Pictured are Tom Aplin Chairman IGDB,Roy Keane, Henry Shefflin, Alan Brogan, David Kearney and Padraig McManus Chief Executive ESB.
Croke Park goes green
On Friday, 1 May, the ESB and GAA announced that Corke Park has become one of the first carbon neutral stadiums in the world. While their excellent achievement may make others green with envy, it was all good news for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind as the ESB took the opportunity to announce a three year sponshorship agreement, making us one of their charities of choice. The announcement of their $210K, over three years, commitment could not have come on a better day as IGDB was hosting the launch of our Specsavers SHADES 2009 campaignat the stadium.
Cúl Green explained
During the course of last year, the GAA and ESB established a partnership aimed at working together to make Croke Park a carbon neutral stadium. In 2008, Croke Park attracted some two million visitors which meant that the energy management system needed a major overhaul to reach the target.
The plan included ESB engineers carrying out an environmental audit to establish how Croke Park could maximise energy efficiencies and reduce its overall energy consumption. A new energy monitoring system was put in place at the stadium that has resulted in it reducing its energy consumption in the first three months of 2009 by over 10% compared to the same period last year. The stadium is also sourcing its electricity from a renewable wind farm source.
The final outcome of these measures is that Croke Park has reduced its carbon footprint by 4,500 tonnes achieving the world standard for carbon neutral venue.
Fans played a crucial role in the delivery of Cúl Green's targets. A total of 33,000 energy saving pledges were made on the Cúl Green website www.culgreen.ie. Pledges involve fans pooling their travel arrangements to and from Croke Park; using public transport; switching off lights and alectrical appliances when not in use; installing enhanced energy insulation in their homes and places of work. These efficiencies were netted against the residual carbon footprint for Croke Park using a methodology accredited by an independant assessor (CRed - University of East Anglia).
