ESPN, The University of Kansas and the city of Lawrence hosted the first “Green Game” on Saturday, December 19, at the KU men’s basketball game against Michigan at Allen Fieldhouse. The game highlighted the sustainability efforts of KU and the city of Lawrence.
ESPN produced two video segments about green initiatives at KU and showed them at the game. The first segment features the 15 eco-friendly elliptical machines at the David A. Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center on campus. The machines convert kinetic energy created by exercising on them and feed the energy back to the building’s electrical grid. The second segment highlights KU’s Biodiesel Initiative. This project involves collecting used cooking oil from campus dining halls and converting it into biodiesel fuel. The fuel has been used to power campus lawn mowers and to power generators for the HyVee Kids’ Family Hawk Zone, a play area with inflatable moonwalks, at KU home football games.
To show its commitment to using renewable energy, the city of Lawrence purchased 8,000 kilowatt hours of the Bowersock Mills and Power Co.‘s certified renewable energy certificates–or enough energy to cover the electricity used during the game.
Other green highlights of the game:
• Kansas Athletics’ facilities crew switched to natural cleaning products.
• During pre-game activities, the KU mascots, Baby Jay and Big Jay, wore green T-shirts to promote recycling.
• KU and Michigan basketball teams and the KU spirit squad warmed up in T-shirts made of 100 percent recycled materials.
• ESPN aired sports-related eco-tips during the game.
• The KU Center for Sustainability set up tables in Allen Fieldhouse to provide information about sustainability.
• Coca-Cola provided 30 additional recycling bins for the game. All recycling was taken to the Wal-Mart Recycling Center after the game.
• The concession stands used biodegradable popcorn bags and recycled all used popcorn oil.
More on eco-initiatives
• Do you support community service? With the United We Serve initiative, the White House called on people to volunteer their time for 81 days a year.
• The Obamas planted an organic food garden at the White House. See how the White House will use the garden to go green.
• Do you know where your trash goes after you toss it? A project by MIT researchers will track trash from volunteers’ homes to their final destinations.