We all know the phrase “It’s not easy being green” but for NASCAR it has been quite a bit easier than you think.
NASCAR continues to lead the way in motor sports and the sports landscape in going green.
In another positive step forward NASCAR announced Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that in 2011 the sport would use Sunoco E15 fuel in all three of the top touring series.
E15 is a 15% ethanol blend fuel produced by corn farmers here in the United States.
The fuel will no longer be underground at the race tracks. Teams will just go straight to the tanker at each track.
“With Sunoco Green E15, we are leading by example, showing that this renewable fuel –which reduces greenhouse gas emissions – works in the most demanding racing environment in the world,” said Dr. Mike Lynch, Managing Director for Green Innovation for NASCAR.
The fuel has been tested and according to NASCAR and its researchers the feedback has been very positive.
“NASCAR is committed to being an environmental leader, and the sport has taken significant steps over the years toward conservation by introducing measurable, best-in-class initiatives in recycling, alternative energy, and carbon mitigation,” said Brian France, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASCAR.
Sunoco fuel has been a partner in NASCAR since 2004 and has been leading the way with E15 fuel.
“We know first-hand what it takes to produce high-performance, ethanol-blended fuels – almost every drop of Sunoco gasoline sold today contains ethanol,” said Cynthia Archer, Vice President, Marketing and Development, Sunoco. “And, like the ethanol produced at our new manufacturing plant in upstate New York, the ethanol we use in Sunoco Green E15 will come from corn grown by American farmers. As the sport continues to go green and evolves to renewable fuels, we will now make and deliver a new cleaner-burning fuel.”
The move to a cleaner burning fuel is just one of many steps NASCAR has taken to make this sport on the fore front of the green initiatives.
At Pocono this season they unveiled the solar panels would not only provide electricity at the race track year round but also helps power over 1000 homes in the surrounding community.
Pocono is the first and only sports facility to be 100% powered by the sun. At Michigan International Raceway, Ryan Newman joined NASCAR and jumpstarted a tree planting program.
The program plants 10 trees for every green flag in the season. The idea is to replace 100% of the carbon that NASCAR events produce.
Along with the effort to help replace the carbon, NASCAR is also leading the way with the largest recycling program in sports. If you camp at any NASCAR track when you arrive you are given a bag to put all your recyclables in.
It is then picked up when it is full. In 2009, the industry recycled 80 tons and over 2.5 million containers.
Along with partners like Coca-Cola and Office Depot the program recycles everything from materials used on the race cars to bottles and paper.
In Charlotte the new NASCAR Plaza buildings and the new building in Daytona Beach, Florida are all LEED certified.
*NASCAR even has eliminated paper pay stubs and is strictly electronic. By switching to the electronic pay stubs they are saving 33,000 pieces of paper a year or nearly four trees a year!
NASCAR continues to finds ways to change its carbon footprint and now NASCAR fans can do the same at the track and at home.
*Special thanks to Andrew Giangola.
Written by:
