Since 2003 the Eagles have been working towards eliminating their carbon footprint. The work has been paying off. Christina Lurie, the wife of the Eagles owner started the Eagle’s Go Green Program. Because of her, the Eagles are now recognized as the greenest sports team in the country. In the first year at Lincoln Financial Field the amount of kilowatt hours used by the team was 23 million. In 2008 that number had been reduced to 16 million. So what exactly makes the Eagles the greenest? They started with a recycling program. Then in 2004 they changed from electric heat to high efficiency gas boilers. By automating roll-up doors in that stadium that only open when a truck is there to pass through, and closes once they are in, they are able to keep the heat in. The changes the team has made have already been paying off. With the money they have saved they plan on purchasing all of thier energy from wind sources. They were also the first company, let alone sports team, in the nation that offered to pay the incremental costs of employees who wanted to purchase wind power for their homes! At the Eagles training facility they have installed solar panels. The panels don’t produce a ton of energy but serve more as a visual reminder to everyone that they are working towards being greeen. Some of the smaller changes the team has made include recycled-fiber carpets in the stadiums hallways and eco-friendly paint. One thing professional sports teams come under fire for is all the air travel they do. Massive amonts of carbon are added to the atmosphere from planes. In order to offset the team’s carbon emissions they started to plant trees at the Eagles Forest in Neshaminy State Park. The forest is 6.5acres and the team provides the funding for more than 4,000 trees to be planted by volunteers.
