This week, the Quad Cities River Bandits announced solar panels have been placed on the roof of Modern Woodmen Park. It's the first municipally-owned building in Davenport that has a solar array on its rooftop.
River Bandits Owner Dave Heller hopes that this starts a trend in the community.
"We want to be a model. Not just for minor league baseball and our industry, but also for businesses and residents in the Quad Cities to see the impact of solar panels, the amount of savings you could derive from them, and the number of trees that you can save by using solar. Maybe they'll think about if this makes sense for them."
In 2017, the River Bandits became the first Single-A team to install LED lights in their stadium, which reduced energy consumption by 40%. Now, with the installation of solar panels, the team is taking that one step further.
"You stand at the top of the stairs at the ballgame, you look around and all you can see is water in every direction. Climate change is something that is very real: it's a serious problem and it's only getting worse. We felt that there was really a moral responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint."
The new panels cost him around a quarter of a million dollars, which he paid for without any help from the city or state.
