The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. It’s not just a football game, either—there are commercials, halftime shows, and massive amounts of equipment used to broadcast it. Today we consider the energy usage by stadiums.
Super-Sized Super Bowl
The Super Bowl has been played since 1967 and is currently played at the end of every NFL season.
It’s a week-long festival, complete with all the amenities of a traditional city. The Super Bowl is an event that requires massive amounts of energy to power all the lights, TVs, and other electronics that are used during the game.
The game lasts between three and four hours (depending on how many commercials they have to play), which means it uses an enormous amount of energy. But don’t worry—we’ll help you figure out how much energy this means!
Superbowl: Super Energy Consumption
The Super Bowl uses more energy than other sports events. And by a lot.
It takes about as much electricity to power the Super Bowl as it does to power a small town.
That is an enormous amount of energy, and the truth is, it is harmful to the environment.
Some argue that this isn’t an issue because this large amount of energy consumption only happens once every year while they’re watching football on their living room couch (which is true).
However, there are ways for people watching at home to reduce their energy use without sacrificing comfort or convenience (like turning off lights when they leave rooms).
Catering For The Craze
Interestingly enough, the city where the game is being played has to prepare for the required consumption, and as the Super Bowl usage is a huge chunk of power, it can be dangerous for the grid.
They have to make sure their infrastructure can handle all of the extra traffic and people who will be in town for the game.
So the NFL have been held to taks by being forced to pay penalties and fines if they dont prepare and cater for the power usage or use too much electricity during the game.
Where Does All This Energy Come From?
You might be surprised to learn that most of this energy comes from coal, natural gas and nuclear power.
In fact, over 50% of all UK electricity is produced by these three sources. Some of that power has to come from backup generators and temporary towers.
Energy Conscious Super Bowl Support
Even if you’re not attending the big game, you can still do your part to help save energy during the Superbowl.
Here are some ways that you can make sure your energy use stays low:
- Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- Turn down your home’s thermostat so it’s not running full blast all day and night.
- Avoid leaving items plugged into outlets that aren’t being used (such as portable fans). This is especially true for cell phones and laptops; unplugging these devices will prevent them from going into standby mode, which wastes extra electricity and makes it harder to power up later.
- Unplug appliances that aren’t being used—a great way to do this is by using a power strip so that multiple appliances can be turned off at once by flipping just one switch instead of having to go around shutting each one down individually!
The sheer amount of energy required for one weekend makes it clear just how much energy we consume in our everyday lives.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what we do every day doesn’t make a big difference, but as this example shows, when you add up all these small actions over time, they can have serious consequences.
The next time you turn on your lights or take a shower, think about how much power it takes to power those things and how many people around the world depend on fossil fuels for their livelihoods.
If we all made an effort to use less energy and support renewable sources like solar or wind instead of coal and oil, we could help prevent climate change from becoming even more destructive than it currently is.
Start by looking at your energy supplier and what their approaches are towards green energy efficiency.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a lot more to consider than just the game. The Super Bowl is an event that lasts more than one day and requires a lot of energy for lighting, heating and cooling buildings, as well as providing power for fans and players on both teams.
With so much electricity being used every year, it’s important that we all work towards reducing our carbon footprint by making small changes in our everyday lives.
