Bristol to launch world-first ‘clean power hub’ for festivals and film crews | Environment
Artists like Billie Eilish and Neil Young and festivals around the world have taken action to make their concerts more sustainable by using green power.
The concept will be taken a step further in the south-west of England next summer when a “clean power hub” is set up in Bristol to benefit festivals, major acts and film crews.
It is claimed that local governments are in this situation for the first time in the world. Bristol city council And West of England mayoral combined authority – we have guaranteed clean energy supply to events and artists on this scale.
Bristol city council leader Tony Dyer said making a city carbon neutral required action from all parts of the economy, including culture.
He said: “This is a welcome approach to exploring how we can support the events sector to move away from the use of fuel-powered generators, thereby improving air quality and reducing emissions.”
Describing it as an exciting development, Helen Godwin, mayor of the West of England, said: “People in the west love culture and love our environment. Clean energy and creative industries are both important growth sectors for us over the next decade.”
A festival he produced last summer Bristol trip-hop giants Massive Attack were using battery power in their cities and lowest ever carbon emissions for such an event.
The new scheme takes the concept even further. Two sites have been selected for the energy hub in Bristol, where National Grid electricity will be delivered, supplied by 100% renewable suppliers. It will be stored in a set of batteries that can be taken to the field for whatever event or crew needs it.
Executive producer Mark Donne Action 1.5The collective, which brought together artists, technicians and scientists for the project, said no government or commercial organization had attempted such a project on this scale.
“This provides clean mobile power for essentially the entire event season – festivals, other cultural events and film and television productions,” he said.
Donne said he expects more than 20 events will get their energy from the system rather than using generators, which could harm the environment and the health of people working and attending festivals.
like music festivals Love Saves the DayIt will take place at Ashton Court mansion in Bristol in May and Striker Bristol They are showing interest in the Downs in August. “Everyone is incredibly enthusiastic,” Donne said.
He acknowledged that some event organizers might be nervous, but said they could be persuaded to go 50/50 clean power and conventional energy. “We’re realistic. Some people have long-running events and they have a formula, a way of working,” he said.
The project also met with some of the many film and television production companies visiting the southwest for the summer. “Three major production companies have said, yes, we will definitely use it. So there are actually two creative sectors using all the hardware,” Donne said.
He said he believed the environmental and health benefits would be “hugely significant” but added that eventually experts at Tyndall Manchester, which conducts research on climate action and sustainability, would examine the impact.
He said: “This is a climate strategy as well as a clean air strategy and is a world first for Bristol.”
