Doing our best to reduce our carbon footprint is good. Anything we do to pull our emissions in the right direction is useful – every little bit really does help.
But how much does it help? Where can we get the most bang for our buck?
In an individual or household situation, you’ll mostly be fine with a few thoughtful guesstimates.
If you’re managing a larger group or a sizable event, though, pointing your efforts and resources in the best direction is a bit more involved.
Let’s have a look-see
WARNING: Dry term coming up! I’ll do my best to spruce it up a bit, though, so please stay with me.
I’m not going to put on a funny hat and do the twist while I write it, though. There are limits, you know.
Ok, brace yourself, here it is:
Environmental impact assessment.
An environmental impact assessment is what you do when you take a long, hard look at everything you’re doing that affects the environment, and then do your best to measure it and write it down.
This includes greenhouse gas emissions, waste, pollution, resource use and pretty much anything you can think of that have tangible consequences for the world outside your little sphere.
Guess who’s been assessed?
While the organizers of Norwegian music festival Øyafestivalen have kept a solid focus on environmental issues more or less since the festival was conceived in 1999, a formal environmental impact assessment wasn’t done until the 2008 edition of the event.
Let’s take a closer look at the greenhouse gas emissions part of the assessment.
The total carbon emissions from Øyafestivalen 2008 was 170 tons of CO2-equivalents. The goal for 2009 is to reduce this to 150 tons.
This may not sound very ambitious, but it’s actually not too shabby, since foreign artists largely have to be transported to the festival by plane.
The festival’s focus on local musical talent helps alleviate this, but artist transport from abroad is unavoidably still by far the single biggest contributor to the festival’s emissions.
Curbing those emissions
Øyafestivalen is doing a number of things to reach their 2009 emissions reduction goals. Here are the highlights:
- Reduction of local transport emissions
Numerous efforts to reduce the emissions and pollution from the festival’s local transport of artists and equipment – click the link above to read more about it. - Renewable energy sources
Previous years, all the electricity for the festival site has been supplied by diesel generators.This year, all electricity for three of the four stages and the festival’s shopping area will come from permanent landlines, bringing the diesel generated part down to about 30 percent.
Norway generates about 98.5 percent of its electricity from hydroelectricity, so this is a big move away from fossil fuels. For the 2010 festival, the goal is to power the entire festival from landline electricity.
- More local equipment rental
Shorter transport equals less emissions. - LED lighting on stage
LED lighting uses considerably less electricity than conventional lighting. One stage will be lit entirely by LED lighting this year as a test, with more coming next year if the test goes well.
Want to read more about music, festivals and green issues? Take a look at the other posts in the Renewables At Home Green Music Special.
This post was tagged with: emissions, environmental impact, festivals, greenhouse gases, lighting, music, pollution, reduction