The Home Depot Center Becomes the First Outdoor Stadium to Achieve ISO 14001 Certification

CARSON, Calif., Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AEG Facilities' Home Depot Center, home of Major League Soccer's (MLS) LA Galaxy and Chivas USA franchises and host of the upcoming Nov. 20 MLS Cup, has been awarded ISO 14001 Certification for the third-party review of its Environmental Management System (EMS), making it the fourth venue under the AEG 1EARTH sustainability program to receive the accreditation.

The first outdoor stadium to achieve ISO 14001 Certification, The Home Depot Center is opening up its environmental stewardship efforts to the public, as another step in its journey toward sustainability, by supplementing and organizing the venue's existing initiatives.

"The ISO certification adds structure and transparency to our environmental stewardship commitments by putting all our ideas, programs and best practices on paper," said Katie Pandolfo, general manager of The Home Depot Center. "By having all of our goals and initiatives tracked in one place, the ISO keeps everyone on the same page and holds each of our divisions and employees accountable."

ISO certification is an important tool for transparent measurement, and provides the means for The Home Depot Center to track its sustainability achievements and environmental programs.

"The Home Depot Center's recent ISO certification and commitment to track and measure the environmental footprint of the venue will go beyond the impact of one facility," said Martin Tull, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance. "One stadium's environmental initiatives can become a best practice and increase the efficiency of venues across the entire industry."

One such initiative is a newly installed centralized interface and automation system, which allows the operations team to control specific power-consuming appliances with the touch of a button. Because The Home Depot Center is an event-based business, it does not operate at full power during a regular working schedule, which allows the facility to turn off selected lights in underutilized spaces and adjust air conditioning usage on a room-by-room basis. The Home Depot Center has reduced its electrical consumption by 8 percent to 10 percent in the past year, providing a significant savings in utility costs.

In addition, like other major energy users in Southern California, The Home Depot Center participates in the Demand Response program with its utility company to shed portions of its power load about a dozen times a year, especially during the summer months when demand on the electrical grid peaks.

"One of the things we take pride in at AEG and across our venues like The Home Depot Center is that sustainability isn't just a buzzword, but part of our smart business operations," said Jennifer Regan, AEG global sustainability director. "By cutting back our energy and water use, our participating venues not only reduce their environmental footprint, but also cut their operational costs, which has a direct impact on our bottom line."

Other environmental initiatives being measured under the EMS include The Home Depot Center's installation of 280 waterless urinals, which saves approximately 10,000 gallons of water at every MLS game, and a recent lighting retrofit which resulted in a 22 percent decrease in base lighting load.

For more information about The Home Depot Center, and a complete look at the 2010 AEG 1EARTH sustainability report: http://aegworldwide.com/about/companyoverview/aeg1earth#3

For more information about Environmental Management Systems and ISO certification: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_14000_essentials

About The Home Depot Center

The Home Depot Center is southern California's home of world-class competition and training facilities for amateur, Olympic, collegiate and professional athletes. The $150-million, privately financed Home Depot Center is owned by AEG and operated by AEG Facilities, an international sports, entertainment and venue organization that works with more than 100 of the world's most elite facilities across the globe. The Home Depot Center is a 125-acre multisport complex that sits on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and features an 8,000-seat tennis stadium, a 27,000-seat stadium for soccer and other athletic competitions and outdoor concerts, a 2,000-seat facility for track and field, and a 2,450-seat indoor Velodrome for track cycling. The Home Depot Center is home to two Major League Soccer teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA. Named an Official U.S. Olympic Training Site, The Home Depot Center is also home of the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) High Performance Training Center, the national team training headquarters for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Athletes' Performance, an international training center for elite and professional athletes. For more information, please visit www.homedepotcenter.com.

About AEG

AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, owns or is affiliated with a collection of companies including over 120 facilities such as STAPLES Center (Los Angeles, CA), Best Buy Theater (Times Square, New York), Sprint Center, (Kansas City), Rose Garden Arena (Portland, OR), Target Center (Minneapolis, MN), Mercedes-Benz Arena (Shanghai, China), MasterCard Center (Beijing, China), O2 World Hamburg, Allphones Arena (Sydney, Australia), The Globe arena (Stockholm, Sweden), O2 World arena (Berlin, Germany) and The O2 arena and entertainment district (London, England); sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL) and two MLS franchises in addition to overseeing privately held management shares of the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA). AEG has created L.A. LIVE, a 4 million square foot / $2.5 billion downtown Los Angeles sports & entertainment district featuring Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE and Club Nokia, a 54-story, 1001-room convention "headquarters" destination (featuring The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles and JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE hotels and 224 luxury condominiums – The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE – all in a single tower), the Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14, "broadcast" facilities for ESPN, along with entertainment, restaurant and office space and developed The Home Depot Center in Carson, California designated as an "Official U.S. Olympic Training Site" by the United States Olympic Committee that includes major facilities for soccer, tennis, track & field, cycling and other sports. AEG Sports owns and operates a variety of events and tours and AEG Live is the world's second largest live entertainment, concert promotion and touring companies. The organization is also developing additional arenas in China and arenas in Stockholm and Las Vegas In addition to Farmers Field in downtown Los Angeles. In 2010, AEG launched its AEG 1EARTH environmental program with the announcement of 2020 environmental goals and the release of the industry's first sustainability report. The groundbreaking report contains metrics collected on resources consumed and wastes generated at 20 facilities from AEG's global network of venues. The report also highlights success stories such as the over 3,000 solar panels on the roof of STAPLES Center and Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE For additional information, visit www.aegworldwide.com.

SOURCE AEG