Super Bowl season or not, the Eagles are winners when it comes to promoting clean energy

The story of how climate change is impacting the United States can be told, surprisingly, through the stadiums that house Pennsylvania’s two professional football teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Last fall, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Acrisure Stadium as a shelter for people during the “extreme weather crises” that are becoming increasingly severe due to climate change. 

A few months earlier, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field received a prestigious environmental certification, in part because of nearly 11,000 solar panels installed on and around the stadium. The solar panels deliver power during game days, bring down energy costs, enhance grid resiliency and help reduce the emission of global warming pollution that drives climate change. 

Lincoln Financial Field shows that when it comes to climate change, we can play offense as well as defense.

Our commercial building stock (including our sports stadiums) can serve as more than just “shelters from the storm” when global warming-stoked severe weather events occur. We can also make these buildings part of the climate solution. By installing solar on their spacious rooftops and by adopting other solar-friendly policies, we can create a better future by moving towards a 100% renewable energy-powered system that is good for people and the planet.

To reach that goal at the state level, we need legislators to vote for the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard, or PRESS. That initiative would require electricity companies supplying energy in Pennsylvania to get at least 35% of the energy that they produce from clean, renewable sources by 2035. If lawmakers pass PRESS, it would be a boon for solar power through the state. 

Across the Keystone State, more and more faith leaders, educators and business leaders are also taking the initiative to go solar. Take for example, Cooper-Booth Wholesale Co.’s warehouse in Mountville, Lancaster County, which has a 61,000-square-foot solar installation at its company headquarters. Or Pastor Dave Carver of Pittsburgh’s Crafton Heights United Presbyterian Church, who found a way to make energy savings for his church by installing 40 solar panels on the church’s roof. The congregation at Crafton Heights expects to produce all of the church’s energy and save thousands of dollars each year on their utility bills. 

Just as places of worship and businesses can “go solar,” so can places of learning. Gerald G. Huesken Middle School in Lancaster recently announced a project spearheaded by a technology education teacher, which will install 84 rooftop solar panels and a solar-powered greenhouse in which students will learn how to grow vegetables and fruit.

These are inspiring examples, but overall Pennsylvania lags behind most states across the nation for growth in renewable energy over the last decade, ranking an embarrassing 48th. To fully realize our state’s solar potential, we need to pass PRESS as soon as possible to accelerate the pace of change and help more Pennsylvanians switch to solar.

Pennsylvanians are showing they want change. And we know that solar can work on all kinds of buildings. Now we need state leaders to meet the moment and make it easier, quicker and more financially beneficial for people to go solar. Passing PRESS would be a great start.

Ensuring that our stadiums, schools, and houses of worship can be havens for people in need during times of crisis is critical. But they can also play a crucial role in creating a better future where we move away from dirty fossil fuels to 100% clean, renewable energy. If we achieve this, future generations of Pennsylvanians will be able to visit our stadiums for fun and to cheer on the Eagles and the Steelers, rather than to shelter from ever more frequent extreme weather.