Imagine: Sitting before you is a scale model of the Rogers Centre, roughly the size of a round roasting pan. Your challenge: to put a real baseball field in the stadium natural grass with a dirt infield by opening day 2018.

Your research has been thorough. Experts at the University of Guelph have determined the ideal species of grass. They have it growing on an Ontario sod farm. They say it will flourish indoors with the roof closed.

Under the right conditions, that is. Your job is to create those conditions.

So open the roof, reach in and toss out that artificial turf, which was new for the 2015 season. Haul out your jackhammer. Rip up the concrete. Install plumbing for irrigation and drainage. Dig some more to accommodate the sod and the dirt infield.

Close the roof. Strip that shiny skin from the four mammoth roof panels. Its the original PVC membrane, circa 1989, and its worn out. While youre at it, you might figure out a way to replace it with a material that lets in the light. Grass likes natural light, and right now, the closed dome shuts it out.

The scientists at Guelph say the grass will grow without natural light, but youll need lots of artificial light enormous banks of mobile grow lights that sit about 10 feet off the ground and nourish the sod when the field is not in use. Youll roll them around between games to focus on the worn spots, even after games played with the roof open.

One more thing. Grass sweats. (Scientists call it transpiration.). Water from the roots vaporizes from the leaf surface into the air. All of that grass will create a lot of humidity, and youve got to figure out a way to get rid of that sticky air or the Rogers Centre will become a sweatbox with the roof closed. So youll need a dehumidifier. Forget Home Depot; you need a really big one.

Now youre ready to install the grass.

Assuming, of course, that your engineers surmounted all of those challenges and you have the budget to make it happen.

Read more:
Real grass at Torontos Rogers Centre poses major challenges

Wild elephant grass, also know as Napier grass, is one of those wonder plants that needs little water and few nutrients to produce copious crops on fallow lands. Since it can be used for grazing, it has allowed farmers from Africa to Asia to amp up food supplies for their cattle herds.

But Philippine farmers in Bacolor, Pampanga, just north of the capital Manila, have now gone a step further. They are using the grass to produce renewable electricity for their meat factory. Everything we need is on-hand, says Bacolor Mayor Jomar Hizon.

The town has plenty of land to graze cattle and grow grass, but its processed meat factory, Pampangas Best, needs electricity. Hizon says that that the grass-powered power plant is like a three-point shot.

The sod growing in Pampanga is the so-called Super Napier grass, which is packed with energy. It can produce several crops per year and local experts estimate that an area smaller than a fifth of New Yorks Central Park, or about 150 acres, could yield 1 megawatt in grass power. The Philippines is a very appropriate place for a project such as this, where we have farmers in one community, and a power plant a few kilometers away that can provide up to perhaps 10 megawatts, says West Stewart, managing director of Advanced Energy Technologies, which builds distributed power plants across southeast Asia. Stewart says that the elephant grass power plant could help power towns and villages facing electricity shortages and lacking links to the electric grid.

The farmers, of course, are not burning the grass itself. That would be too inefficient. They gassify the cellulose in the grass blades by exposing it to very high heat, and break it down into energy-rich synthetic gas, or syngas, which contains methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide. They use the syngas as fuel for massive Jenbacher gas engines, which GE manufactures in Austria. This can be replicated in other areas in the country, says John Alcordo, GEs regional general manager for Distributed Power in ASEAN. We believe that in an island grid such as [in Bacolor], and in a land where feedstock for biomass gasification can grow well, the opportunities will be significant.

The shift to distributed power is the latest trend in energy generation and distribution, akin to going from landlines to cell phones, a move that revolutionized telecommunications two decades ago. It gives people and businesses predictable and reliable access to electricity, regardless of whether the grid is working or whether it reaches their town.

GEs Distributed Power business, the companys newest unit, has already rolled out dozens of similar Jenbacher applications around the world. The gas engines are munching on everything from cheese whey and whisky mash to discarded school lunches and rice hulls.

For more stories like this, visit GE Reports.

More:
Philippine Farmers Harvest Power From Grass By The Acre

Smith criticized Pittsburgh's playing surface, complaining about its overuse.

The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night at Heinz Field, with the weather forecast calling for heavy rain set to fall on the stadium's natural grass. Baltimore receiver Torrey Smith is not happy about the playing surface, saying it is overused and generally not good for footing, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.

"It's terrible. They need to go ahead and put some turf up there or something," Smith said Thursday. "Apparently the field gets a lot of use. That's good for them [as a business], but it's terrible for us [as players on both teams] playing this late [in the season]. I'm sure they'll do a great job prepping it."

A four-year veteran, Smith has had no issues in the past playing in Pittsburgh. In Baltimore's trip to the Steel City this year, Smith amassed 63 yards and a touchdown. In 2013, Smith had 61 yards and in 2011 as a rookie, caught five passes for 71 yards and a score. In fairness, bad footing is a major problem for his style of play. Smith is a burner who wants to take the top off defenses, something which can be negated by turf flying up and soggy grass.

This is not the first time complaints have been made against the Heinz Field grass. Former NFLPA president Gene Upshaw called attention to the issue after a players survey in 2006 rated the field second-worst behind Gillette Stadium, which received FieldTurf soon thereafter, per FieldTurf.com.

"I actually sent the results to Dan Rooney because we were having dinner one night and he said his players all told him that they like that field," Upshaw said. "I said, 'I bet I get a different result than you get. Were you handing them their checks when you asked them?' We would like to see them go to a different surface."

There is even history with the turf and these two teams specifically. Last year, Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore 19-16 with the help of some bad field conditions. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker explained what a nightmare it is to kick in Pittsburgh, telling Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the following:

[Ravens kicker Justin] Tucker said he works with the grounds crew at Baltimore's practice facility in Owings Mills, Md., purposefully destroying perfectly good sod in order to mimic conditions at Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

"It's tough on this field because the turf is so poor," Tucker said. "You can't really practice that type of kick on this turf."

See original here:
Torrey Smith is angry about the 'terrible' grass at Heinz Field

The natural grass surface at Bank of America Stadium will receive a makeover before the second of two games at the facility in a five-day span.

Workers were scheduled to begin resodding the middle of the field about two hours after the end of Tuesdays Belk Bowl matchup between Georgia and Louisville.

With favorable weather forecast for the next two days, Carolina Panthers officials are confident theyll have time to lay the sod a 16-yard-wide swath stretching the length of the field and get the field marked and painted with NFL hash marks and logos before the Panthers playoff game Saturday against Arizona.

Were honestly just doing it now because its a playoff game. We want everything to be as good as it can be, head groundskeeper Tom Vaughan said of the resodding. Playoff games are a big deal.

With rain in the forecast Friday and Saturday, the Panthers grounds crew expects to cover the field with tarps Friday afternoon, per NFL rules. Officials say the turf will be in good shape.

Workers laid 70,000-square feet of new sod at the stadium after the Democratic National Convention in 2012, six days before the Panthers home opener.

Vaughan is not concerned about players losing their footing on the heavy, durable sod.

When its down, its down, he said. The products designed for this. Thats the good thing about it.

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Read more here:
Will BofA stadium field be ready for Carolina Panthers playoff game after Belk Bowl?

Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) December 30, 2014

Early in December, 2014, Super-Sod's second solar farm went on-line in partnership with Georgia Power and Hannah Solar. The photovoltaic cells span five acres of their sod farm in Marshallville, Georgia.

Their new solar farm produces 1 megawatt of electricity a year. All the green energy harvested from the sun at the turf company's solar farm goes directly into the grid. The number of homes 1 MW will power varies by region and according to the Solar Energy Industry Association's calculations, this is enough energy to power 92 homes in Georgia.

Their first solar farm went on-line in 2013 in Lakeland, GA. It's a 10 acre solar farm producing 2 MW in partnership with Invenergy, LLC.

Both solar farms are part of Super-Sod's commitment to green technology and sustainable development.

Super-Sod is a family-run business that employs experts in turf and horticulture. One of their most popular products has been their Soil3 organic compost, delivered in a cubic yard BigYellowBag, which they make partially from composted grass clippings from their sod production. Super-Sod continues to develop new garden products, foster gardening and landscaping, and always seeks to improve their farming practices, technology, environmental stewardship, and employee knowledge.

Visit link:
Super-Sod Produces Green Power with their Second Solar Farm in Georgia

"Terrific grass ... caring, helpful personnel .. great prices!" 10 of 10, signed Susan Dozier

"Thank you for another wonderful grass-buying experience! We are so grateful to Michael for his professionalism and kindness on the phone. We are also incredibly pleased with Anderson Collins, who installed our grass on two occasions. He is a joy to be around and is hard-working and thorough. We have already recommended you to others and will continue to do so." signed Kathleen Wooley, Houston TX

"The delivery was very quick and the grass looks great." signed Sheila Steingas, Richmond TX

"You all have the most wonderful grass in the City of Houston" signed Charlie Green, Houston, TX

"Sam (our office manager) was very helpful on the phone. The installers were polite and answered my questions, and they did a little extra to complete the job. The truck driver was friendly and polite." signed Cliff Cheeseman, Pasadena, TX

"Sam was wonderful to work with. She was informative and kept me up to date with my order." signed Brandon, Pearland TX

Visit link:
Houston Grass South - Best Turfgrass Sod | Pearland Land ...

Both Minnesota groups vying for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise can be encouraged by the varying examples of stadiums, or stadium plans, the league has been willing to work with in its expansion drive.

The Vikings can reference Atlanta's new club, which will play its inaugural 2017 season in a new stadium to be shared with the NFL's Falcons.

Minnesota United FC can look to a once fellow lower-division club in Orlando City SC, which will move to MLS for the 2015 season and will play in the Citrus Bowl stadium until its new soccer-centric home is ready in 2016.

These divergent, yet both agreeable, examples mean the Vikings and United remain viable options to land an expansion franchise despite their own drastically different stadium situations.

The Vikings, United and a groups from Sacramento, Calif., and Las Vegas presented their cases to the league's leadership in November. The four groups await a decision on the league awarding an expansion franchise in the first half of 2015.

"If Minnesota is getting it, which I believe it is, stadiums are first and foremost," said ESPN soccer commentator Taylor Twellman. "There are no ideas of stadiums. There's no this or that. You need to have a stadium approved, and it needs to be ready to rock for a market like this to work, and it needs to be downtown and next to public transit."

The Vikings have a concrete plan. A $1 billion, indoor stadium in downtown Minneapolis is being built and would be ready for soccer in 2017.

United has nascent plans to build a new stadium. The Loons play their North American Soccer League matches at the National Sports Center in Blaine, and one possible plan is an 18,000-seat, natural-grass, outdoor stadium adjacent to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.

United has not disclosed whether they would seek public financing to help pay for a new stadium. Land acquisition is not considered to be a problem.

Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson previously told the Pioneer Press she didn't believe there would be a civic interest in committing public monies to another stadium.

See the article here:
MLS: Stadium isn't end-all for league

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

DILLEY, Texas (AP) - The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a former oil field workers' camp in rural South Texas that's being converted into the nation's largest family immigration detention center, as federal authorities brace for the possibility that mothers and children may again come pouring across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the 50-acre compound featuring 80 tan, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages connected by dirt roads and newly laid grass sod in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The first wave of about 30 immigrants will begin arriving in coming weeks and the cabins will eventually hold up to 480 people. Housing being constructed nearby will push capacity to 2,400 by around May.

Advocates say immigrant families are often fleeing drug or gang violence in Central America and should be released to relatives already in the U.S., rather than being locked up. The daily cost of family detention is about $296 per person, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly double the average cost of holding adults as estimated by the National Immigration Forum advocacy group.

Women and children at Dilley will remain until they are deported, released on bond or begin immigration court proceedings that could allow them to stay in the United States. ICE says 70 percent of immigrant families released into the U.S. never showed up for follow-up appointments - part of the reason the agency is adding detention capacity.

Dilly's cottages include bunk beds and cribs that can sleep up to eight, a flat-screen TV and a kitchen - though cooking is prohibited to prevent fires. The cafeteria is open 12 hours daily and snacks can be had around the clock.

There's medical care and counselors, trailer classrooms, library and email access and a basketball court and playgrounds - all meant to showcase the softer side of immigration detention. Yet Johnson stressed that despite President Barack Obama's recently announced executive actions on immigration, anyone who crossed illegally into the U.S. this year remains a priority for deportation.

"This must be clear: Our borders are not open to illegal migration," he said.

Dilley opens as officials are closing a temporary family immigration detention center that, at its height, held about 700 people on the grounds of a law enforcement training center in Artesia, New Mexico. It opened in June, at the height of a crush of families at the border, while Dilley begins during a lull.

Here is the original post:
South Texas family lockup will be nation's largest - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

sarah nolan/town journal

Ho-Ho-Kus voters rejected a referendum seeking $2.17 million in bonding to upgrade the track and field on Lloyd Road during a special school district election on Dec. 9. Voters cast 930 "no" votes to 355 "yes" votes.

Ho-Ho-Kus residents largely rejected a referendum seeking $2.17 million in bonding to upgrade the track and field on Lloyd Road during a special school district election on Dec. 9.

Just 355 residents voted to fund the project with 930 casting "no" votes. The district intended to replace its grass field and cinder track with a synthetic turf field containing organic infill - not crumb rubber, which has been widely debated due to health concerns - and an all-weather track. Officials have said the track and field are both in disrepair and "hazardous," as well as being difficult and expensive to maintain.

"The Ho-Ho-Kus Board of Education and administration wish to thank Ho-Ho-Kus residents for expressing their thoughts through the ballot box," a statement from the district said. "While we did not receive enough yes-votes to proceed with the field and track project, we do appreciate all those who supported the process of researching the possibility of a new field."

The board had been discussing the potential project for over a year before deciding to put the issue to a vote. While many residents felt the price tag for a new facility was too hefty, the board did receive debt service aid to cover approximately 40 percent of the synthetic turf field portion of the project, amounting to around $700,000 from the New Jersey Department of Education.

Still, it appears that the tax increase of $118 per the average-assessed home in the borough over a 10-year bond was a factor for many casting their vote, as expressed by residents at meetings and in letters to the editor. Other issues heavily debated throughout the process included the safety and aesthetics of a turf field.

Many wondered why the board didn't choose to address just the track, which is of particular concern for safety reasons according to school officials, and leave the grass field. But the board said the grass would need to be addressed and replaced either way during construction and they felt putting grass or sod in the infield would be "throwing good money after bad," since the field cannot be properly maintained due to excessive use. The school district owns the only two fields in the borough - North Field and the Lloyd Road field. Lloyd is used daily during physical education classes, for school sports and for the borough's Recreation Department sports.

"We are unable to sustain a grass field because of the near constant use of the field, which results in a surface that is comprised of hard, compacted dirt and thin, patchy grass areas soiled by goose droppings," Board President Colleen Federer said in a letter to residents before the referendum. "We would all like to have 'Yankee Stadium' grass on our field. That is not realistic. Our school field could never be regularly and extensively rested, generously and daily watered, and fertilized and chemically treated, all of which are required to achieve a lush grass athletic field surface. It would be imprudent to install a sod field knowing that we would be unable to protect that investment."

E-mail: nolan@northjersey.com

See the rest here:
Voters reject $2.17 million bond for new track, field

........................................................................................................................................................................................

DILLEY, Texas The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a former oil field workers camp in rural South Texas thats being converted into the nations largest family immigration detention center, as federal authorities brace for the possibility that mothers and children may again come pouring across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the 50-acre compound featuring 80 tan, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages connected by dirt roads and newly laid grass sod in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The first wave of about 30 immigrants will begin arriving in coming weeks and the cabins will eventually hold up to 480 people. Housing being constructed nearby will push capacity to 2,400 by around May.

Advocates say immigrant families are often fleeing drug or gang violence in Central America and should be released to relatives already in the U.S., rather than being locked up. The daily cost of family detention is about $296 per person, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly double the average cost of holding adults as estimated by the National Immigration Forum advocacy group.

Women and children at Dilley will remain until they are deported, released on bond or begin immigration court proceedings that could allow them to stay in the United States. ICE says 70 percent of immigrant families released into the U.S. never showed up for follow-up appointments part of the reason the agency is adding detention capacity.

Dilleys cottages include bunk beds and cribs that can sleep up to eight, a flat-screen TV and a kitchen though cooking is prohibited to prevent fires. The cafeteria is open 12 hours daily and snacks can be had around the clock.

Theres medical care and counselors, trailer classrooms, library and email access and a basketball court and playgrounds all meant to showcase the softer side of immigration detention. Yet Johnson stressed that despite President Barack Obamas recently announced executive actions on immigration, anyone who crossed illegally into the U.S. this year remains a priority for deportation.

This must be clear: Our borders are not open to illegal migration, he said.

Dilley opens as officials are closing a temporary family immigration detention center that, at its height, held about 700 people on the grounds of a law enforcement training center in Artesia, N.M. It opened in June, at the height of a crush of families at the border, while Dilley begins during a lull.

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Camp for immigrant detainees unveiled