May 21, 2009: Solar Stadium

[xoxoxoBruce]

All stadiums used to be solar stadiums... until somebody decided electric lights would let them play at night too. I think baseball did it around 1935 and these days even local playing fields commonly have lights. But these lights gobble energy faster than the fat family at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Practically every square inch of its dragonesque roof is covered by 8,844 solar panels, ready to supply the enormous record-breaking building with clean power. At the moment it's called (in English at least) the 'World Games Stadium', can be found in kaohsiung, Taiwan and was built to coincide with the opening of the world games - the unpopular but cool family member in the sporting events calendar - which are to be held in Taiwan this July.

As far as i know this Taiwanese effort does hold the record for 'largest solar-powered stadium in the world' as a result of its incredible 14,155m2 roof which could potentially generate 1.14 gigawatt hours of electricity every year; enough electricity to power up to 80% of the surrounding neighbourhood after being fed into the grid on the days when the stadium is unused.

Hopefully it won't be too long before all stadiums have similar systems. Apart from Manchester that is. You'd be better off using piezoelectrics to harness energy produced by the relentless rainfall around here. Not that I'm bitter.

I can see this taking off, for pro sports stadiums, here in the U.S. The taxpayers build the stadiums, then the pro teams sell the excess electricity for extra profit. Not that I'm bitter.

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