Football season starts tonight, and the Arizona Cardinals go green

...link via Angie Fretz

The NFL's season officially kicks-off tonight with Minnesota taking on New Orleans, in New Orleans, a city that has been pushed to the brink and continues to suffer. For tonight, I hope the people of New Orleans get a great game and receive a few entertaining moments to help them find some comfort and peace for a few minutes.

This season the Arizona Cardinals will be powering every home game with 100% renewable energy provided by SRP. According to the SRP website:

The Cardinals will be one of only a few NFL teams to play in a green-powered facility during the 2010 season. For each of the Cardinals' eight regular-season home games and two pre-season home games, SRP's EarthWise Energy program will provide 113,500 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy purchased by University of Phoenix. The renewable energy will offset electricity used in University of Phoenix Stadium — from the concession stands to the parking lot lighting to the scoreboards. This amount of electricity, 1,135,000 kilowatt-hours over the course of 10 games, is comparable to what 60 average homes in the Valley will use annually.

The EarthWise Energy program for SRP puts 100% of the money towards building solar projects for non-profit groups. Recent projects have involved working with Habitat for Humanity and Sunshine Acres Children's Home. These are steps that can be made by large companies. Hopefully activities like these will lead to true renewable power for everyone in the state, including the University of Phoenix Stadium. Plus, with the Cardinals having 505,143 fans walk through their doors last year to check out a football game, that is 505,143 minds that can be opened up to renewable energy, just by being there in the stadium.

---Justin J. Stewart (link via Angie Fretz)