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The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

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The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

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Eagles Go Greener!

The Philadelphia Eagles have decided to go green – in more ways than just their uniforms. By September of 2011, Lincoln Financial Field will be the most environmentally sustainable stadium in the world. With the help of the Orlando, Florida based energy conservation company, SolarBlue, the Eagles plan to completely transform their stadium. Among the most drastic changes include the installation of 100 20-foot tall spiral-shaped wind turbines along the upper rim of the stadium and 2,500 solar panels around the façade and on the roof. In addition, the Eagles will build a cogeneration power plant in the parking lot of the stadium that will run on biodiesel or natural gas. A cogeneration power plant is one that uses waste energy to produce heat and electricity simultaneously. This power plant is designed to produce 8.6 megawatts of power (well over the maximum 7 megawatts required by the stadium).

All of these changes will make Lincoln financial Field completely self-sufficient and are predicted to save the Eagles organization $60 million in energy bills over the next twenty years. In addition, it is predicted the Eagles will be able to sell the excess power back to the local electric grid. During off-peak season, an excess of approximately 4 megawatts of electricity will be sold back to the community. This excess energy will be enough to satisfy the annual electricity usage of 26,000 homes. Each year that the stadium functions under this system, it will also eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to removing carbon emissions of 41,000 cars.

However, completing this feat will be no easy task. Changes to the stadium are predicted to require hundreds of workers and over $30 million throughout the course of the next year. SolarBlue has agreed to operate the new power system for the next 20 years. SolarBlue also plans to help stimulate the local economy as well, by providing 200 local jobs during the installation phase of the project. 50 of these people will be lucky enough to permanently maintain these jobs under the direction of Solar Blue for the next 20 years, as SolarBlue operates and maintains the power system. Despite being from Florida, SolarBlue has announced its commitment to local Philadelphians throughout the process. They plan to use local vendors, suppliers and contractors as much as possible, which is expected to create almost 600 more jobs in the region.

While everything seems to be going as planned with the construction plans, there are concerns in the local community regarding the project. The Eagles front office has made the message clear that creating a greener Linc is a priority for them, but many citizens of Philadelphia are concerned about the outward appearance of Lincoln Financial Field in the future.  Prospective diagrams of the stadium with its green updates are getting mixed reviews from Eagles fans across the area, many of whom are worried that the additions will turn their beloved stadium into an eyesore (although they didn’t seem to have a problem with their stadium being an eyesore when Veterans’ Stadium was still around). All superficialities aside, many locals are also concerned about the potential problems of the new technology. Some citizens have proposed that the wind turbines be encased in a safety mesh to prevent bird deaths. However, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines will be installed in Eagles’ Stadium rather than the propeller type turbines; the latter swipe free air and have the potential to swipe birds from their flight. Thus, the vertical wind turbines should not have a major effect of avian/bat mortality rates. In addition, although noise of wind turbines is often a concern, the spiral-shape of the wind turbines being installed on Lincoln Financial field are much less noisy and disruptive than the classic horizontal axis wind turbines. Overall, the plans for Lincoln Financial Stadium were well thought out, and are expected to yield great successes for the local economy, environment and community.

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