Making Allegheny Baseball Carbon Neutral

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Making Allegheny Baseball Carbon Neutral

• By Mike, Justin and Tim

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Environmental Concerns in Baseball

• Transportation to and from games/practice
• Manufacture and disposal of equipment
• Field Maintenance Techniques

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Transportation

• Current transportation too many cars
• Most players drive to practice in separate cars
• No real effort at carpooling

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Solution Strategy 1

• Carpooling Simplest Strategy
• Pick cars with lowest emissions for carpooling
• Reduces the number of cars traveling to and from
  field reducing carbon emissions

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Strategy 2 Hybrid Fleet

• College-owned fleet of Hybrid Vehicles to be used
  for sports transportation
• Less manageable solution because of potential
  costs

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Ex. Hybrid Fleet

• Ford Escape SUV
• Standard 19,000
• Hybrid 26,000
• But
• Standard MPG 19 / 23
• Hybrid MPG 36 / 31
• Upfront cost vs. Long-term savings

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Solution 3 Hybrid Bus
Standard Bus 3.5 MPG Hybrid Bus 15
MPG Problem Hybrid Buses often cost 100,000
more than Standard Buses Bus lines are slow to
adopt them
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Solution 4 Biodiesel Bus
Biodiesel Process of converting Diesel engines
to run on Vegetable Oil Benefits CO down 50
CO2 down 78 PM down 20 Downside These
buses are relatively scarce may not be
available in the area for some time
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Life Cycle Analysis

• Wooden Bats vs. Aluminum Bats

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Wooden Bats

• Generally constructed from Maple or Ash
• Requires - Logging/Shipping
• - Wood is then Powerbonded,
• turned and sanded in the factory
• - Bat is fired in kiln
• - Bat is then laquered or dyed
• - Finished product must be shipped to a
  distributor,
• then to stores

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Wooden Bats cont.

• Laquer finishes contain Acetone, Toluene, and
  Methanol these materials are volatile
• Due to lacquering process, broken bats are not
  likely to be recycled after use

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Aluminum Bats

• Similar to life cycle of Aluminum can
• Aluminum requires Bauxite Mining, the refinement
  of Alumina, smelting, bat construction, then
  shipment
• Aluminum bats also use rubber, a petroleum
  product
• Requires drilling for oil, oil refinement into
  rubber, and shipment of rubber to Bat makers
• Aluminum appears to be more carbon neutral, but.

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Comparing the Two

• Aluminum
• Fewer Emissions in Production
• Longer Lasting
• Recyclable
• More expensive

Wood Higher Emissions in Production Break more
easily/often Unlikely to be recycled Less
Expensive
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Aluminum Cons

• Pricy up to 400
• Inflate Statistics
• And they are Dangerous!
• (Video Clip)

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• Aluminum Bats are more carbon friendly, but Human
  Health Concern in terms of their safety is also
  important
• At the college level, Aluminum Bats are the
  preferred choice, but they should not be used in
  the Major Leagues

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Field Maintenance

• Currently, Allegheny uses only organic
  fertilizers and pesticides on the athletic
  fields.
• They also use standard equipment such as
  lawnmowers and aerating equipment.
• Use weed killer but only when necessary

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Field Maintenance

• Overall approach to field maintenance is
  relatively environmentally friendly.
• Could still be improved by using more manual
  labor, but this would take up a lot of time, so
  it is unlikely.

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Conclusions

• Overall, Allegheny Baseball is off to a good
  start in terms of being environmentally friendly.
• Use of organic pesticides and aluminum bats is
  generally beneficial to the environment.
• Transportation is still the big issue, but
  carpooling would be a good start and could lead
  to more advanced solutions.