FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, is undergoing a number of upgrades – part of a two-year plan that will cost $120 million. As part of the upgrades, the Cleveland Browns National Football League contracted with Quasar Energy Group to collect food waste at the stadium and deliver it to an anaerobic digester.
At the stadium, food scraps, which would otherwise go to a landfill, are collected and ground into a slurry, which is transported to an anaerobic digester operated by Quasar Energy Group at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. At the anaerobic digester, which periodically adds cow manure to lower acidity and boost the methane, Quasar produces biogas for energy and fuel uses.
The implementation of the system at FirstEnergy Stadium will divert 35 tons of food waste from landfills every season.
Other partners involved in the project include Forest City Enterprises, InSinkErator and the Innovation Center for US Dairy.
Numerous professional sports venues across the US are implementing renewable energy, including Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, which has brought online 11,000 solar panels and 14 wind turbines that provide up to 3 MW of power.
Photo: FirstEnergy Stadium via Shutterstock