All posts by Bethan Riach

FestivalVision2025 members event 2018 at The Showman's Show

Festival Vision: 2025 at The Showman’s Show 2018

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Plans are underway for the 3rd annual meeting of the 70+ festival organisers who have signed the Vision:2025 pledge with Powerful Thinking to cut the environmental impacts of their events by 50% by 2025.

The Showman’s Show organisers, Lance Show & Publications Limited, underline their commitment to sustainability in hosting the Vision:2025 event for the second year running on Wednesday 17thOctober. The afternoon event will be a chance for the Vision:2025 festival teams to share ideas and learn more about the new suppliers, organisations and communities that are helping the industry move towards more sustainable practices.

The event will highlight the power of collaboration and what can be achieved when festivals and suppliers work together: with updates on industry initiatives, latest research, presentations, panels, Q&As, roundtable sessions, and a chance to continue the conversation over an ethically-brewed beer at the networking drinks. This year the Vision:2025 programme will also include a live judging panel for The Showman’s Show 2018 Green Supplier Award.

Here’s a taster of the programme but a full speaker and guest information will be release in September:

  • The Industry Energy Briefings session showcases new supplier services, products and best practice around; the future of transport at events; embedding sustainability right from the outset through careful sourcing and smart contracts; and the new technology that is making power monitoring and efficiency more accessible to festival teams.
  • Festival Focus Panel/Q&A: Festival organisers who are leading the way in approaches to waste, power and transport share the initiatives that have worked in the past season and the challenges they faced along the way – with host Steve Heap from the Association of Festival Organisers.
  • The ever-popular ‘roundtable’ session returns offering Vision:2025 members the chance to ask experts and guest suppliers specific questions relating to their events.Topics include: Let’s talk toilets, Power: the nitty-gritty, Tackling travel, and hot topic, Cutting waste plastics.
  • Showman’s Show Green Awards 2018: YOUR VOTE COUNTS:  The 2018 supplier shortlist present their products and services to the audience and live judging panel.
  • The ‘A Toast to the Future’ panel and Q&A explores how festivals can cut bar waste,  the latest knowledge and best practice around alternatives to single-use plastics.
  • Building Community: The ‘Join Us’ session introduces the organisations and initiatives that are bringing Arts communities together around positive change: Including Julie’s Bicycle on monitoring, recording and target-setting and charity Energy Revolution on bringing events, suppliers, artists and audiences together to tackle CO2 emissions from travel.
  • Networking drinks 

Registration for Vision: 2025 members is now open: REGISTER HERE

If you are not yet a Vision:2025 member but would like to attend the event you can sign the Vision:2025 pledge here.

Contact bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk for more information.

Photo credit: George Harrison for Shambala Festival

Biofuels Update

Biofuels: The latest advice

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Responding to the complexity and confusion around which biofuels are good environmental choices, Julie’s Bicycle and Powerful Thinking Steering Group members have created a comprehensive new guidance sheet to answer all your questions.

The downloadable PDF will help you to understand the environmental impacts of the different biofuels available, including supply chain impacts; give an overview of the legislative landscape, highlight the issues around paim oil based biodiesel and provide advice on choosing a biofuel supplier.

Download the Guidance Sheet

Julie’s Bicycle & ACE offer Accelerator Programme

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Since 2012, Arts Council England has partnered with Julie’s Bicycle to deliver a flagship Environmental Programme, inspiring new ideas and sustainable practice across the country. Collectively, National Portfolio Organisations have reduced energy consumption by 22% and made savings of £11 million.

The Accelerator Programme is a new strand of this work, recruiting two cohorts of up to ten organisations to work with Julie’s Bicycle to advance their sustainable practice and share insights with their peers and the wider sector. The programme will be looking at everything from touring models and audience engagement to design and supply chains to income generation and governance.

Applications are open from 28th May – 8th June  find out more about the programme and how to apply at www.juliesbicycle.com

Download Festival Greenest yet

Download aims to be “greenest ever” in 2018

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Earlier this month Download Festival, one of the Vision:2025 festivals pledged to tackle their CO2 footprint with Powerful Thinking, announced the major improvements being made to this year’s festival to make it the greenest Download yet.

At last year’s festival there was a decrease in the overall carbon footprint by 96 tonnes of CO2e compared to 2016. For this year they’ve introduced carbon balancing by adding £1 to the cost of all parking passes, which will be donated to the charity Energy Revolution, who balance travel by investing in renewable energy projects. This is on top of all our other current travel initiatives with Big Green Coach, Liftshare and shuttle buses to encourage the reduction of traffic coming to the site.

Last year Download received a 4-star Creative Green Certification from Julie’s Bicycle and this year the Promoter, Festival Republic, are raising the bar in their commitment to environmental protection with the introduction of their first ever Eco Campsite with Greenpeace UK.

Last year they decreased the overall waste at the festival by 61% compared to 2016 and introduced reusable cups, resulting in a half a million single use cups being saved! The Deposit Return System has seen over 100,000 bottles collected and recycled since 2016.

To ensure 2018 is the most environmentally friendly yet, they’ve increased the number of campsite recycling points and food traders are not allowed to use single use plastic cutlery or food containers – and they are ahead of the curve in having banned plastic straws since 2016.

Victoria Chapman, Sustainability Coordinator at Festival Republic says:

“Download fans have been shown to be extremely environmental conscious and I am delighted that this has been reflected in the achievement of a 4 out of 5 star award, in only the second year of undertaking Creative Green Certification.”

 Read the full the story on the Download website.

UK festivals get Drastic on Plastic

UK Festivals Get ‘Drastic on Plastic’

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AIF launches ‘Drastic On Plastic’ campaign, with over 60 festival websites ‘wrapped in plastic’ on Earth Day, 22ndApril.

Organisers of more than 60 independent festivals across the UK, many of them Vision: 2025 Festivals,  have committed to banning the use of plastic straws on-site this season as a minimum first step – and eliminating all single-use plastic at their events by 2021.

The core message of the campaign is re-use not single-use. From the plastic-wrapped festival homepages, customers will be able to pre-order limited edition ‘Drastic On Plastic’ metal water bottles, immediately taking action to reduce the use of disposable materials

This is the beginning of a firm commitment from the wider festival industry, with positive talks underway with various festival membership organisations in the UK and across Europe, with the aim of engaging hundreds more festivals to commit by the end of 2018.

38.5 million plastic bottles are used in the UK every day and 91% of that plastic is not recyclable. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by 2050, it is estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.

AIF CEO Paul Reed said: “It is encouraging and inspiring that so many AIF members have taken this initiative and pledge on-board without hesitation and are taking a collective stand against single-use plastic. This is one of the most critical issues facing our businesses and wider society. By working together as an industry and taking affirmative action, we can make a tangible difference.”

Co-founder of Bestival and AIF Rob da Bank said: “Unless you’ve been living on the moon, you’ll know the plastic problem is not going away. I’m very proud that the organisation we started with five members 10 years ago now boasts over 60 who have all signed up to eradicate single use plastic in the next couple of years. This is exactly the sort of work the AIF needs to be doing – leading the global charge against essentially unnecessary plastic at all our festivals.”

Melinda Watson, founder of RAW, said: “Plastic pollution has been described as ‘the apocalyptic twin of climate change’. We need to take urgent action on this critical issue. Recycling is important, but it is far from the solution. Many of our impacts are embodied in the materials we use. We will build on work we have done with Glastonbury and Shambala,  working with the festival industry to radically change our relationship to our ‘plastic stuff’.”

Chris Johnson, Co-founder and Operations Director of Shambala Festival, and Chair of Powerful Thinking added:“There’s loads that festivals can do to design out disposable plastics such adopting reusable cups, banning drinks sales in plastic and encouraging festival goers to bring re-fillable water bottles. Festivals inspire change in people, so we just need to take the steps collectively and create the new normal – a better normal.”

Festivals can sign the pledge and download resources to help in their commitment at the Association of Independent Festivals website.

Industry Green Survey 2017: The Results

Event Industry Green Survey 2017: The Results

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UK Festivals Get Smart with Power and Travel 

A major shift in the way UK festivals approached energy management and Travel Planning in 2017 has been revealed in the annual Festival & Events Industry Green Survey.

The survey, run by Powerful Thinking, showed that the percentage of UK festivals actively working with their power suppliers to increase efficiency and reduce fuel doubled from one in four to half of events between 2016 and 2017. It also shows that the percentage of festivals promoting sustainable travel to their audiences has risen from 28% of events in 2016 to 80% in 2017, a significant change.

Further positive shifts in getting smart with power for the 50 participating UK festivals were: 58% started monitoring generator loads in 2017, 20% said they are using sustainably sourced HVO fuel and 20% are now using hybrid technology to help cut fossil fuel use, costs and associated emissions.

This is the third year that a major shift has been reported by the survey, demonstrating a wider shift in practices and technologies being employed.

However, the survey also found that only around 1 in 3 festivals are receiving a detailed post-event power consumption report. Understanding how power was used is a key tool in planning efficient energy systems for future events, so this is a area that event organisers can prioritise in coming years. Festivals also reported that the most common barrier in using renewable energy at events was finding a supplier of hybrid and solar generators.

Andy Lenthall, General Manager of the Production Services Association (PSA) suggests that festivals are increasingly overcoming these barriers by, “finding a power supplier who can supply a detailed post-event report and who are willing to put in the extra mile to manage energy more efficiently and source alternative energy equipment.”

The survey suggests that inability to find a supplier to help meet their efficiency targets is the most common frustration for organisers aiming to change their practices. Event organisers looking for power suppliers who can help them meet their sustainability goals can use the Powerful Thinking Sustainable Power Supplier List or use the online factsheet on tips for contract writing: Five Tips for Smart Energy Contracts. Organisers can also learn more about sustainable energy practices in the Smart Energy Guide (a free PDF download in English, Dutch, Catalan and French) and from factsheets and case studies on the Powerful Thinking website.

On the subject of travel, a significant shift was seen in the way organisers are working to increase sustainable travel to their events. The percentage of festivals promoting sustainable travel to their audiences has risen from 28% of events in 2016 to 80% in 2017. With audience travel accounting for up to 80% of the average UK music festivals’ CO2 footprint this is a great place to start in tackling environmental impacts. In 2017, 25% of participating festivals offered travel carbon-balancing for their audiences to address travel emissions through the charity Energy Revolution.

Organisers can learn more about this initiative and find advice on how to increase sustainable travel in the Energy Revolution Guide To Sustainable Travel.

Photo credit: Louise Roberts for Shambala Festival

Take the Industry Green Survey 2017

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Festival organisers can help Powerful Thinking track industry progress on the journey towards a more sustainable future by filling out the annual Industry Green Survey.

TAKE THE INDUSTRY GREEN SURVEY 2017 

The survey is anonymous and will only take 5 minutes. The results allow the Powerful Thinking Steering Group to understand the challenges festival organisers faced in 2017 and to shape support and resources to move toward more sustainable practices.

Thanks to A Greener Festival all entrants will be entered into a prize draw to win a free delegate pass to The Greener Events & Innovations Conference in March 2018! 

Please complete the survey before 22nd Dec 2017. Winners will be announced in Jan 2018.

Photo credit: Louise Roberts for Shambala festival 

The Power to Choose at The AFO Conference

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Energy efficiency took centre stage at the annual AFO conference on the 10-12th November in Stratford-upon-Avon. In a panel focused on power at events, chaired by Andy Lenthall (Production Services Association and Powerful Thinking), Alastair Gregson (Powerline), Barry Hughes (Hybrid Power Hire), and Tim Benson (ZAP Concepts) discussed the changing business landscape and technology.

Andy Lenthall reflected; “We are at a tipping point [as an industry] where, if people are up to speed with the choices they have, we will see efficiencies driven by smarter planning and use of lower emission alternatives. The commercial incentives are now very real.”

To help event organisers make smart choices about their power contracts Powerful Thinking have created a list of suppliers who will work with events towards their energy efficiency goals:

SEE THE SUSTAINABLE POWER SUPPLIER LIST

Is pay-per-use the future of trader-energy at festivals?

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In 2017, Shambala festival worked with energy expert Sid Rogerson (Entersys) to monitor the power use of 40 concessions onsite, with the intention of using data collected to inform the development of a pay-per-use model for trader energy.

The festival has used the information to establish an average total kWhs for users, to identify concessions using significantly above average energy, and those that are very efficient.

Using overall fuel consumption figures and energy equipment and service costs, they have developed a cost per kWh. Chris Johnson, Operations Director says: “Rather than simplistic fee for the size of feed (16A, 32A etc.) which can have little bearing on actual kWhs used, we will establish a standing charge and tariffs so that lower energy users are charged comparatively less (per kWh) and higher users will find themselves with a cost incentive to consider energy efficiency.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT SHAMBALA’S GREEN INITIATIVES

Energy Revolution Launch Sustainable Travel Guide for Festivals & Events

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The Energy Revolution Guide to Sustainable Travel for Festival and Events was launched at the Festival Vision:2025 meeting at the Showman’s Show last month. Energy Revolution is a UK charity that helps festivals turn travel miles into 100% clean energy through investment in renewable energy projects.

With audience travel making up 80% of the average UK festival’s carbon footprint, tackling travel emissions is a key part of any festivals sustainability strategy. The new Sustainable Travel Guide, written by Chris Johnson (Shambala Festival, Powerful Thinking & Energy Revolution), explains the impacts of event-related travel and offers festivals and events practical solutions to start reducing the impacts of audience and supplier travel. The Guide is part of the resources that Energy Revolution offers to festivals and events in calculating, reducing, and balancing CO2e emissions from audiences, suppliers and artists.

Download your copy of The Energy Revolution Sustainable Travel Guide 

Energy Revolution has enabled festival audiences to balance over three million travel miles so far with balancing donations being invested in renewable energy projects in India (wind power and reforestation) and Bristol (solar).

It’s easy and free for festivals to sign up to become a member of Energy Revolution – members receive further resources and guidance on making audience travel more sustainable including use of the Travel Carbon Calculator, help in setting up carbon balancing for their audience travel miles and an annual certificate celebrating the miles and kgCO2e they have balanced.

Contact hello@energy-revolution.org.uk for information on becoming a member. Check out the website for details on the renewable energy projects and participating festivals, suppliers and artists: http://www.energy-revolution.org.uk