Going Green: Nets Launch Eco-Friendly Program At IZOD Center

The Nets and Barclays PLC are "teaming up tonight to host what will be a [NBA] first -- a game in which all of the energy consumed by both teams and their fans in traveling to and operating the IZOD Center ... will be offset by carbon emissions credits for energy-saving projects" in Europe and Asia, according to Rudy Larini of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Dubbed "Green Night," the event is "part of an initiative launched earlier in the season, Nets-gogreen.com, to make the team a more 'green' franchise through energy-conservation measures that include retrofitted lighting and improved recycling in the arena." The event also will feature "several environmentally friendly groups providing information to fans." Nets Activation Manager Julianne Waldron "expects the 'greening' of the team to follow the franchise when it moves" to the Barclays Center. Waldron: "I believe this will be our strategy for years to come. This is part of who we are." Larini notes all of the emissions from fan and staff automobile travel to the game, arena energy use and the bus trip for the 76ers "have been calculated in tons of carbon emissions." Waldron said that the carbon credits trade at "between [$8-22] per credit, and the Nets would need to purchase 449 credits to offset the night's energy use." These emissions will be "offset by comparable energy savings from four projects chosen by the Nets and Barclays" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 4/1).