Into the Great Wide Open

Into the Great Wide Open (ITGWO) is a Dutch Festival with an audience of 7,000, which takes place on the Island of Vlieland on the northwest coast of the Netherlands. In 2016, they switched from diesel to 2^nd generation biofuels (fuel derived solely from recycled organic waste matter, distributed and sold by the company GoodFuels) to power the generators used at the festival, reducing the amount of CO2 produced in the onsite energy production of the festival by 85%.

The organisers of ITGWO are committed not only to making their festival sustainable, but to exploring how festivals can be used as a catalyst for bigger societal changes. In order to do this they set up a foundation, in 2013, called Lab Vlieland through which they pioneer and develop sustainability projects in the temporary world of their and other festivals, then find ways to implement their successes on a wider basis; first as a permanent part of island life in Vlieland, then to the mainland with the ultimate goal of speeding up global transition to a sustainable society.

Their switch from diesel to biofuel was taken as an intermediary step on their journey to sustainability. Biofuel use has many implications, which must be considered, and they realise that it is not a perfect solution. Ideally they would like to establish a grid connection and power the festival via the mains on a green energy tariff. However, for now this is not a viable option; festivals have very high peaks of energy demand necessitating large connections — these are expensive to install and run partly due to the nature of Dutch energy law, which means Energy Providers have inflexible charging structures that do not account for temporary connections with fluctuating demand.

Provenance is also an issue that means biofuel is not a long-term solution; despite the integrity of their sourcing — using fuel which comes only from organic waste streams — Lab Vlieland is aware that the total organic waste matter volume is not high enough to meet future demands for the biofuel it is used to produce. Biofuel is also more expensive and there are additional costs for transport. Despite these drawbacks and considerations the use of biofuels is a great step forward in terms of reducing fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions from the event.

Lab Vlieland’s first hurdle in implementing their switch was to find a biofuel source that is reliable and ethical and that their generator supplier, F&L, was willing to use in their machines. ITGWO/Lab Vlieland have a good relationship with F&L, who they have worked with since 2009 over 8 editions of the festival. F&L are a small progressive firm, meaning lines of communication are short and creative solutions are relatively easy to implement and they agreed to trial the switch provided the biofuels quality was high enough. In the end a biofuel (B100) from ‘Good Fuels’ was chosen for it’s quality, reliability and ethical means of production.

The use of biofuels in diesel generators is not completely straightforward, normally generators are hired partially full from the previous event and are returned in the same way, so the event only pays for the diesel they have used, and organisers don’t have to worry about predicting fuel use accurately — they can take extra fuel and return the excess, only paying for what they use. When using biofuel the generators needed to be completely drained of fossil diesel before they could be filled to ensure pure biofuel use (mixing is technically not a problem, except that you are still burning a mix of fossil and non-fossil fuels) – and they needed to be returned empty.

This not only involved extra logistics but also meant that Lab Vlieland had to accurately predict how much biofuel the festival would need, as any left over would have to be stored or would be wasted. They partially solved this problem by agreeing to sell any remainder to another festival looking to move to biofuel but in the end they were so accurate in their estimates that this measure wasn’t necessary.

The next issue that they came up against was transportation: Land infrastructure is entirely fossil fuel orientated; diesel can be acquired from the nearest pump to the festival site and transported in the containers that it is then stored in for the duration of the festival. The biofuel had to be transported from much further away and then transferred into separate storage containers incurring extra costs and planning.

The saving of 85% of CO2 emissions from fuel use in onsite energy production in 2016 compared to 2015 would have been higher but in 2015 ITGWO used significantly less diesel than average due to bad weather and resulting stage closure. They also used 500 litres of fossil diesel onsite because the rental agency would not agree to use biofuel in their onsite vehicles (forklifts etc.).

ITGWO used 8,000 litres of biofuel in 2016, at 40 cents more per litre than diesel, plus €800 for transport logistics resulting in a €4,000 spend compared to diesel— a cost which will hopefully be mitigated in the future as more festivals follow suit and infrastructures, generator suppliers and biofuel providers adapt to suit the growing market.

For ITGWO the environmental benefits outweighed the financial implications of the switch but they continue to search for more efficient means to power their festival including ongoing negotiations with the government regarding reforms to Dutch energy laws to make it cost effective for temporary events to run from the grid.

De Parade Amsterdam

De Parade saves 27% of diesel use in one year

Dutch festival De Parade Amsterdam worked with energy consultant, Watt Now to save 15,300 litres (27%) of diesel in 2016 compared to the previous year, by monitoring and reducing fuel use.

De Parade Amsterdam is a theatre festival that takes place in the Martin Luther King Park. It runs for 16 days and has an audience of approximately 100,000. Other editions of De Parade take place in Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.

Watt Now’s first step in working with the festival was to conduct a complete inventory during the 2015 edition to find out exactly what energy demands were being made and where, including lighting, catering, acts and venues, and how much diesel was being used by generators to meet these demands. As a theatre Festival De Parade has complex lighting demands and with each act energy use fluctuates so these needs have to be met reliably to ensure the performances run smoothly.

With these figures established Watt Now estimated the energy for the 2016 edition and, in collaboration with generator supplier Bredenoord, redesigned the generator arrangement to be more efficient; instead of the 7 big sets used in 2015 they used 14 smaller generators, arranged in groups of three, that switched on and off based on the load. As smaller generators are less expensive to hire they used the cost savings to hire smart distribution boxes to connect the generators (installed power supply went from 4000 kVA in 2015 to 2450 kVA in 2016).

As a result of these measures De Parade Amsterdam saved 15,300 litres of diesel (27%) in 2016 compared to 2015. Watt Now will continue to work with De Parade for the 2017 edition and they predict that a further 7% saving can be achieved. To further improve accuracy of reporting and maximum generator efficiency in 2017, Watt Now plan to conduct real-time monitoring of the generator settings and performance throughout the festival.

De Parade in Utrecht has led the way in fuel use savings by securing a government grant to fund a connection to the grid to completely power the festival. This is an avenue that Watt Now are keen to explore for De Parade in Amsterdam, and for other festivals across the city, and there is a growing movement for local governments to fund grid connections for outdoor events — with festivals such as De Parade now able to provide accurate energy data it is possible to predict usage and cost savings, enabling the local government to size grid connections accurately and gauge the financial viability of such projects.

www.deparade.nl/ams/
www.watt-now.nl
www.bredenoord.com/en/

Mysteryland

Mysteryland: Significant energy savings in first year as a weekend festival

Mysteryland is the longest running electronic music festival in the world; 2016 sees the 23^th edition of the event. The festival has a capacity of 60,000 visitors per day. Mysteryland was founded by ID&T who have an international portfolio of world-renowned events including Sensation, Amsterdam Open Air, Welcome to the Future, and Amsterdam Music Festival. Up until 2014, Mysteryland was a one-day event, but in 2015 ID&T had the opportunity to expand the festival to a full weekender with camping.

As well as changing Mysteryland’s format, ID&T challenged itself in increasing the length and scope of the festival while reducing its environmental impact and maintaining its profitability through energy savings and efficiency. They set out to run the new campsite on 100% biodiesel, and decreased both diesel and power equipment use across the entire site.

ID&T takes the sustainability of its shows seriously: they have been awarded the highest rating for sustainability by A Greener Festival for their Welcome to the Future Festival and have been using the Julie’s Bicycle IG creative green tools to measure and record their impacts for the last three years across their portfolio. ID&T also works with the Amsterdam Dance Event to organize ADE Green: an international conference focused on sustainability and social change.

ID&T‘s commitment to creating greener events meant that they wanted to improve sustainability further for Mysteryland’s new weekend format, so they worked with ZAP Concepts, a sustainable events consultancy, to create and roll out a ‘Smart Power Plan’ to achieve their goals for energy efficiency and budget.

ZAP concepts worked closely with ID&T management, crew, and suppliers to create the Power Plan. The preparation phase was vital, it involved dividing the site into ‘Power Zones’ and calculating the power that would be needed in each zone by meticulously collecting exact energy requirement data from artists, production teams, and concessions located there — this included timings so that that the maximum power could be achieved at any given moment.

Mysteryland is a complicated site with many areas spread out as small islands, which meant it wasn’t straightforward when ensuring that each area had sufficient power. Using the power inventory from the preparation phase, ZAP Concepts planned the most efficient generator configuration for each zone and created a detailed plan for each generator’s run time with a start/stop time allocated for each generator per day for onsite crew to follow. During the construction phase of the plan, the crew were briefed on start/stop times and generators were thoroughly tested to ensure reliability.

During the show, it was proved to be vital to have a technical crew onsite to ensure that the generators were running efficiently and to problem-solve any issues. Fuel deliveries were also checked to verify that Mysteryland was receiving the amount agreed — as fuel quantities can often be less or more which skews measurements of fuel consumption. As part of the ‘Load Out’ phase of the Power Plan, steps were taken to ensure that all generators were turned off promptly after the show, as it is common for crew to forget to do this in their rush to finish the shift.

The Power Plan was a success in achieving ID&T’s aims: From 2014 to 2015 they reduced diesel consumption by 30% per visitor day (pvd) — from 0.56 liters to 0.38 liters, and total diesel use was reduced by 25%. Power needed for the festival was reduced by an impressive 40% from 2014 to 2015, from 0.15kWh (pvd) in 2014 to 0.08 kWh in 2015. The campsite was entirely powered on biodiesel and biodiesel use was increased by 15% across the entire site.

For the 2016 Mysteryland festival, ID&T aims to further increase efficiencies, reduce energy and diesel use, and increase biodiesel use. For the 2015 festival, both ID&T and ZAP Concepts agreed that using FAME biodiesel across the site was too risky in terms of reliability. They had experienced technical issues with FAME biodiesel and there were doubts about the sustainability of the provenance of some sources. They are now searching for biodiesel from reliable sources and are committed to checking the provenance with Greenpeace to ensure it is the best sustainable alternative for fossil fuel.

Boom Festival

An Innovative Off-grid Festival

Boom is a biannual electronic and world music festival based in Portugal, with an audience capacity of 33,333. Boom Festival began in 1997 as a psychedelic trance music festival, but has now diversified to include a range of DJs, live music and visual arts performances.

Boom is powered by a mix of off-grid photovoltaic panels, diesel generators and a 100kW waste vegetable oil (WVO) generator. Boom has won the Greener Festival Excellence Award four times (2008, 2010, 2012 & 2014), and in 2010 won the YOUROPE Green & Clean Festival of the Year; which led to Boom becoming a participant in the United Nations Music & Environment Initiative.

As well as using renewable and energy efficient technology, Boom Festival is committed to the energy management practices of conducting energy audits and power demand assessments, before and during the festival, and continually auditing and reviewing generator sizes. Boom has a sustainability director who oversees an off-grid project manager and several electrical managers. Efficiencies in energy planning and generation meant they used 40% less energy in 2014 compared to the 2012 edition of the festival. In the 2016 edition, they have almost doubled the lighted areas (using predominantly LEDs), but thanks to efficiency measures their lighting energy consumption will stay the same as 2014.

In 2008 Boom collected and re-used 45,000 litres of WVO, which was used to feed their generator as well as three of their fleet vehicles. Their pioneering Your Oil Is Music project — through which waste oil is collected from local towns — ensures a local supply of renewable energy as well as engagement with the local community.

Boom festival uses 40 kWh of solar energy, which is produced onsite, and is in the process of transitioning from diesel to even more off-grid photovoltaic energy. Their largest photovoltaic array comprises 18 panels, all following the tilt of the sun, and producing 13kw per hour per day. ‘Boom Off-Grid’ is a project that was developed in 2012, in partnership with the local organisation BioEspaço, to increase Boom’s energy efficiency: it includes integrating technologies such as solar irrigation systems, LED lighting and inverters.

The area in which Boom takes place, known as Boomland, is home to around 12 long-term residents and the onsite renewable technology is a permanent feature in the community. The residents spend the 23 months between festivals living entirely on renewables, and creating an energy surplus for the next festival.

100% of all water used at Boom is biologically treated and reused onsite for agricultural irrigation. In 2016, Boom’s permanent onsite gardens will use 25% recycled water and composted organic materials. The festival is commissioning 350 dry-toilet units that are fitted with bio-filters meaning they produce no waste.

The whole of Boomland is under a Holistic Management plan that integrates the presence of the public as a technical positive impact in the local soil biota. Besides the people, domestic animals such as sheep and cattle are used to increase soil fertility and forest regeneration. In 2015, 600 new trees were planted in Boomland and many thousands more in partnership with Ecocentro Ipec in Brazil.

Thanks to Boom Festival for providing the information for this case study.

Øya

Large-scale festival powered by hydroelectricity from the grid

Øya is a music festival in Norway that has been running since 1999. For the last 2 years it has taken place in Tøyenparken, a green space in the city centre of Oslo and attracts approximately 70,000 audience members over four days.

Øya’s aims to be a pioneer of green events: leading by example and inspiring fellow promoters, businesses and audience members. Øya embeds sustainable and resource-efficient thinking across all of its operational activities, including: power, waste, food, transport, promotional materials and even toilet paper. Øya has received a multitude of awards, including two ‘Green’N’Clean’ awards, and ‘A Greener Festival’ award for the previous six years. Every year over 90% of the food served at the festival is organic. Local produce is chosen when possible, and is preferably bought directly from the local farmers. There are always vegan or vegetarian alternatives.

In 2010, Øya switched from diesel generators to exclusively grid/mains power, which is 98% renewable-derived (mainly through Norway’s hydroelectricity generation) and has removed virtually all on-site emissions. The switch was implemented gradually, with a mix of generators and mains power in 2009. It required a major investment in new infrastructure for the festival, which the Øya was able to undertake through a partnership with the municipality of Oslo and their main sponsor at the time, Hafslund (a Norwegian power company who continue to supply the festival through the grid today).

Øya also made significant year-on-year electricity consumption reductions including a 9% reduction between 2011 and 2012, and a further 22% between 2012 and 2013. These energy reductions are the result of a variety of efficiency projects and awareness-raising campaigns with staff, volunteers and external vendors. Øya has integrated energy efficiency within the festival’s technical operations by rationalising the size of light and sound mixing tables, and using LED lighting and LED based strobe lights wherever possible.

In cooperation with Hjellnes Consult (consulting firm) and Nature and Youth (Øya’s main environmental partner), Øya conducts energy-awareness tours during the course of the festival. The main office in which Øya’s staff work throughout the year also carries ‘green office’ certification.

Thanks to the help of volunteers from Nature and Youth, who sort through every single bag of waste from the festival by hand, they are able to recycle about 70% of the waste from the festival into 15 different fractions each year. This saves the environment from CO2 emissions equivalent to what 35,000 cars emit every year.

Many thanks to Oya for the information for this case study.

oyafestivalen.com

We Love Green

Winner of the Green Operations Europe 2012 Award 100% renewable

We Love Green won the ‘Green Oscar’ of the European Festival industry in 2012. They designed a sustainable festival at the outset, and their attention to detail is exceptional. Amongst other achievements, they managed the event on 100% renewable sources., including stages, site services, catering and interactive art.

Firefly supplied the power, providing their Youpower playground and software for the children’s area, featuring 6 bikes with PedGens, a WhirlyGen roundabout, Teedlegen see-saw and LumberGens (the latest addition to their Kinectrics range of products). Their software shows just how much energy is being generated by these playground toys in real time. This is an excellent way of showcasing innovative green products while providing a fun interactive way of educating about the possibilities of clean tech.

They also provide the power for the lighting of the main stage. This is powered by a 45kVA solar rig consisting of 9 Cygnus solar generators and 14Fold Array portable solar PV panel arrays. This allowed for substantial carbon savings for the festival and provided silent, reliable power over the three day event.

The Electric Hotel

Charging ahead! A mini, mobile phone charging power station.

Brainchild of artist Sebastian Fleiter it is a shining example of audience engagement in renewable energy provision. It offers an interactive service for charging phones in the form of pedal power for a free, quick, and fun energy supply at festivals. The brightly polished 1960s chrome camper van also has solar cells, wind turbines and a pump storage hydro power unit which allows it to run 400 mobile phone charging points with lockers that can be availed of for a small fee, allowing them to charge over 3000 phones a day.

Technical challenges in the first year of this innovative and ambitious non-profit business included the underestimation of the requirements for mobile phone charging. They found that standards for phones are not as common as you might think, and there are many different socket types.

To overcome this difficulty around half of all charging points can be used with any model, while the other half have adapters for mobile phones with unique sockets. This service has ended up being a pragmatic idea for providing renewable electricity to festival goers, originating from an idea incorporating the worlds of art and technology.
Currently, new power generators are being developed for The Electric Hotel, and they have received funding from the European Union EFRE programme, as well as various awards for their endeavours.

The Electric Hotel not only provides an affordable and necessary renewable energy powered service, but simultaneously informs and engages festival goers in alternative energy procurement.