Sports Sustainability

NCAA’s First Division 1 Sustainable Athletics Program

 – est. 2008 –

Ralphie’s Green Stampede supports CU Athletics in implementing a sustainability framework that focuses on environmental impact, economic resources and social responsibility. Through conscientious gameday operations and stakeholder engagement, we empower all Buffs to have a positive impact on and off the field.

Ralphie's Green Stampede Volunteers

 

Volunteer with Ralphie's Green Stampede

Ralphie's Green Stampede (RGS) is CU’s sports sustainability program created by Facilities Management Recycling and Solid Waste, CU Athletics and the Environmental Center. Many players and partners work on this program to make it successful, including Facilities Management Grounds, CU Parking, Levy Restaurants and Buffalo Sports Properties.

Help continue CU Boulder's tradition of zero waste at CU football games. Folsom Field is home to the nation's first zero-waste athletics program. RGS has won three Pac-12 sustainability championships in the past five years. By volunteering with RGS, you will play a key role in recycling and composting hundreds of thousands of pounds of material every season. Volunteers will gain skills in event operations, zero waste and sustainable leadership, and also join a community of hundreds of CU students, staff and community members that work to make the CU Buffs zero waste champions.

Volunteers receive free entry to games, an RGS shirt and other great perks. Email Green.Stampede@colorado.edu with questions.

Volunteer with Ralphie's Green Stampede

Ralphie's Green Stampede Highlights

Our Sustainable Sponsors 

Xcel Energy

A carbon-free future doesn’t just happen. We make it happen together. Xcel Energy, the Buffs and Ralphie’s Green Stampede are all in to make the world a better, brighter, cleaner and more efficient place to live, work and play. Xcel Energy is committed to going carbon-free while providing reliable energy. Join us in our carbon-free vision because it takes all of us! You. Us. Together.

Eco-Products

At Eco-Products, we believe waste can be a wonderful thing. We support the mission of RGS by providing certified compostable products and Zero Waste support. As trusted partners of Folsom Field since 2010 and Franklin Field Zero Waste Tailgate Zone since 2016, we are working to shift how we think about waste and scale Zero Waste practices and composting infrastructure globally. 

Toyota

Toyota is home to America’s Largest Electrified Lineup*, so it’s easy to find the right electrified vehicle for you. Toyota is the #1 Retail Brand for Electrified Vehicles 24 years in a row**. 

Disclaimers: *Based on manufacturers' websites as of 11/13/2024. ** Based on manufacturers’ sales data from CY 2000-2023. For more information on how Toyota’s electrified lineup is providing customers with more choices to reduce their carbon emissions and move toward a carbon-neutral future, see toyota.com/electrified-vehicles/beyond-zero-vision/

Ball Corporation Puts CU Athletics in the Lead

While the Colorado Buffaloes are making headway on the field, Folsom Field is making responsible business maneuvers that ultimately save money, lower tuition and put your home team strides ahead of the rest of the country. 

Ball Corporation has been a Ralphie’s Green Stampede (RGS) partner, working to reduce the waste entering and leaving Folsom Field. At the turn of RGS’s tenth anniversary, Ball announced the birth of the infinitely recyclable aluminum cup. The university setting is the ideal environment to use this product and promote this meaningful project. Students, fans and athletes are all ambassadors for more mindful, efficient business practices in sports settings.

We thank Ball for their years of commitment to the environment, passion and drive to make CU Athletics number one in the country for long-term business solutions.

Aluminum Cup

Net Zero Venues 

Folsom Field

What We Do:

  • Waste reduction initiatives were started in 2008 to make Folsom Field a zero waste stadium.
  • Low-flow water fixtures and efficient lighting.
  • Turf management plan to reduce pesticides and fertilizer using a nutrient rich compost tea developed by CU Boulder. 
  • Reduced the use of synthetic herbicides by 93% and eliminated pesticide use. 
  • Watered using 90% recycled ditch water.
Folsom

Indoor Practice Facility

The NCAA's first net-zero energy athletics facility and the Pac-12's first LEED Platinum facility.

  • Energy
    • 850-kilowatt solar array, producing more than 1 million kW hours per year.
    • Green mechanical and lighting systems.
    • Advanced HVAC system.
  • Water
    • Reduction of water use through low-flow fixtures.
    • Detention pond for natural stormwater filtration.

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Indoor practice facility

Events Center

Sustainable Features

The 44,000-square-foot Basketball and Volleyball practice facility is the first LEED Certified Athletic Facility on the CU Boulder campus and one of only two platinum-rated athletic facilities in the Pac-12.

Site

  • Public transportation access.
  • Bicycle storage and changing rooms.
  • Protection of habitat.
  • Maximized open space.
  • Light pollution reduction.

Water

  • 50% reduction in water for landscaping.
  • 30% reduction in water usage overall.
  • 30% more water efficient than recent buildings of similar size and function.

Energy and Atmosphere

  • Rooftop solar panels providing approximately 12.5% of the building's electricity through renewable energy.
  • Green Power: 35%
  • 40% more energy efficient than recent buildings of similar size and function.
  • Building cooled with an evaporative system.
  • Low-flow water fixtures, high-performance insulation and windows, efficient lighting, and lighting and heating controls.

Materials and Resources

  • Building collection of compost and recycling.
  • 75% of waste diverted from landfill.
  • Regional Materials: 20% extracted, processed & manufactured locally.

Indoor Environmental Quality

  • Low-Emitting Materials: adhesives & sealants, carpet, composite wood & agrifiber products.
  • Increased ventilation.
  • Integrated pest management.

Gameday

  • CU Event Center is a Zero Waste stadium.
Events Center