The 90 second video  was completed for the US Department of Energy American Made. Challenge Herox Solar Round 8, 2024. We have identified a novel low cost solution to create data from field testing 200 prototype units in a participating sports stadium complex.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have donated time, space and interest to support this endeavor. Thanks to the Center for Innovation at the University of Arizona for support with this year’s entry. Please click on the Blog page to read our most current updates and a description of the projects developing scope and impact. This innovative challenge needs your support, thank you!

The  90 second video above was completed for the September 2023 American Made Challenge competition.  I’ll be updating the prototype again as fresh data becomes available and share the results here in the near future. 
 
Thanks to Larry Dinmore for donating early workspace and the kind folks at MakerspaceNYC during the shutdown. Positive Deviancy was a big help more recently with some great suggestions and letter of support. Other support came from Abe Morris, The University of Arizona, The University of Texas at Austin, and Joshua Pearce at Western University.  Last but not least thank you Sid Katoley and Sabrina Scott. 

What We Are About

Large outdoor sports stadiums cost enormous sums of money to develop and construct. Some of the newest domestic stadiums, SoFI Stadium in Los Angeles designed by HKS, cost 5.5 billions dollars, Allegiant Stadium cost nearly $2 billion dollars, Lucas Stadium $750 million, MetLife $1.6 billion and the new Buffalo Bills stadium to be designed by Populous will cost at least $1.35 billion. When such large amounts of public funds are expended for development and construction we need to enable more positive outcomes for the public at large, benefits that will return value to local communities long into the future, for the life of the stadium, not just quick returns for owners and seating for sports fans.
Recorded in 2020

Why is it important to an agency and or developer?

Development authorities and sports franchises around the world are interested in reducing the cost to the taxpayer as lower costs increase the likelihood of successful developments of outdoor sports stadiums, creating more jobs and sustainable outcomes. In today’s environment, public funds may be more limited and additional costs for health and safety of stadium fans will be required. Basic strategies used today to save money at sports stadiums have to do with reducing waste, recycled paper, reduced utility costs, installing LED lighting, and obtaining LEED Building Certification, however, the biggest returns come from installing and utilizing solar panels.

Our unique and proprietary technology builds on these trends by collecting the untapped value; incorporating photovoltaic modules into outdoor sports stadium seating. We make each seat a solar panel which is highly efficient at capturing solar energy in stadiums around the world.

Mark Walker, CEO, was awarded a patent in 2018 for this super cool invention. Using this technology we will generate millions of dollars of cost savings and millions of megawatt hours of electricity from outdoor sports stadium seating. 
 
We will create new value for local urban neighborhoods from these publicly funded stadiums by incorporating emergency resilient centers into our sites, for use by communities at risk when they are without power due to weather events. Workforce training and local jobs are also key benefits.
 
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia is able generate 3MW of energy; 4x the amount of energy consumed in an entire season of home games and this solar energy windfall will be generated for 25+ years.
 
The Sunflower Seating plan commercializing this technology presents the opportunity to create the first truly production ready, high quality, highly efficient, durable photovoltaic module incorporated into a durable outdoor sports stadium seat.

FAQ

Large outdoor sports stadiums cost enormous sums of money to develop and construct.  The three newest professional football stadiums have cost $720 million (Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis Colts, 2008), $1.15 billion (Dallas Cowboys, 2009) and $1.6 billion (MetLife Stadium, New York Jets and New York Giants, 2010).  Moreover, we need to reduce the high costs of public funding when building and supporting large outdoor sports stadium projects to enable positive outcomes.  While host countries, cities and organizations dream of the prestige and economic benefits of sports stadiums and events, there are often many significant hidden environmental costs.

Development authorities and sports franchises around the world are interested in reducing the cost to the taxpayer as lower costs increase the likelihood of successful developments of outdoor sports stadiums, creating more jobs and sustainable outcomes. In today’s environment, public funds may be more limited and additional costs for health and safety of stadium fans will be required. Basic strategies used today to save money at sports stadiums have to do with reducing waste, recycled paper, reduced utility costs, installing LED lighting, and obtaining LEED Building Certification, however, the biggest returns come from installing and utilizing solar panels.

Our unique and proprietary technology builds on these trends by collecting the untapped value; incorporating photovoltaic modules into outdoor sports stadium seating.  We make each seat a solar panel which is highly efficient at capturing solar energy in stadiums around the world.  
Sunflower Seating and its CEO, Mark Walker, successfully developed and was awarded a utility patent for this technology in October 2018. Utilization of this technology to allow us to generate millions of megawatt hours of electricity from outdoor stadium seats. 

Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia is able generate 3MW of energy; 4x the amount of energy consumed in an entire season of home games and this energy “windfall” will be generated for 25+ years.  The plan commercializing this technology presents the opportunity to create the first truly production ready, high quality, highly efficient, durable photovoltaic module incorporated into a durable outdoor sports stadium seat.

Financials

Future development costs

Potential profitability of the project

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