The Green Gathering

Engaging the community in using renewables

The Green Gathering is a festival with an environmental and social justice focus; it has workshops and talks on permaculture, politics, ecology and crafts, as well as art, live music and spoken word performances. It currently has a capacity of 5,000 and takes place in Chepstow, Monmouthshire.

The Green Gathering is proudly run on 100% renewable energy solutions. Throughout the years the organisers have faced and overcome many challenges in producing a festival with no generators. Many of the solutions to problems in this area have come from successfully engaging their community of audience, traders and suppliers in a shared commitment to operating sustainably.

To providing lighting for the festival without using generators they switched to 100% LED lighting throughout, which was a bigger challenge that it sounds due to an initial lack of suppliers of relevant products. Over the years they have engaged suppliers to build up a list of companies who can step in to provide the right products in the right quantities onsite.

Wheelchair and mobility scooter charging using renewable technology was a challenge to overcome as The Green Gathering’s Assisted Access camping area filled up and demand grew. The festival implemented a number of solutions in 2014, ranging from bringing in extra solar power providers to communicating with the audience to inform them to arrive with batteries and spares fully charged, and by stipulating charging times. These measures were so successful that in 2015, The Green Gathering was able to extend its Assisted Access area further with confidence that the audience’s energy needs could be catered for.

“Informing and engaging customers is vital to keeping them on board and positive about running on renewables, especially if being ‘green’ means they can’t have exactly what they want when they want it!”

The Green Gathering requires traders to be 100% renewably powered, ethical and offer a quality product or menu. For traders who meet these criteria but usually run on mains electric, advice and information is on offer to help them go ‘off grid’. In some cases traders can be linked up with the festival’s regular renewable power providers who may, for a small charge (or free meals!) be able to provide the power needed. The festival’s Green Markets coordinator also provides information to cafes about low-energy equipment and menus if they are keen to make the switch to renewables.

“The Green Gathering community has a number of solar and LED experts who can advise traders to help them trade off grid not just for this event but at all events, so that everyone benefits in the longer term. It’s largely about engaging with the traders.”

The people who come together to create and co-ordinate the festival have built up rich resources of knowledge and are keen to share their skills and experience to benefit not only the festival but also the wider world, through empowering people to be environmentally responsible and resilient.

Many thanks to The Green Gathering for providing the information for this case study.

Website: greengathering.org.uk

The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company

Cafe Mor: A revolutionary off-grid catering concession

Pembrokeshire Beachfood has traded at Freshwater West Beach since 2013, a site that is managed by the National Park and the National Trust. Their Cafe Môr trailer offers a range of high quality food inspired by West Wales produce. In March 2015, they won a Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) support from Pembrokeshire National Park Authority to test out an approach that could revolutionise the catering concessions industry and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

Their remote site had no grid connection and, until the start of the project, electrical power was provided by a generator during the day and a hook up at a local farm by night. The SDF support was used to part fund the installation of solar PV panels and a small wind turbine, along with a solar inverter and a battery bank. The system removed the need for a noisy, carbon-fuelled petrol generator by day, and reduced electrical demand at night (with mains electricity used to top up the batteries if required, rather than being the sole source of power at night).

Instant benefits to the business included a reduction in generator noise, less staff time required for generator operation and maintenance, fewer trading days lost due to generator issues and increased power security as a result of having a battery back up. In the longer term the new system will also considerably reduce operation costs: in 2014, Cafe Môr used around 1000 litres of petrol to fuel the generator, which cost around £1,300. Assuming the system is optimised to minimise mains battery charging to almost zero, benefits in terms of reduced petrol consumption, reduced staff time and reduced loss of trading could be in the region of £2,500 per year: the Cafe Môr system cost just £7,500, so this would give a payback time of around 3 years.

Payback times for systems mounted on vans or trailers used regularly at events could be even better. Initial indications based on a system with three days battery life plus wind or solar recharge, during an event of 7-10 days and assuming an electricity hook-up cost of £450+VAT per event, with 10 events per year, would mean the system would pay for itself in less than 2 years on a system costing up to £9000.

Of course this is not just about money — there is significant potential for the industry as a whole to reduce their impact on the environment, and particularly GHGs. 1000 litres of petrol is equivalent to 2.33 tonnes of GHGs per year. Scaled up across the industry of 10,000 units this amounts to a potential saving of 20,000 tonnes CO2e/yr.

The next stage of the project will monitor the electricity generated by the system to establish exactly how much the system generates and therefore how much mains charging is required, and future phases of the project will look at options for reducing the impact of LPG and vehicle fuel.

Thanks to The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company and The Nationwide Caterers Association for providing the information for this case study.

Croissant Neuf Summer Party

Running a main stage with less power than a domestic hairdyer

Croissant Neuf Summer Party uses solar power instead of diesel generators on site to power the stages and lights. They have never used anything but solar and wind generators. This saves over 1.5 tonnes of CO2 for the festival. The LED lighting system in the Big Top uses less power than an average household TV. The P.A. system in the big top uses less power than a hair dryer but still has a sound output equivalent to a 10KW P.A.

All the caterers and market traders on site use renewable energy. The bar uses hand pumps and all their lighting is low energy LEDs, powered by dedicated solar panels. The commission of an Environmental Audit of activities in 2010 showed that festival goers at Croissant Neuf Summer Party generated on average less than 50% of the CO2 they would otherwise generated if they’d stayed at home and had a normal weekend.

Croissant Neuf is powered 100% by renewable energy due to a conscious decision to buy solar panels and wind turbines instead of diesel generators when the organisers, being keen environmentalists, endeavoured to expand their festival and cafe that originated in 1986.

The original Croissant Neuf consequently gave birth to the Green Roadshow- a travelling environmental education centre with the circus big top at its focal point. All electrical appliances were run entirely on power solar and wind power, including the big top lights and PA and even the hairdryers and laptops in the living vans. This dedication ensured continued pursuit and commitment to renewable technology, conservation, battery powered transport, sustainable living and woodland management. Whilst touring as The Green Roadshow, Croissant Neuf continued to appear as a renewably powered venue at Glastonbury and at other festivals such as the Big Green Gathering.

A massive solar generating unit capable of creating enough power to drive a 10kilowatt P.A system was installed at the turn of the millennium, as music became the main focus of Croissant Neuf. This masterpiece of modern technological engineering was titled The Solar System. Within a few years Croissant Neuf had created the first fully functioning solar rig of its kind that could deliver perfect sound for anything from solo artists through to a 40 person gospel choir. Each year Croissant Neuf Summer Party attempts to improve its sustainability.

Shambala Festival

Success in renewable energy

Over the last five years, Shambala has consistently reduced their fuel dependency by transitioning to renewables and improving on efficiency. In 2013, Shambala was powered by 93% WVO bio-diesel, 1% solar and 6% red diesel – 100% of which was consumed by tower lights. The ambition to be 100% renewable was achieved in 2014 by using biofuel and solar hybrid systems across the site. Onsite biodiesel consumption was reduced by 20% from 2013 to 2014 by using hybrid systems, and there was a 380% kWh increase of renewable energy, which included stages run completely on solar and pedal power.

To assist in reducing the over-specification of generators, Shambala works with their power supplier to gather the power requirements of all end-users. It is also built into their contract that fuel savings are expected year-on-year, with a fixed fee on biofuel costs to create an incentive for the contractor to reduce usage wherever possible. In addition Shambala stipulate detailed energy monitoring throughout the event, a generator-by-generator post event report, and recommendations for future efficiency gains.

In 2015, the set-up included 22 bio-diesel generators, the full range of Firefly’s Cygnus Hybrid Power, 35 portable solar fold-arrays and 10 power packs. All of the site lighting was LED, 12km of festoon lighting and 105 LED Floods; the tower lights were all HPG.

Shambala Festival has reduced its energy-related GHG emissions per audience day by 39.5% between 2013 and 2014, and has reduced its overall onsite carbon footprint by 81% over 5 years. In 2015, energy (including bottled gas for traders) accounted for 19.6% of the onsite carbon footprint and only 8.53% of the overall footprint when including travel.

An analysis of the costs of energy at the festival over seven years shows that budget per person per day for energy has not increased in real terms, representing a saving if inflation and fuel costs rises are accounted for. Whilst the costs of certain items of equipment hire have been higher comparable to traditional diesel generators in some years, the reduction in total equipment requirements and generator sizes — due to efficiency savings — and in fuel use has outweighed these resulting in cost savings overall.

Thanks to Shambala for the information for this case study.