Levi’s Stadium, Dunkin’ Donuts Center Set New Standards for Venue Sustainability

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two major sports venues have achieved significant milestones in becoming green facilities.

The new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, which will be the future home of the San Francisco 49ers in August, was connected last week to the city’s recycled water system, making it the first stadium in California to utilize the drought-proof water source. The stadium sets a new standard for green sporting facilities with recycled water accounting for about 85 percent of all water used in the stadium. The water will be used for irrigation, a 27,000-square-foot green roof, flushing toilets and cooling tower make-up water.

Levi’s Stadium is striving to become the greenest stadium in the country and the first NFL stadium to open with a LEED Gold rating.

“Utilizing recycled water in so many different spaces and in such a variety of ways was a challenging proposition,” said Chris de Groot, the city’s director of water and sewer utilities, in a statement. “We had to develop a new way to test both potable and recycled systems for a building of this size, and get approval from the California Department of Public Health. Through innovation and cooperative partnerships, we were able to achieve this new standard.”

In Providence, R.I., the 30,000-square-foot Dunkin’ Donuts Center, home to AHL Providence Bruins and the Big East Providence College Friars, hosts various sporting events as well as concerts and trade shows. The facility announced last week that it has completed an extensive energy efficiency project in partnership with Providence-based Energy Source LLC. The LED lighting initiative will reduce energy use by 1,749,586 kWh annually. The project consisted of a wholesale changeover of the facility’s antiquated metal halide fixtures in favor of a vast network of state-of-the-art LED lighting, all managed by a Network Based Lighting Control System, which centrally controls lighting from a single-user interface device. With just the swipe of a mouse, the facility can control the venue’s ever-changing lighting requirements, reducing energy use.

Energy Source was able to produce more than 300 Footcandles evenly distributed on the ice surface, giving facility managers easy control of the system while making it a cost-effective investment for management company SMG.

“We were confident that our design was the best solution to address their needs with Network Based Lighting Controls used in conjunction with LED lighting,” said Michael Lemoi of Energy Source in a statement.

The system design is ideal for venues of this type. In fact, Energy Source will implement a larger-scale version in the large exhibition hall at Seaport World Trade Center in Boston later this year.

“These advanced capabilities bring with them real and immediate savings, less energy consumption and are far better for the environment.” Lemoi said.