This will be green!? LA's new NFL stadium will shoot for LEED status.
Well there is news that Houston’s Toyota Center, the home of the Houston Rockets (NBA), has garnered a LEED EB certification. A post on the Green Building Elements website provides that the Toyota Center has been awarded a Silver Certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC).
Features from the Toyota Center include the following:
- 50% reduction in landscaping water use
- Reducing energy use to meet Energy Star standards (usually about 15% less than national standards)
- Improved indoor air quality
- Innovations included Green Committee activities, Green Games, community outreach, and e-cycling events
- A joint effort with local hauler, Republic Services, to launch a campaign to educate attendees and fans about ways to reduce their waste and their effect on the environment. The Toyota Center’s web site features a page that offers tips on how fans can “reduce, reuse, and recycle.”
I bring up this article because the Toyota Center is not the first major sports arena to take on the EB challenge. Earlier in 2010, Portland’s Rose Garden, home of the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), went through a similar remodel. The Rose Garden obtained Gold Certification, the highest awarded certification for any sports arena
to date.
Other NBA facilities that have gained LEED Certification include Miami’s American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat, and Atlanta’s Philips Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers (NHL).
We hope to see more of this trend in the future. I would hope to see some new construction certifications as well. Recently, Minnesota and Washington built outdoor stadiums for their baseball stadiums that each achieved LEED certification. Minnesota’s Target Field achieved Silver Certification, the highest ever for an outdoor stadium.
The new Los Angeles NFL Stadium will be LEED certified, making it the first in the NFL. The design is incredibly elaborate, but has drawn some ire for its failure to link up well with mass transit systems. Of course, mass transit failures have plagued LA for quite some time.
