As representatives of a sport that has more to gain than most from the continued wintertime health of ice ponds and lakes, the National Hockey League has taken up the call to combat global warming.

From Vancouver to Vermont, the ponds that hockey players grow up playing on are freezing later in the year and melting sooner. That’s why the NHL and the NHL Players Association have worked to raise public awareness of the effects of climate change through various partnerships.

As an official energy partner of the Washington Capitals, NEI is teaming up with the Caps to promote the clean air benefits of nuclear energy to sports fans via multiple media, including signage at the Verizon Center, print and radio ads and on the Capitals’ Web site.

“The power and high energy of the Capitals’ successful franchise is a good fit with the large-scale power and clean air benefits of nuclear energy,” said Scott Peterson, NEI vice president of communications. “The Capitals’ success here in Washington provides a terrific branding opportunity for the industry as Congress and the Obama administration tackle important energy and environmental issues—all of which will benefit from America’s investment in nuclear energy.”

Caps fans will see NEI’s “Nuclear: Clean Air Energy” message in a prominent location near the goal both at the team’s Kettler Capitals Iceplex practice facility in Ballston, Va., and at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

NEI also will air 30-second radio commercials during coverage of all 82 games on WFED 1500 AM, which will be streamed online at www.washcaps.com. NEI will have video and display ads on the Capitals’ Web site and full-page advertisements in the game programs.

NEI will arrange for members of the Capitals team to visit a nuclear power plant in Virginia or Maryland. Nuclear energy, which doesn’t produce any greenhouse gases, generates 35 percent of Virginia’s electricity and 31 percent in Maryland. In the District of Columbia, 34 percent of electricty used is nuclear.

Other corporate sponsors are tying together climate change, nuclear energy and hockey. The Toronto Maple Leafs are supported by Canada’s Bruce Power, which operates six reactors in Ontario.

Xcel Energy sponsors the Minnesota Wild’s youth incentive program and also works with the Colorado Avalanche to promote energy saving ideas, conservation and renewable energy efforts in Colorado.

For more information on nuclear energy’s clean air benefits and the Capitals, visit nei.org/caps.

—Nuclear Energy Insight, September 2009