A distinctive sculpture just installed at Orlando’s downtown Exploria Stadium scores a point for the environment.
While decorative, the eye-catching giant soccer ball is also practical: It uses solar panels to feed power into OUC’s electrical grid. The energy it generates will more than offset what’s needed to illuminate its lights — meaning the work is part of a new breed of eco-friendly art that will help power the city.
“Over the course of the day, it produces more than it consumes,” said Rubin York, emerging-technologies project engineer for OUC. “Maybe it’s running a gate at the parking lot, maybe it’s running a refrigerator in the bar across the street.