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A Winning Team Addition
| 2010-02-05 |
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Golden State Warriors launch a historic solar-power plan for state-of-art hoops facility.Talk about making good use of the "gold" in California. That would be the golden rays of the sun, which are now powering the practice facility of one of the state’s NBA franchises—a historic first for the sport.
The Golden State Warriors just opened the facility’s solar renovation, which is expected to save more than $2 million in electricity costs over the next 25 years. The Solar Company, based in Castro Valley, Calif., oversaw the project, installing nearly 540 SunPower modules for power, generating an estimated daily production of 758.9 kilowatt hours of electricity for the practice facility. That’s enough to save $36,000 on the power bill within the first year of operations, reducing consumption by about 26 percent.
Retrofitting a pro hoops facility for sun power is no small feat. The sport’s slick image and mass popularity dictate that these buildings come with state-of-the-art design and amenities. Built on top of the Oakland Convention Center garage, the two-story facility is home to 16,000 square feet of office space and 21,000 square feet of basketball court space. There’s a modern weight room, along with a whirlpool, sauna and steam room. The players’ lounge is stocked with a pool table and plasma TVs.
The project could mark a turning point for the 35-employee Solar Company. It’s traditionally focused on residential work, installing solar for 250 homes a year. But it just so happens that a local sports radio personality, Bob Fitzgerald, also does radio spot ads for Solar. Fitzgerald is a TV play-by-play announcer for the Warriors, and helped the company get needed referrals to get the project greenlighted.
“It’s a great building for this kind of project because it obviously uses a lot of electricity,” says Mark Danenhower, president of Solar Company. “There are offices for more than 100 employees who support the team. There’s a gym with three or four basketball courts, and all of these places need a lot of power. What worked really well is that the roof didn’t have any skylights and faced the sun. It was nice and big and long—like a football field—with no trees above to provide any shading problems.”
The company is now getting inquiries from other sports teams about similar retrofits. As far as the Warriors are concerned, it’s a good investment. And not just because of cost savings on the energy bill.
“This solar installation is a very important project for us,” says Robert Rowell, president of the Warriors. “It enables us to help protect and preserve our environment by reducing our carbon footprint, while also maintaining our practice facility as one of the finest.”
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