This won't come as a surprise to most anyone who's been following the NFL's slow, but persistent move towards lessening its impact on the planet. Following the precedent set by the last two Super Bowls, organizers for this year's spectacle in Tampa have offset XLIII's eco-footprint with a massive treeplanting effort and the purchase of renewable energy credits to fuel the bright lights, TV cameras, and jumbotrons.

According to a local news station, this time around, the NFL's championship game will be sucking outrageous amounts of electricity from a mixture of solar and biomass power generated by local renewables company TECO. As a result of the offsets, TECO spokesman Rick Morera estimates that the carbon savings will be roughly equivalent to "pulling 20 cars off the road for a year." That doesn't seem like very much does it? Anyhow, offsetting their energy footprint isn't the only initiative that the NFL has taken for this year's game. They've also revamped their banners, some of which will be reused next year, others will be upcycled into tote bags and wallets.

[via CleanTechnica]