Nascar going solar

[Desert Rat]

Nascar Track has Big Plans for Solar Power

Pocono Raceway, which hosts two Nascar Sprint Cup races each year, plans to construct the world’s largest solar energy project at a sports facility.

Track officials at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond Pa, announced in July in a groundbreaking ceremony two days before Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.

“I think it’s unique,” Pocono Raceway’s president, Brandon Igdalsky, said in a interview . “I think that the fact that it’s a raceway that’s going to be the sports facility that’s really going to go all out and do this, I think it definitely puts us in a league of our own.”

About 40,000 photovoltaic panels are to be installed on 25 acres across the street from the racetrack on property that had been used as a parking lot for races. The solar farm is expected to generate three megawatts once it is completed, in spring 2010, making it Pennsylvania’s largest such facility, Igdalsky said. The project is expected to cost $15 million to $17 million but more than pay for itself over time.

A number of prominent sports sites use solar energy, including Taiwan’s National Stadium, which recently hosted the World Games; AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants; Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians; and the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf in Bern, Switzerland.

But Pocono’s solar farm could generate the most power by far. Igdalsky said the track decided to go this route when deregulation threatened to raise the track’s annual power bills by nearly 40 percent, to as much as $500,000.

“We needed a way — how can we save the most money on our power usage?” Igdalsky said. “It’s good for us. It’s good for the environment. It’s good for the community.”

Pocono Raceway officials anticipate generating considerable money each year — in the “seven figures,” Igdalsky said — by selling the energy produced to PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that operates a wholesale electricity market and grid.

Generating solar energy at sports facilities appears to be catching on. Christopher Moffatt, a founder of Evolution Energies, a solar development company that worked with Pocono Raceway, said in an e-mail message that the company was involved with several professional and college football teams looking at similar options for their stadiums. Some arenas that host N.H.L. teams are also discussing the concept.

That could mean more work for enXco, the French-owned company that is finishing plans to build the solar farm at Pocono. The same company is building a solar facility for the Long Island Power Authority and is involved in several projects in New Jersey.

“That’s the first time we’ve had a request from a racetrack; I was quite surprised,” said Tristan Grimbert, the president and chief executive of enXco. “I think it’s a promising market.”

Nascar, which markets a gas-powered sport, has begun several programs to help the environment, including a project to plant 20 acres of trees a year at racetracks to help offset carbon dioxide emissions.

Mike Lynch, who joined Nascar in October as managing director of green innovation, said the Pocono solar farm would set a standard for sports.

“We have a power footprint that can be addressed with renewable energy,” he said. “We see the Pocono project as one that’s a fantastic example of how it can be done.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/sp...r.html?_r=2&hp

[greencat]

Sterling Planet Shifts Firestone Freedom 100 Racecar to Carbon Neutrality
Sterling Planet teams with Alliance Motorsports to offset racecar emissions on Indy track
Indianapolis, IN, May 21, 2009 – Sterling Planet announced today a sponsorship agreement with Alliance Motorsports LLC that will make history at the Indianapolis Motorspeedway, as the partners sponsor the first ‘carbon neutral’ racecar to compete at the legendary track. Sterling Planet is providing carbon offsets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the car driven by Mike Potekhen in the Firestone Freedom 100, an Indy Lights Series event set for May 22.

“We’re pleased to announce our affiliation with Sterling Planet,” said Jeff Matthews, co-owner of Alliance Motorsports. “We will have driver Mike Potekhen’s car going ‘carbon neutral’ in the Firestone Freedom 100 race at the Indianapolis Motorspeedway. We’re proud to set the pace and have the first racecar in the history of the Indy Lights Series to go carbon neutral.”

Reducing environmental impacts is an everyday occurrence at Sterling Planet, which has a track record for offsetting headliner events. Sterling Planet has ‘greened’ prominent national events, including NFL’s Super Bowl XLI , the 2008 Democratic National Convention and both the Democratic and Republican conventions in 2004.

“Clearly, Alliance Motorsports is demonstrating progressive environmental leadership by choosing to offset tailpipe emissions from this Indy Lights racer,” said Mel Jones, Sterling Planet President and CEO. “At the Firestone Freedom 100, Alliance will wave its own green flag and enter a different kind of racecar, and we’re proud to be part of this groundbreaking initiative.”

Sterling Planet is tapping carbon reduction projects in Indiana and South Carolina to offset greenhouse gas emissions from the Alliance racecar as it competes in the 100-mile event, consuming gasoline at the average rate of 1.5 miles per gallon. T&M Dairies Agricultural Methane in Indiana and the Greenville County Landfill Gas Utilization Project in South Carolina capture and destroy methane, preventing its release into the atmosphere. Methane is the natural byproduct of decomposition and a detrimental greenhouse gas.

Sterling Planet markets carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates and other environmental assets to help clients reduce their environmental footprint. Carbon offsets each represent one metric ton of reduced emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents and meet stringent standards. The offsets are real, representing actual emission reductions that are measured and monitored. The offsets are additional, with greenhouse gas reductions that extend beyond what would have happened anyway or in a ‘business as usual’ scenario. Once sold, the offsets are retired permanently to prevent double counting. Independent third party verifiers scrutinize source projects and measure, track and record actual emission reductions.