I was reading through a magazine today when an article caught my eye. The Washington Nationals have a new LEED-certified stadium. This will be the first LEED-certified in Major League Baseball. It's the first stadium that has been built with keeping the environment in mind. Here are some unique things I read in the article about the new stadium.
For The Children- Beneath the east garage is what they call the "Strike Zone". It is a 15,000 square foot children's area with a Playstation Pavillion. Proceeds from the "Strike Zone" will go to benefit the National's charity. They also have a "Build-A-Bear" outlet and several other amusements.
The Roof- The 6,317 sq ft green roof over the concession area is planted with 1,200 drought-resistant sedums. The cost of this $100,000 roof was covered by Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Cherry Trees- The cherry trees were a special request by the National's owner, Mark Lerner. Cherry tress are a Washington icon. They will be in bloom in enough time for the baseball season.
Scoreboard-The National's will have the biggest scoreboard in baseball. It's five stories tall and is 4.532 sq ft with a high definition video screen.
Recycling Center- At the stadium there will be an "in-house" recycling center. It is equipped with four 34-cubic-yard dumpster compactors that are big enough to handle glass, metal and plastic recyclables.
What National Accountants Say- The Nationals' accountants think the new stadium is a much "greener" ballpark, better than RFK.
Wastewater System- This is the first of it's kind. It uses sand filters calibrated the ballpark's unique needs. It's designed to screen out organic debris such as peanut shells and hot-dog bits. The engineers claim that water that has gone through the system is cleaner than the water in the nearby Anacostia River.
Lighting- They have state-of-the-art high-efficiency field lighting that uses 21% less energy than conventional lighting.
I just thought this was totally neat. It's amazing how people are going the extra mile to be eco-friendly.
;)
Links;)
Tags (Tag Cloud);)
Archives
We had the great pleasure of going to the first game played at the Nationals Field this past weekend. What a stadium! It was a "try-out" for the park and the George Washington Colonials played the St. Joseph Hawks. I wasn't aware of any of the things you mentioned but let me say...I was truly impressed. The stadium is set so that when you walk into the arena from the street, you walk into a huge platform that overlooks the field. The accessibility too for any handicapped individual is excellent with plenty of wide-open seating. And the concessions...GREAT! It should be a fabulous start to the season for the Nationals!
Maggie