Following on from the successful launch of the Green Festival Alliance's practical guide to sustainable power at outdoor events, they will be hosting a seminar at the forthcoming Event Production Show entitled 'Innovations in Power: Reducing Costs and Carbon'.
Alongside presentations from four industry experts, the seminar will also include a comprehensive overview of the guide, which was published in December 2012 and was designed to bring together the Powerful Thinking Campaign research initiative, which monitored generators at eight festivals last summer, and extensive feedback from power suppliers and festivals about the way they manage their power.
The key findings of the research, carried out in partnership with De Montfort University and Julie's Bicycle, were:
- The industry could achieve a 10% reduction in fuel consumption, saving over 1 million litres of diesel, and over 3000 tonnes of carbon annually;
- There are opportunities to make fuel savings if festivals and power suppliers can work more closely;
- Renewable and hybrid solutions have the potential to offer cost and carbon savings in many situations.
Chris Johnson, Chair, Green Festival Alliance said: "This guide is a response to requests from festival organisers for information and resources about how to manage power more efficiently. The industry is on the brink of a huge shift toward a more sustainable approach - it's taking place now, with solutions emerging on the market by the month. It's not a magic bullet, but there should be something in here for everyone, and crucially, it starts an industry-wide conversation that can help to move things forward."
"Having the opportunity to talk about the guide and bring a panel of industry experts together at the Event Production Show is the perfect way to begin that process."
This seminar, which will be held from 11am to 12pm on Wednesday 6th February, promises to be both interactive and informative with four, Japanese style, 'Pecha Kucha' presentations (20 slides for 20 seconds) about the very latest innovations and trends in temporary festival power. There will be a panel discussion moderated by a representative from Julie's Bicycle and a Q&A session with industry experts.
Delivering the 'Pecha Kucha' presentations will be Chris Johnson, Green Festival Alliance; Bill Eagan, Agrekko; Richard Randle, Firefly; David Noble, Midas UK and Laura Pando, Festival Republic. The panel will discuss efficiencies and renewable technologies; solar and hybrid power revolution; biofuel as an alternative to diesel; what festival organisers can do and where there are savings to be made, if any.
