Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

With 11,000 fixed solar panels and 14 micro wind-turbines producing more than 3MW of renewable power in total, the Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, is currently the world's most renewable-energy powered sports stadium.

The stadium is fitted with 3MW solar panels installed by NRG Solar across the stadium's parking lots and sections of the roof as well as on one sidewalk pavilion and a solar wing to produce clean power that is equivalent to six times the power consumed in a Philadelphia Eagles football game. These solar panels are also complemented by wind turbines installed on the north and south sides of the stadium's roof.

NASCAR's Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania USA

NASCAR's 2.5 mile-long Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, host of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series summer events, is powered by a 3MW solar farm located adjacent. The power generated from the solar farm is also fed to the local grid providing electricity for the 1,000 nearby households.

The solar farm, consisting approximately 40,000 PV modules and spread over 25 acres, was developed by enXco, and produces three to four kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity offsetting 3,100t of carbon dioxide per year. The net production of the farm is expected to surpass 72 million kWh in the next 20 years.

Brasilia National Stadium Mané Garrincha, Brasilia Brazil

The newly built 70,000 capacity National Mane Garrincha football Stadium features a 2.5MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system with a strip of solar panels fitted on the perimeter of the stadium's roof. Other green features of the new football stadium, which was built with an investment of £250m, include a system for rainwater harvesting and reuse and LED lighting.

The solar-powered football stadium, which replaced the old Mane Garrincha Stadium in the Brazilian federal capital Brasilia, opened in May 2013 and will host a number of matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup as well as several events during the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

FedExField, Maryland, USA

FedExField also known as the Redskins Stadium in Prince George's County, Maryland is powered by an onsite solar PV system capable of generating 2MW of capacity. The stadium is home to the Washington Redskins football team and is the biggest venue for the National Football League (NFL) in America, with seating capacity for 85,000.

The Redskins Stadium was opened in 1997 and renovated in 2012 adding over 8,000 solar panels including about 7,600 panels installed in the parking area, with the remaining panels situated over the stadium's ramp structure. The stadium produces over two and half times the power consumed during regular season games, which is equivalent to supplying approximately 300 city homes mitigating 1,780t of carbon emissions.

Courtesy: Bernard Gagnon

Gillette Stadium, Massachusetts, USA

The Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, features an onsite 1.5MW solar facility providing clean power to the neighbouring outdoor shopping and dining centre known as Patriot Place. The sports venue, which is the home stadium for American football team New England Patriots, already produced 525kWh of electricity from a photovoltaic power system before NRG Solar added a further 1MW.

The new system comprised of standard and translucent solar panels covers the outdoor walkways and rooftop of the Patriot Place, helping to meet about 60% of power needs while offsetting 800t of carbon emissions. The site also features a reflective roof, low-volatile organic compound (VOC) paints and sealants, energy-efficient lights, and Energy Star qualified equipment.

Estadio Mineiro (Mineirão Stadium), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Mineirão Stadium in the south-eastern city of Belo Horizonte is the first football stadium in Brazil to be equipped with a solar-powered roof. The stadium, built in 1956, was fitted with a 1.4MW solar array on its rooftop in May 2013 in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

A new €12.5m ($16.1m) solar system, feeds power to the local grid instead of directly to the stadium, enough to serve the electricity needs of approximately 900 homes per year.

Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

Brazil's Arena Pernambuco football stadium will host at least five 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer matches and is powered by a 1MW solar facility covering 15,000 square metres in a nearby site in the Recife suburb of Sau Lourenco de Mata.

The solar facility is comprised of 3,650 high-efficiency mono-crystalline panels supplied by Yingli Solar. Power generated by the facility will be directly fed to the stadium until the completion of the World Cup, meeting about 30% of the stadium's power needs. Power will be supplied to about 6,000 local households after events.

Kaohsiung World Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Kaohsiung World Stadium in Taiwan, built for the World Games 2009 and soon to be host of the 2014 Asian Games, is the world's first stadium to rely solely on solar power. The 55,000 capacity horse shoe-shaped stadium is fitted with 1MW solar system consisting of 8,844 light-through solar modules covering 14,155m2 of surface area on its rooftop and 279 Delta 3.6kW inverters.

The system, designed, constructed and integrated by Delta Electronics, generates more power than is needed to power the stadium's 3,300 lights and two giant television screens.

Thyagraj Stadium, Delhi, India

Thyagraj Stadium in India's capital city Delhi, which hosted the 2010 Commonwealth games, uses a 1MW solar PV rooftop system consisting of mono-crystalline solar cells supplied by Suniva, a company based in Atlanta, US.

The installation comprises of 3,460 PV modules which generate 1.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually to power the 20,000m2 stadium, while any surplus power is fed to the grid. The stadium also boasts a 2.5MW gas turbine as part of a cogeneration system that uses exhaust gases to power a vapour absorption machine used for air conditioning the stadium.

Bentegodi Football Stadium, Verona, Italy

Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi stadium in Verona, Italy, turned renewable with the commissioning of a 1MW solar photovoltaic installation over its dome in 2009.

The photovoltaic installation is made up of 13,321 thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) modules fixed to an aluminium mounting system, makes the stadium's dome the biggest such installation in Italy helping to offset 550t of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The system also includes 141 SMC 7000HV inverters.