The festival industry has renewable power solutions emerging that meet the dynamic requirements of events and are cost-effective, but relatively few companies are currently at the vanguard of these emerging technolgies. The key has been the successful use of waste biofuel in generators, and the development of storage solutions to manage the supply of renewables. Storage is the issue at all levels – festival site to national.

This TED talk highlights breakthrough research which could usher in a worldwide energy revolution, enabling free sun and wind energy to be harnessed.

Watch the TED Talk HERE

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report (2014), looks at current greenhouse gas emissions, the levels they will need to fall to in future, and how this can be achieved. Among the key findings of the report are:

• Efforts to reduce emissions need to take place across all sectors and all regions. Reductions in demand for energy (e.g. through implementing energy efficiency measures) can play a big part
• Greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, and the rate of increase has itself been increasing
• Staying under the 2 degree limit is possible but increasingly difficult
• Many countries already have policies in place to reduce emissions, but much more needs to be done – investment in clean technology needs to be massively scaled-up

Find out how to reduce fuel consumption, save money and communicate effectively with audiences about energy using our fact sheets and case studies on the website HERE

Julie’s Bicycle has developed and published a set of benchmarks to help UK festivals compare their environmental performance against the industry average for venues, cultural buildings, offices and outdoor events.

Findings based on 13 UK festivals spanning 2011- 2013, with audiences of 20,000+, revealed that fuel use averaged 0.7 litres per person, per day. The festivals engaged with the Industry Green certification scheme used an average of 28% waste vegetable oil (WVO) biodiesel.

Find out more information about festival benchmarks HERE

Shambala Festival, The Secret Garden Party, Love Saves the Day, Red Rooster and 100 other UK events went ‘hybrid’ this season. Working with Firefly, one of the UK’s leading sustainable temporary energy providers, these events combined waste vegatable oil fuelled generators, solar panels and solar batteries to reduce fuel bills by around 30% and reduce their carbon emissions to zero!

Find out more about hybrid power and how it works on the Hybrid Energy Fact Sheet HERE.

Powerful Thinking and Julies Bicycle are proud to have launched EE MUSIC in the UK on Wednesday 5th March at the Bargehouse in London. Managed by 8 European partners and spanning 27 countries, EE MUSIC aims to increase the music event sector’s understanding of its energy use and impacts and build its ability to become more energy efficient and sustainable in energy source and use.  It brings together a network of sustainability and energy experts, music industry experts and communications agencies to both inspire leadership within the sector and build capacity through a range of events, workshops, training, best practice case studies, online resources and tools.  To find out more about EE MUSIC and explore best practice case studies from some leading European music venues and festivals, go to the EE MUSIC preview website