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The new home for the Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes Benz Stadium, has just opened in Atlanta and has already been called the most environmentally responsible sports venue ever built.
The stadium was first planned in 2007. Since then, there has been much more focus on green and sustainability issues.
As a result, the owners, project developers, and the stadium's facility manager, Scott Jenkins, have taken a number of steps to make the facility greener and more sustainable than originally planned.
Their goal: to earn the highest LEED certification possible. The added efforts paid off. The stadium is now LEED Platinum certified.
According to Falcons owner, Arthur Blank, the facility is not only LEED Platinum certified, but raises "the bar for environmental responsibility for [sports] venues around the world."
Among the sustainability and environmental steps and accomplishment of the new stadium are the following:
• The building is designed to use nearly 30 percent less energy than a comparable-sized facility
• Installed 4,000 solar panels that generate enough power to power more than 160 homes annually
• Installed 50 electric car powering stations
• Uses LED sports lighting, which is brighter than the traditional sports lighting but uses far less energy
• Worked with the City of Atlanta to ensure the stadium can be accessed by public transportation, walking paths, and bike trails
• Installed a 680,000-gallon water capture and reuse system to help cool the building and irrigate landscaping, the first such system for any sports facility anywhere in the world
• Installed 430 no-water urinals from Waterless Co., Inc, which should save nearly 13 million gallons of water per year and reduce the annual water bill by more than $230,000
"This stadium does take environmental responsibility to a new level," says Klaus Reichardt, CEO, and Founder of Waterless CO., Inc. "But beyond that, it is certainly one of the most impressive sports stadiums anywhere in the world."