Pittsburgh Steelers Gives Fans Solar Powered Tire Pumps

The Pittsburgh Steelers have partnered up with a local environmental initiative to bring a solar powered tire pump to fans tailgating at their game against the New York Jets. The matchup is also among the home games in which the Steelers have teamed up with aluminum giant Alcoa to promote recycling by football fans, and it provides a glimpse into the new alliances that are forming to push economic growth forward while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and conserving resources.

The Solar Powered Tire Pump

Keeping your tires properly inflated is one of the basics of fuel efficiency, but of course a lot of people don’t take the time to check regularly. The genius of the Steelers air pressure project is to bring the pump to where the people are, and the use of solar energy to power the pump ties it all up in a neat green package. The pump is actually part of a solar powered utility station on loan from the Macosky Center for Sustainable Systems Research at nearby Slippery Rock University.

It Takes a Green Village

The pump stunt is part of The Black and Gold City Goes Green Campaign, which is a citywide greenhouse gas-reducing project of a local business, government, education, and community group alliance. Launched in March 2009, it is apparently the first city-wide effort of its kind. In contrast to certain kinds of single-industry domination that create jobs for some households at the expense of quality-of-life for the entire community, these diverse alliances offer a more comprehensively beneficial path to economic growth. Another good example is Indiana’s Energy Systems Network, which among other things has been instrumental in making the state a leader in electric vehicles.

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