A major summit focused on environmental standards for sports facilities will be held at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center next year, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Wednesday.

Johnson made the announcement in Houston at this year’s Green Sports Alliance. Next year’s conference – the seventh – will be held in June.

The annual conference attracts hundreds of professional sports team executives, officials from collegiate programs and companies that manage sports venues “to exchange the latest thinking around greening the sports industry,” according to a news release issued by the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings have lauded the sustainability of their new arena, scheduled to open in October. The $534 million Golden 1 Center will be the first major sports venue in North America that is fully powered by solar energy and the Kings have said that 90 percent of the food and beverage ingredients served at the arena will be sourced from within 150 miles of the facility, cutting down on the arena’s carbon footprint. The team said it has also recycled 99 percent of the construction debris at the arena site – or 101,000 tons.

Green Sports Alliance chair Scott Jenkins said in a statement that the Kings and the new arena “are a model for innovative solutions to environmental challenges.”

Johnson spoke at the first Green Sports Alliance in 2011 in Portland, Ore., saying at the time he would try to lure the conference to Sacramento.

“Our community believes strongly that economic and environmental policy can work hand in hand, and nothing speaks more powerfully to that commitment than Golden 1 Center,” the mayor said in a statement. “This is a huge honor that will cement Sacramento’s status as a true leader and innovator in sustainable development.”

 

Source : sacbee.com

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