion of which comes from the USA.

There?s the carbon cliff humanity is headed for at the end of the next decade if not sooner.

You know, THAT!

With the climate catastrophe, as well as air and noise pollution in mind, over 500 cities in North America have banned gas powered OPEs. And the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated an 80 percent reduction in GHGs from OPEs by 2030.

Sports Begins to Go Electric, Outdoor Power Tools-Wise

When Bob Dylan ?went electric? in 1965, the music world convulsed.

In contrast, the sports venue world did not bat an eye when Mercedes-Benz Stadium went electric with their shift to Greenworks Commercial leaf blowers.

But that should change, given the results enjoyed at the two year-old LEED Platinum home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United.

It used to take 40 people 90 hours to clean the aisles in the stadium bowl after an event. Now, after switching to Greenworks Commercial, the cleanup effort takes six people working a total of five hours to clean the entire 80,000 seat stadium. ?We saved $500,000 in a year by using Greenworks Commercial leaf blowers,? said Scott Jenkins, General Manager of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Board Chair of the Green Sports Alliance. ?It?s been a home run to go electric and get out of gas. The environmental benefit is real, and it?s a money and a time saver.?

Yin Chen sees Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the launch pad to a deeper involvement for Greenworks Commercial in sports: ?We shared the Mercedes-Benz Stadium case study at the recent ACC and Pac-12 Sports Sustainability Conferences. As a result, a half dozen universities expressed interest in integrating our lithium-ion powered solutions into their facility maintenance activities.? That interest was converted into sales recently as Duke, NC State and the University of North Carolina all placed orders.

The golf industry is also proving to be a fertile market for Greenworks Commercial.

?Golf course superintendents are always enthusiastic when they come to our booth at trade shows because of our products are so quiet,? Marchese noted. ?And many courses choose us because gas can?t be used in environmentally sensitive marshes. Greenworks Commercial leaf blowers cleared the greens at this year?s US Open at Pebble Beach.?

One brake on the growth of the company?s sports business has been the insistence on the part of some venues and teams that the company become a sponsor as a quid pro quo to getting the contract. Thing is, sports sponsorship is a classic Business-to-Consumer (B-to-C) marketing tactic and Greenworks Commercial sells to businesses (B-to-B). Chen believes that enlightened venues and teams will be motivated by the significant cost savings and potential carbon footprint reductions to give the company?s electric powered mowers, leaf blowers, and more a try without the precondition of sponsorship.

Widening the lens beyond sports, the Greenworks CEO thinks very big.

?Major technological change in a business category happens only once in a lifetime,? Chen offered. ?We are at the early-to-middle stage of the gas-to-electric transition in OPE. Our prime objective, for both the Greenworks consumer and commercial businesses, is to be number one in the battery-based, electric powered OPE within the next five years. Accomplishing that goal means we will have saved our customers money, enhanced the health of the people who use our products, and helped to improve the earth?s environment.?

Read the full article here.

The post Greenworks Commercial: Greening Stadiums and Golf Courses Through Battery-Powered Power Tools appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By reconsidered

A render of San Francisco?s Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors.

1. What was the ?aha? moment that sparked your interest in social impact?

I recall a very specific moment in 2015 when I was a young aspiring physicist working as a laboratory coordinator at the University of San Francisco. My friend nonchalantly asked if I knew about how my home island of Guam will go underwater in a few centuries due to sea-level rises caused by climate change. As a Chamorro (indigenous Guamanian) who was born and raised on Guam for the first 18 years of my life, I knew right then that mitigating that effect would be my lifelong goal. It might have been due to unfortunate reasons, but that instance became one of the most memorable and exhilarating moments of my life ? knowing that I would be working on something that I could wake up proud to do every day for as long as I live.

2. How did you break into the social impact space?

It was really through happy happenstance when I was in graduate school, getting my Masters in Green Technologies at USC?s Viterbi School of Engineering. The homepage when I logged into my school account had an online job board posting about a Disney Professional Internship within Corporate Citizenship ? Environmental Assessments. I ignored the post for a month, and it was only on a later vacation in Amsterdam that I gave the company a second look and realized the full scope and impact of what I would be doing. I applied from overseas, got the job and learned everything I know now about utilizing data science to measure environmental and social impact across the globe.

I truly thank my scientific background for the success I?ve experienced today, and I always advise people to either learn from or involve people who know how to tell stories with data on their projects. It?s one thing to start or manage a program, but it?s a totally different thing to be able to say you made an empirical impact, especially when making a business case to your upper management team.

3. What most excites you about social impact these days?

Two things have me very excited right now:

1 ? The intersection of sports and sustainability is currently in its third phase. Phase 1 focused on venue sustainability, mainly through LEED certification. Phase 2 focused on extending the boundaries outside the lines of the arena and making a positive community impact. And now phase 3 ? empowering those who do not have the resources to fight climate change, especially those most affected by it ? is starting to catch on as a legitimate course of action for teams to undertake.

2 ? Businesses are becoming more and more aware of their outdated habits. Simultaneously, more and more organizations are arising who are dedicated to helping businesses utilize social filters in their spending. For instance, whether you want to support an MWESB (minority-owned, woman-owned, or emerging small business), a B-Corporation, or a group that is part of the 1% For the Planet movement, there are many resources out there that allow almost every business decision to be filtered for positive social impact someway, somehow. I truly believe one day businesses will be able to make the majority of their decisions utilizing the social filters that are important to their organization.

The post 3 Questions With: Keoki Kakigi, Sustainability & Engineering Manager, Golden State Warriors appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Charles David Mathieu-Poulin, Tennis Panorama News

Awareness around climate change and environmental issues is growing: not one day goes by without seeing videos showing animals impacted by ocean plastics or reading about the devastating effects of extreme weather events. Citizens are getting more involved, and tennis players are no exception.

A quick look at the ATP, WTA and ITF websites proves that sustainability doesn?t seem to be on their radar: the three governing structures of tennis do not, at least publicly, disclose their strategy towards sustainability or report on their environmental performance. It is no wonder that tournaments (and players!) are taking action themselves to tackle the heavy environmental footprint of the tennis tour.

Players such as Kevin Anderson, Denis Shapovalov and Dominic Thiem have regularly expressed their interest in environmental causes and promoted eco-friendly initiatives put forward by tournaments. Through his December charity event, Anderson, who had to withdraw from the Montreal event because of a knee injury, decided to donate to Ocean Conservancy, a non-for-profit working to protect the ocean from today?s greatest global challenges.

Scrolling through Dominic Thiem?s social media accounts makes it clear that it is something the Austrian also strongly cares about. The tournament?s second seed has notably been seen wearing a bracelet created by 4Ocean, an organization that has removed more than four million pounds of trash from oceans and coastlines in the past two years. After his second-round win against Denis Shapovalov, Thiem wrote ?Play 4 The Ocean? on the camera during the usual post-match stunt. ??Many players are concerned about this issue, Thiem confirmed. I think it?s pretty easy for the tournaments to improve. For example, the plastic bags used to cover the newly-strung racquets, which we don?t really need, were gone for the first time in Wimbledon??.

The Coupe Rogers presented in Montreal has decided to also remove these plastics bags, an initiative that was notably applauded by Canada?s own Denis Shapovalov. This is just one of the projects put forward by the tournament as part of their Sustainability Plan, which was elaborated eleven years ago. This plan notably includes buying carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from the energy used on site, as well as the transport of volunteers and players, including air travel to and from Montreal.

The tournament also encourages visitors to leave their cars at home, notably through a partnership with the Société de transport de Montréal: each ticket for the tournament acts up as a free public transit round-trip ticket. Many locals, including tournament director Eugène Lapierre, bike to the event every day.

This year, the tournament is even sponsored by Recycle-Quebec, the organization in charge of promoting responsible waste management in Quebec: a squad of volunteers can be seen teaching visitors how to use the 40 recycling and composting bins scattered across the grounds. Composting, which was started in 2014, was brought to the next level in 2016 when the tournament put a policy in place for all food service items to be 100% compostable.

The tournament?s biggest sustainability challenge? ??Definitely tennis ball cans, local sustainability consultant Sara Courcelles confirmed. They are difficult to recycle with other plastics due to their metal rim??. To effectively recycle them, the tournament has set up a station where plastic and metal portions of more than 1100 ball cans were separated in 2018. Once used for practice or matches, the balls are then given to schools across Quebec to be put under chairs and desks to reduce noise in the classrooms.

Earlier this year during French Open, the four Grand Slams tournament have agreed to sign a pledge to collectively commit to measure, reduce and offset their carbon emissions through the UNFCCC?s Sports for Climate Action Framework. Later this year, the USTA will even be presented with the Green Sports Alliance Environmental Leadership Award for its commitment for waste diversion: in the 2018 edition of the tournament, 97% of the waste generated was diverted away from landfill, 75 tonnes of food was composted and a further 15 tonnes was donated to local food banks.

When asked what drives so many sustainability efforts in Montreal, Sara Courcelles was clear: ??It?s all about the tournament?s culture and strong support from management.?? As environmental issues become more and more important for players and fans, let?s hope more tournament follow in Montreal?s footsteps and global efforts are put forward by both the men?s and women?s tour. In the words of Dominic Thiem: ??I think every small thing helps a lot to help the whole big picture.??

Read the full article here.

The post Montreal Tackles Tennis? Sustainability Challenge appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Lew Blaustein, GreenSportsBlog

Since 2014, stadiums and arenas have been switching their lighting systems to energy efficient LEDs at a rapid clip. John Hwang and his company, PlanLED, have been at the forefront of this shift.

One might think the move to LEDs was preordained but it was not an inevitability. There were technical challenges as well as cost issues. But Hwang saw the opportunity to make a difference.

GreenSportsBlog: PlanLED is an important Green-Sports Business story. How did you come to start an LED lighting company?

John Hwang: I was born and raised in South Korea; my family moved to Seattle in 1985 when I was 15 years old.

I started at the University of Washington (UW) but felt the need to find a meaning for my life, so I dropped out of college, eventually ended up going back to school in Kansas City, majoring in biblical studies and, became a youth pastor. It was a big commitment but also worthwhile, helping immigrant families and runaway kids from broken homes that mainstream churches didn?t do enough to help. I had 20 to 30 kids visiting me every evening, counseling them trying to help them get on track with their lives.

It was worthwhile but also a huge struggle. I was a bit naive to think that I could easily change the world. Feeling the need to recharge, I moved back to Seattle and started a family. Eventually I owned my own financing company in Seattle focused mainly on commercial and residential real estate in the Pacific Northwest.

My company did well until the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit in 2007, followed by the 2008-2009 global financial crash. It was a very tough time. I lost most of my partnerships with banks and real estate became a battlefield that, after awhile, I just didn?t have the stomach to fight in anymore. It was time for another change.

John Hwang (Photo credit: John Hwang)

GSB: So what did you do?

John: I realized that it was time for me to start something that is based on a vision for the future. In 2008, an investor friend asked me to evaluate the value of acquiring a Korea-based LED lighting company.

Korea, which in many respects, led the way on mobile phones and TVs, was also ahead of the curve on LEDs. There were about 1,000 LED companies in Korea at the time.

I told my friend, ?Let me study the US market and see if it makes sense.? In 2008, I found that in Europe, 80 percent of the lightbulbs were efficient and only 20 percent were inefficient. The US, where one third of the world?s lights were, only 20 percent were efficient which at that time, those were the compact fluorescents (CFLs) ? and 80 percent were inefficient. Energy was cheap and Americans did not like the quality of light produced by CFL?s.

LEDs, in their infancy here, offered a much higher quality of light. So my evaluation was that #1, there was a huge deficit in terms of understanding the possibilities of the advanced lighting industry here, #2, the market for LEDs was ready to grow rapidly ? in fact, the value as I analyzed it, of going into lighting was much greater than staying in real estate! And #3 there were limited financing options for lighting retrofit projects, which meant opportunity for me as I could provide the financing know-how.

GSB: Talk about good timing!

John: Indeed! Especially since there were a number of energy efficiency rebates and tax breaks both at federal and state level. It was the most attractive, powerful business opportunity I had yet seen!

So we launched PlanLED in 2009 to finance lighting projects for renovation and retrofits. Our goal to was to help Americans save energy and money, generate new jobs and improve their quality of life.

GSB: Go LED, go green and go big all at one time. How did you get started? Did your investor friend stake you to some early seed money?

John: I had lost a lot of money during the breakdown of Wall Street. In order to keep the business going, I consulted with Korean LED makers to help test products in the USA. At the same time I educated myself on LEDs, importing knowledge from overseas, and eventually became an expert. I met with manufacturers, utility providers and researchers. I began to write articles about LED lighting benefits, including the potential to improve human health and performance. In fact our first project was developing human-centric lighting for a small office space.

GSB: What do you mean by ?Human Centric??

John: Human-centric lighting answers the question ?What can new lighting technology offer to enhance human experience while reducing energy usage?? The possibilities that we discovered with LEDs were astounding ? we could reclaim the lost benefits of natural light, which would lead to improved job performance, better sleep patterns and more.

We took the LED story to Boeing for their plant in Everett, Washington, the largest building in the United States ? it is so big, you could fit Disneyland inside of it!

GSB: Did Boeing go for it?

John: It took a long time ? the technology had to mature and multiple pilot projects had to be completed with satisfactory results. Working with innovative lighting partners like GigaTera and Samjin, we were awarded the contract to shift the Everett plant to LEDs in 2017, after eight years of experimenting the possibilities with Boeing engineers.

GSB: Talk about a long sales cycle?Congratulations! How and when did you get into the sports space?

John: Thank you! Sports goes back 2010 when I got introduced to the Vulcan Group, Paul Allen?s company that, among other things, owned the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Seahawks. It was at Vulcan where I met Jason Twill who would soon become one of the founding directors of the Green Sports Alliance. We eventually implemented human-centric, LED lighting at the Vulcan headquarters in 2012, completing the entire building in 2014.

Through Jason, I met Scott Jenkins, who then ran operations for the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, formerly known as Safeco Field, and is the Board Chair of the Alliance. We installed human centric LEDs in the clubhouse in 2013 and then the stadium lights in 2015, making Safeco the first MLB Stadium with LED game lights.

In order to make Safeco Field the first LED stadium in MLB, we had to commit to a review process where we would retrofit just the half of the stadium with LED and let all the stakeholders join us for an evening of lighting quality comparison between old and new. If there was even one objection, it was our commitment to reinstall the old lights at our cost. Obviously, no one wanted to go back to an obsolete technology with more glare, less color and annoying flickers.

The Seattle Mariners tested the LED lighting system from PlanLED Safeco Field, now known as T-Mobile Park (Photo credit: PlanLED)

That gave us the exposure we needed to enter into the sports venue space. Eventually we brought LEDs to Yankee Stadium?

GSB: One of the early signatories to the UN?s Sports for Climate Action Framework?

John: Yes! We then relighted the Moda Center, home of the Trail Blazers, Pepsi Center in Denver, home to the NBA?s Nuggets and NHL?s Avalanche, the SAP Center in San Jose, home ice for the Sharks and, this year, we installed LEDs at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.

GSB: What an impressive lineup! Who are your main competitors and why should prospective customers, including sports venues, choose PlanLED?

John: There are two other major sports lighting manufacturers that mainly focus on energy savings and return on investment (ROI). They also have great technology and solutions but we differentiate ourselves by offering a design that focuses on improvement of human experience.

Sports venues were slow to adopt LEDs because of the fear of unknown; broadcasters also had high expectations that we had to meet and even exceed. It took a lot of hard work and multiple pilot processes but now we have proven the new concept and we are ready to make a change in all sports applications.

GSB: What specific improvements do PlanLED lights bring to sports venues?

John: Great question. We offer improved light uniformity and our lights remove the glare. The current LEDs are great for broadcast with improved color and flicker free environment. As an example, Yankee Stadium became the first baseball venue to have game lights for the infield and the outfield, creating an ideal playing environment for football and soccer as well as baseball. Also we bring human centric lighting to clubhouses and training areas, bringing daylight benefits indoors.

GSB: What is the average return on investment (ROI) for venues that switch to PlanLED lights?

John: For arenas on energy only, right now it?s a three to five year payback. For football stadiums, which have far fewer event dates, the payback can be between ten to even twenty years or more. Baseball is somewhere in between. However the improved human experience for both athletes and fans, along with dramatic improvement in broadcast quality makes these soft benefits even greater motivation for investing in a new lighting technology.

GSB: How have players reacted?

John: They love it. Recently inducted Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, the greatest relief pitcher of all time, often remarks that he could have extended his career another five years with LEDs. Rivera?s Hall of Fame classmate Edgar Martinez of the Mariners commented how the batters can see the ball batter with clearer view of the 108 red stitches. Tim Connelly, President of Basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets also shared with us that his players say that they shoot better with our lights.

Yankees Hall of Fame relief pitcher Mariano Rivera with John Hwang (Photo credit: PlanLED)

Ex-Nuggets player Bill Hanzlik and Ozzie Smith, another baseball Hall of Famer with the Cardinals, have joined Planled?s SHINE program to help spread our mission to bring better lighting to our schools.

SHINE is a partnership with athletes, teams and the GSA that offers lighting education programs for all age groups while generating the funding to give away LED lighting systems to underserved communities. It will work with research institutions to see if the metrics bear out our belief that lighting quality will result in better grades, fewer headaches and overall improvements for student learning.

Our ultimate goal is to accelerate the deployment of LEDs, from stadiums to schools, from hospitals to residential. Basically we?re looking to pair a disruptive technology with a disruptive business model.

Motivating the sustainability movement with love that improves life quality for our children, parents and coworkers. Then, spreading the message through the powerful platform of professional sports. This is why we do SHINE.

So far we have launched SHINE in New York City, Denver, Seattle and St. Louis, with expansion plans for San Jose, Fort Worth and Hawaii.

Read the full article here.

The post The GSB Interview: John Hwang, The Godfather of LED Lighting at Sports Venues appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Vikings News

The post U.S. Bank Stadium Becomes the First Professional Sports Stadium to Earn LEED Platinum Using the Arc Performance Platform appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By WhatTheyThink

SGP will be attending the Green Sports Alliance 2019 St. Louis Sports & Sustainability Symposium as a Community Partner.

Sayville, N.Y. ? The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the leading authority in sustainable printing certification for print manufacturers, announced today its community partnership with Green Sports Alliance’s upcoming event, St. Louis Sports & Sustainability Symposium. The event is being held on August 21, 2019 at the St. Louis Cardinal’s Busch Stadium.

The St. Louis Sports & Sustainability Symposium convenes regional professional and collegiate sports teams and venues, concessionaires, business and public leaders, and athletes to explore how the industry can advance healthier, more sustainable communities.

Programming at the event focuses on venues, food, waste and energy. The day, a combination of keynotes and panels, also provides ample time for networking.

“We are pleased to continue our relationship with the Green Sports Alliance by once again partnering at the St. Louis event,” states John Heaney, vice president of The Advertisers Printing Company, a certified SGP Printer. Heaney, an SGP board member, will be representing SGP in St. Louis.

As a Community Sponsor, SGP offers a discounted registration rate to those interested in attending. To save 20% on registration for the Green Sport Alliance’s St. Louis Sports & Sustainability Symposium click here.

Read the full article here.

The post Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Becomes St. Louis Sports & Sustainability Symposium Community Partner appeared first on Green Sports Alliance.

By Irvin Zhang, News @ Northeastern

Greg Concannon with the faculties division grounds crew tends to the culinary herb gardens on July 11, 2019. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Need some basil to garnish your pizza? Or oregano to add some flavor to your tomato sauce? Now you don?t have to run to the grocery store to get what you need. Just walk to any one of eight new herb gardens located across Northeastern?s Boston campus, including gardens outside of Stetson East, International Village, and the Visitor Center, and snip the fresh herbs you want to use to cook your favorite meals.

The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint and promote healthy eating, says Chuck Doughty, who oversees landscaping for the Facilities Division at Northeastern, which installed the gardens in June.

Walk to any one of eight new fresh herb gardens located across campus and snip the herbs you want to use in your favorite meals. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

?I always think of driving to the grocery store and the carbon footprint that?s involved,? Doughty says. ?From a sustainability and a health standpoint, this cuts that out and brings it to a college campus.?

Prospective student Ellen Delsman cuts basil from the culinary herb garden located outside of the Egan Research Center. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Each garden contains 10 different culinary herbs, including parsley, dill, thyme, and sage, and a pair of shears for passersby to snip the ones they want. A sign posted next to each garden prompts people to ?Snip it. Take it. Enjoy it.?

Doughty says all of the herbs are grown in Massachusetts using organic soil and organic fertilizer.

As a testament to their widespread appeal, the gardens have already had to be replanted ?two or three times,? he says.

?This is a nice community effort,? says Doughty, who added that Maria Cimilluca, vice president of facilities at Northeastern, came up with the idea for the herb gardens. ?We just want people to enjoy the grounds and share it.?

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A glass sculpture titled You Are Here by Boise native Amy Westover was designed to inspire attendees and guests to look beyond the walls of the city's Boise Centre.

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When it comes to conference speaking, an innovative speaker stage setup can drive more and unexpected engagement. Meetings Today Chief Content Officer Christoph Trappe reports live from DES Madrid on how the "open air" concept works for attendees and presenters.

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Meeting and event planners working with a facility’s convention services team can help ensure their program is a success by providing some very basic, but essential, information. Maxine Compean, associate event manager for the dual-branded the DOUGLAS, Autograph Collection and the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver, offered the following six tips to keep meeting and event planners and the convention services team on the same page.

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Event planner Christa Mekki, founder and senior planner at Magnetic Magnificent Events, was one of the first to experience the brand-new Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC). Meetings Today reached out to Mekki for her take on the reimagined convention center.

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Innovation is requisite for staying ahead in the convention business. It’s second nature for Las Vegas, and it’s also the watchword for reinvention in convention markets around the U.S.

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AEG Facilities and SMG owner Onex announced they will merge to create ASM Global. The new company will be headquartered in Los Angeles and will operate over 300 venues across five continents that include arenas, stadiums, convention centers and performing arts centers.

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As the new year approaches, so does a new beginning for San Francisco’s meetings business. The long-awaited opening of an upgraded Moscone Center came in early January, as the convention complex debuted a $551 million expansion.

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Meetings Today Senior Contributor Jeff Heilman touched base with Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) Executive Director David Gibbons on the MCCA’s increase in group business and the future of the facility.

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Orlando's Orange County Convention Center is moving forward with a $605 million campus improvement plan. The project will bring expansions and new meeting and exhibit space in the North and South concourses, further increasing the center’s seven million square feet of total function space.

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IACC, the association that represents the global conference center segment, is set to more than double its number of European facilities within the next four months if a deal to add the supplier members of two conference center groups comes to fruition, according to IACC CEO Mark Cooper.

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The America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis will undergo an expansion and extensive renovations. The AC Next Gen Project, which will include the addition of 92,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 65,000-square-foot ballroom and meeting area, a new outdoor pavilion and 26 new loading docks, was announced during a press conference held on October 3.

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On a recent tour of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Meetings Today spoke with John Page, general manager for SMG for the Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC). Page shared his advice for navigating a convention center renovation or expansion.

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Once you’ve seen one convention center you’ve seen them all, right? A recent visit to the Chattanooga Convention Center left me surprised to find some nice touches that many of its bigger—and smaller—city counterparts lacked. Following are five standout features I noticed during my tour of the Chattanooga Convention Center led by Executive Director Mike Shuford, during a press trip with the Chattanooga CVB.

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The Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC) hosted a grand opening ceremony, Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 following a two-year, $207 million renovation and expansion project. State and local government officials, along with KICC facility officials and staff welcomed meeting clients, local stakeholders, interested citizens, and media to an open house that showcased how the new facility will host small to large-scale events.

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Caesars Entertainment broke ground on its $375 million, Caesars Forum conference center on Monday, July 16, during a ceremony for trade press, industry executives and Caesars staff members. The ceremony was also livestreamed by Caesars so that people could tune in from all over the world.

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Meetings Today contributor Carolyn Blackburn interviewed Jennifer B. David, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager with the Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC), to discuss recent updates to the facility. The GCCC, which features 373,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, wrapped a two-year $140 million renovation and expansion project in July 2017 to improve the overall guest experience, including the installation of an impressive art collection and local F&B concepts.

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College towns are happening hubs of activity, where the arts, sports and culinary delights thrive. All that and more is on deck for planners who book a university setting for a conference.

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Architects have submitted their designs for the phase two expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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The artwork installed at an increasing number of popular convention centers transforms these necessarily utilitarian buildings into magnificent galleries that rival some of the most inspired museums in the world.

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The City of Arlington announced plans for Esports Stadium Arlington, an esports-specific venue designed to draw competitive gamers and fans from around the world. The proposed venue will be built within the existing Arlington Convention Center in collaboration with architecture firm Populous.

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Meetings Today checked in with Michele Hughes, Director of Sales & Marketing with the Connecticut Convention Center (CTCC).

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Goodbye big-box, bunkeresque venues. Hello green rooftop micro-environments, wellness spaces and hip street-party-scapes.

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Addressing profound changes in how their customers are approaching learning, many conference centers are in a process of reinvention

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Many convention centers are striving to reflect and showcase their locations.

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An exceedingly intelligent choice for meetings and events.

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The times they are a changin’, and all for the better from this reporter’s perspective.

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Generic big-box convention centers seem to be going the way of the buggy whip and typewriter.

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Here is the top feedback when it comes to staging cutting-edge conference meets.

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Are you fully engaging your attendees?

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When it comes to putting fun on the agenda, State College is one smart choice.

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Dana Freker Doody answers questions from Meetings Focus' Invigorate Your Large Events webinar.

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Today's conference centers are more about standing out than fitting in.

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A look at major convention center projects in Green Bay,  King of Prussia, New York, San Antonio and San Diego.

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Eight easy steps to picking the perfect convention venue.

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Educational facilities throughout Florida give attendees a chance to relive the college experience.

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Modern convention centers are about experience as much as setting.

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The 2014 IACC Annual Conference reported it has attracted the most registered attendees since 2008.

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State College, home to Pennsylvania State University, welcomes groups with its vibrant ambiance and excellent on-campus (and off-site) facilities.

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