As many of you know we’re big Mets fans and this weekend we made our first pilgrimage to the new temple, which considering the government bailout of Citi Bank has been renamed (in this house anyway), City Field.  It was about 110 deg. in our overpriced mediocre seats as we watched this year’s flawed team get hammered by the lowly Nationals.  So you can understand why I’m in no mood to review the team or the new stadium – perhaps another day.  I must say however, there are a number of innovative elements to the new ball park, not the least of which are the 270 innovative waterless urinals.  They have a special fluid trap to block odors but do not actually flush, saving up to 40,000 gal of water per urinal or almost 10 million gal. per year. Kohler, manufacturer of the plumbing fixtures strongly advised the Mets against serving of asparagus at any of the City Park concession stands.   

The urinals were one aspect of a voluntary agreement between the Mets and the U.S. EPA to minimize environmental and energy impacts of the stadium using green technologies.  In addition to the urinals City Field includes:

·         A green (i.e., garden) roof on the administration building to retain rain water and improve insulation

·         Improved drainage to reduce run off

·         Bike racks to encourage alternative transportation

·        Extensive use of recycled steel and other green construction materials

·        State-of-the-art energy saving lighting and controls for lighting and air conditioning

The Mets may still have some issues with their starting and relief pitching but made lots of smart choices in constructing their new ball park.