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.

The Showman’s Show

The Showman’s Show: Audit leads to 50% reduction in diesel use.

The Showman’s Show is the only outdoor event services exhibition in the UK. It has a wide variety of exhibitors and offers them power supplies for their stands (ranging from 13 amp to 125 amp 3 phase). The organisers have to be prepared for all kinds of power demands, at any point during the event and at any location on the showground and, until 2011, they hired large sets of diesel generators to ensure these demands could be met.

In 2012, in support of the Powerful Thinking campaign, the organisers of the Showman’s Show decided to review the energy supply and consumption of the event and look at the possibility of alternative power supplies to diesel generators.

The first step was to simply monitor the power usage. At the 2012 event, the Show’s electrical contractor monitored the use of all the generator sets throughout the build up to the show and during the event itself. They found that the event was overestimating the size of the generators they would need and could afford to reduce the size of the sets while still meeting demand from the events services areas and exhibitors.

A key observation was the energy consumption of the crew catering facility: the catering area is active for two and half weeks over the build, through the show and during the break down. In the past, the catering tent was supplied with its own designated generator to power the cooking facilities, lighting and run heaters (bearing in mind the event is held in October). Using a more dynamic approach to supplying energy, the catering tent was moved onto the small mains supply — available from the main show ground — during the event build and break down when demand on this supply was low. Over the two days of the event itself, when there was more demand on the mains supply from the camping area and welfare units, the catering tent was moved onto a combined set that was already powering the main exhibition hall. When the event was over and the caravans and welfare units had gone, the catering tent was moved back onto the mains supply.

This simple review of generator sizes and proactive approach to the power supply for the crew catering tent resulted in hiring one less generator and significantly helping to reduce diesel consumption — by over 50%.

In 2015 the Showman’s Show began working with the Electrical Contractor that also supports the venue on the site where the Show is held. They were able to improve the existing electrical infrastructure, reducing energy demand onsite meaning that the crew catering facility, campsite and site office could run from a mains power supply all through the build, the event itself and the break down, rather than switching to generators during the event as done in 2014. They also installed a further permanent floodlight which meant one less lighting tower needed to be shipped in and run.

The other action they took was to simply switch off generators if they weren’t being used: previously generators have been left on during the show build to allow exhibitors to work late at night or early in the morning. The contractors simply noted when work had stopped and then turned generators off so as they were not running through the night unnecessarily. This probably made the biggest impact helping to save over 200 litres of fuel from the year before.

These small measures producing such positive results have encouraged the organisers to regularly review the supply and to look for ways to further reduce their energy consumption.

Thanks to the Showman’s Show for providing the information for this case study.

Frieze Art Fair

International art fair switches to ‘diesel frieze zone’ using WVO biodeisel

Frieze Art Fair took the icy plunge into the depths of energy emissions reduction in 2009, but hasn’t looked back since warming to waste vegetable oil run generators.
The provision of a £20,000 fund from the Greater London Authority allowed Frieze Art Fair, the second largest art fair in the world after Basel, to steer away from using diesel as the main fuel supply for the fair.

This grant allowed for the establishment of an industry steering group to carry out industry consultation for the development of a series of targeted interventions to reduce Frieze’s carbon emissions. An ambitious 60% carbon emissions reduction target for the creative industries was set, reflecting the same overall target for reduction of London’s emissions for 2025.

The largest environmental impacts of Frieze Art Fair were identified through carbon audits from 2007 and 2009. The realisation that diesel generators were one of the biggest contributors to the Fair’s carbon footprint was the impetus to find an alternative way to power this event that has attracted over 60,000 visitors in recent years. It was important to work with contractors to improve the environmental performance of the Fair in a way that was practical and fitted into their current working practices. The use of biodiesel generators to power the event was first piloted in 2009, which progressed on the event using exclusively WVO biodiesel generators in 2010. This immediately reduced the Fair’s associated carbon emissions by 60%. They generate the heat and electricity, and 300W halogen floodlights have been replaced by 70W metal halides to increase energy efficiency. Working closely with their site management team, 20-20 Events, helped in the development of the Fair’s environmental infrastructure, improved the data collection process, and facilitate partnerships with contractors and stakeholders. This change in fuel, along with other measures, have resulted in the carbon footprint per visitor in 2010 being recorded as only 0.25kg CO2e, down 90% on previous years.