Featured

Julie’s Bicycle & ACE offer Accelerator Programme

May 31, 2018Featured, NewsJulie's Bicycle, Sustainability TrainingBethan Riach

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 aims to be “greenest ever” in 2018

April 27, 2018Featured, NewsDownload Festival, Eco Campsite, Environmental Sustainability, Greenpeace, Julie's BicycleBethan Riach

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’

April 23, 2018Featured, NewsAssociation Independent Festivals, drastic on Plastic, Sustainable EventsBethan Riach

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

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.

Event Industry Green Survey 2017: The Results

February 12, 2018Featured, NewsEnergy revolution, Industry Green Survey, Smart Energy Guide, sustainable travel and transportBethan Riach

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

November 21, 2017Featured, NewsIndustry Green Survey, Powerful ThinkingBethan Riach

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

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

November 21, 2017Featured, NewsCaterers, concessions, energy, Entersys, power, Shambala Festival, Trader EnergyBethan Riach

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

November 10, 2017Featured, NewsEnergy revolution, sustainable travel, travel carbon calculatorBethan Riach

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

Find a Sustainable Power Supplier

November 10, 2017Featured, NewsSustainable Power SupplierBethan Riach

One of Powerful Thinking’s aims is to create a community of festivals and suppliers that works towards common sustainability goals. Finding a power supplier to work with a festival year on year to ensure energy is used efficiently can be key in carrying out a successful environmental strategy.

Powerful Thinking have created a list of power suppliers who have the practical solutions to help festivals meet their sustainability goals. The Sustainable Power Supplier list is a new resource which allows festival organisers to see at a glance what services a power supplier offers: for example what kinds of biofuels they offer, if they can supply solar and LED and hybrid generator solutions. The individual power supplier profiles also offer information about rental fleets, details about energy monitoring, recording and reporting services and the energy management strategies they will employ.

Festivals can find out how and what data the supplier will share with them, if they will data share as part of their contract and if they give advice on future performance savings year on year as part of their service. Power suppliers on the list also describe their own environmental polices.

Find a Sustainable Power Supplier

Programme Info — Vision:2025 Meet at the Showman’s Show 2017:

September 13, 2017Featured, NewsBlueDot Festival, Festival Vision 2025 meeting programme, Showman's Show, Skill ShareBethan Riach

Powerful Thinking will host the 2^nd meeting of Vision:2025 Festivals at The Showman’s Show on Wednesday 18^th Oct. The event is an opportunity for the 60 UK Vision Festivals who have pledged to work together to improve environmental performance, to share ideas and experiences and find out about the latest innovations in the industry.

A taste of the programme: Keynote speaker Ben Robinson (From the Fields) shares his experience of engaging Bluedot Festival audience with sustainability. Industry updates include the launch of NCASS’s new trader carbon calculator and re-launch of food waste project 8^th Plate. Prolectrics update us on developments in solar lighting, Julie’s Bicycle present their Creative Green Certification & the latest research on using biofuels at events, and charity Energy Revolution tell us how festivals are turning festival travel miles into renewable energy Delegates will then join ’roundtable’ discussions with industry experts on key topics for reducing environmental impacts.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW PDF HERE: Vision2025_Meeting_SS_18Oct

Full Programme Details Below:

13.45 Arrivals & welcome with host Graham Brown (Plaster PR)

14:00 Keynote Speaker: Ben Robinson (From the Fields): Taking place at deep space observatory the bluedot festival is not your average event. The globally conscious concept behind bluedot could not be more relevant to our current global issues. Festival founder and director Ben Robinson will be speaking about the evolution of the festival from a concept to a live event and how engaging the audience and participants with a clear mission statement and vision has lead to a festival community that naturally hold sustainability and a respect for the planet in high regard.

14:15 Quick Fire Innovation and Industry Updates:

Trader Carbon Calculator, Mark Laurie (NCASS): Mark introduces the (free) NCASS energy calculator developed to support the Powerful Thinking: Festival Vision 2025 and how he believes it will help festivals to cut their carbon footprint and energy costs.
8^th Plate Food Waste Project, Mark Laurie (NCASS): In 2015, NCASS worked with A Greener Festival and FareShare to develop the 8^th Plate Food Waste Project which helped to divert 27.5 tonnes of usable food waste that would have gone to landfill from 7 festivals to charities helping people living in food poverty. It’s called 8^th plate as 1 in 8 people on the planet go hungry every day.
Julie’s Bicycle Creative Green, Catherine Botrill (Julie’s Bicycle): The Creative Green certification is a framework for sustainability action developed by Julie’s Bicycle. It offers festivals, venues, museums, galleries and offices a transparent, methodical and inspiring framework for achieving environmental best practice, and as a forum for recognition and celebration. Festival clients include Shambala and Festival Republic.
Biofuels— The Latest Research, Catherine Botrill (Julie’s Bicycle): An update on the latest research in biofuels: what kind to use, the implications of using it and where to source it.
Turning Tent Trash into Future Resource: Vikki Chapman (Festival Republic) & Amanda Campbell (Comp-a-Tent) showcase the findings from their 2017 research.
Innovations in Solar Lighting, Chris Williams (Prolectric): Prolectric have developed a range of temporary solar lighting technologies for the events sector; they deliver robust and reliable solutions that provide measurable cost and operating efficiency, as well as making a positive contribution to the environment.
Abi Edgar (Energy Revolution): Energy Revolution helps festivals to tackle their travel emissions by balancing travel emissions with an investment in sustainable energy projects. 20+ UK festivals have already balanced over 3 million travel miles with investment in generating wind power in India and solar power in the UK.

15:15 Panel Discussion: Re-imagining Water at Events — Hosted by Steve Heap (AFO): How environmental impacts from water at events can be minimised with innovations and initiatives? Edible packaging, waste water turned to clean onsite and ‘refill’ services at events…Panel Guests:

William Goodwin: Waste into Water aims to provide solutions to waste waters in mobile locations. They treat waste water back to clean water onsite at events so that it can be recycled either back to flushing loos or back into the environment.
Annabelle Hunt: The charity FRANK Water has a ‘FreeFill’ service at festivals which provides access to chilled filtered water, raising funds for their projects in India and helping to reduce disposable plastic through use of their reusable bottles.
Lise Honsinger: Ooho! is an entirely new form of packaging for liquids that is natural, 100% biodegradable and compostable. It is made from seaweed extract and is the most environmentally friendly alternative to single-use bottles.

15.45 Tea & coffee break

16:00 Key Topic ‘Roundtable’ Discussions: (4 rotating groups with 15 min per topic)

Creating an Environmental Strategy & Action Plan: with Catherine Bottrill (Julie’s Bicycle) Catherine Bottrill hosts a discussion on creating an environmental policy and action plan for your festival. How can you create a thread of sustainability to run through your festival year after year, understand which areas to prioritise and support, and ensure that each edition of your event is built on the learnings and successes from previous years.

Working with Traders to Achieve your Sustainability Goals: Mark Laurie (NCASS)
Mark answers your questions on how to work effectively with traders to achieve your sustainability goals and the key issues and impacts involved.
Energy Management, Monitoring & Reporting: Tim Benson (SMART Power Ltd) Tim leads a discussion looking at managing energy energy by specifying generators based on accurate load info. Increasing energy efficiency by exploring strategies for managing base load and monitoring & reporting: what data do festival organisers need to get from suppliers.
Tackling Festival Travel Emissions: Liz Warwick (Lansdowne Warwick/Cambridge Folk Festival) With travel emissions making up 80% of a festival’s carbon footprint finding ways to engage with audiences, suppliers and artists to finding sustainable solutions to travel represents a huge opportunity in having a positive impact on event carbon emissions. Bring your questions and experiences to share.

17:00 Networking: Share experiences with the Festival Vision:2025 community & meet power suppliers with sustainable solutions.

17:30 ENDS

For more details and to attend contact bethan@powerful-thinking.org.uk

SPEAKER INFORMATION:

Ben Robinson is the Company Director of From the Fields. Promoters, Festival Organisers and Creative Minds behind Kendal Calling, bluedot, Off the Record, Electric Fields & Bournemouth’s Arts by the Sea. Having grown Kendal Calling from a 900 capacity conceptualisation to a 25,000 capacity multi award winning festival over the last ten years, Ben and the From the Fields team have not stopped adding to their portfolio with innovative, imaginative and ground breaking shows.

Mark Laurie is a director of the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), the industry body for Festival and Street-Food caterers and part of the Steering Group for Powerful Thinking. Inspired by the Green Traders awards at Glastonbury in 2011 & 2012, Mark and NCASS worked with the SRA (Sustainable Restaurant Association) to develop the UK’s first sustainability training course for festival caterers on behalf of NCASS. In 2015, Mark worked with A Greener Festival and FareShare to develop the 8^th Plate Food Waste Project which helped to divert 27.5 tonnes of usable food waste that would have gone to landfill from 7 festivals to charities helping people living in food poverty.

Catherine Bottrill is an expert in how businesses can reduce environmental and energy impacts. She has been involved with Julie’s Bicycle since its inception. She has led strategic environmental research projects, including First Step: Carbon Footprint of the UK Music Industry, Moving Arts (music, theatre and orchestra touring), Jam Packed (festival audience travel) and Performing Arts Energy Benchmarking. Catherine has contributed to the development of the Creative IG Tools and Creative Green certification scheme, an environmental certification designed specifically for arts, entertainment and cultural organisations to demonstrate their commitment, understanding and improvement of environmental impacts, which she now leads on at JB. In addition, Catherine is CEO of Pilio, a company providing energy analytics to businesses and used by many arts organisations for building energy management.

Vikki Chapman is Sustainability Coordinator at Festival Republic overseeing environmental sustainability at 10 major UK festivals including Download, Latitude, V Festival, Reading, Leeds and Electric Picnic. Vikki loves spontaneity, hates waste and has always had a sense of responsibility towards the natural environment. She completed a post graduate certificate in Sustainability and Adaption in 2015 and her work at Festival Republic draws on her 10 years of experience in the arts and project management in the public, private and third sectors.

Tim Benson is the Founder & Technical Director of SMART Power Ltd & also works as an energy consultant for Zap Concepts UK. Previously Tim worked as Head of Special Projects at Firefly before moving over to Hewden to head up their event power services. Tim is also a guest lecturer in power & sustainability at a number of academic institutions across the UK, including BIMM, Derby University & The Backstage Academy & is, further, a regular contributor to Powerful Thinking’s resources, guides & reports.

Amanda Campbell is a founder, entrepreneur and thought-leader on Festival trash and waste resource, spearheading an Innovative UK Project with Festival Republic and Julie’s Bicycle to develop both product and service models to tackle the million tents abandoned across Europe each year.

Steve Heap is General Secretary of The Association Festival Organisers (AFO), a body of over 200 members that promotes, supports and lobbies on its member’s behalf. Steve has received several awards for work in the events industry including Lifetime Achievement for festival work. Steve has been Director of Mrs Casey Music (MCM) since it was started in 1971. Mrs Casey Music is a specialist promotion company that organises festivals and events such as Towersey Festival. Mrs Casey Music also has a record label (Mrs Casey Records), which specialises in young up and coming acts and “great new ideas”.

William Goodwin (Waste into Water) has a masters in Civil Engineering from Bristol University and is a Chartered Accountant whose day job is managing a portfolio of early stage consumer brand venture capital investments in London but whose real passion is waste water. Whilst working on his Masters project with the Army to develop sustainable forward operating bases, the idea of a portable waste water treatment plant was born. After 7 years and many iterations and tests the treatment plant is going to be trialed in Finland as part of a group of companies aiming to provide the most sustainable water, showers and loos at any event ever.

Lise Honsinger (Ooho) is Chief Commercial Officer of Skipping Rocks Lab, the creators of Ooho. Lise is responsible for business development and is excited to launch OohoWater in 2018 in the UK. Prior to Skipping Rocks, Lise worked in Private Equity investing in renewable energy, helping build more than 100MWs of grid connected solar in the Philippines. She has degrees in environmental science from Oxford University and Imperial College London.

Chris Williams (Prolectrics) is the Managing Director of a SME renewables business based in the South West. His current role involves the development and bringing to market of a technology that challenges existing traditional diesel generator lighting towers using solar power.

A Greener Festival Assessor Training Now Online

August 28, 2017Featured, NewsA Greener Festival Training, Falmouth UniversityBethan Riach

A Greener Festival are making their environmental assessor training available to a global audience for the first time through a new short online course offered with Falmouth University and CEG Digital.

Established in 2007, A Greener Festival gives its award to festivals, events and venues, which demonstrate sustainability with a significant focus on environmental impacts. Festival assessors will be trained to provide independent site assessment, verification and certification of environmental actions and to undertake on-site visits before and during the event.

The course is now open for student applications ahead of an October start. Find out more details and apply HERE.