Ecotheatre and beyond

[envio-mentalist]

Hello there I am new to this forum and was checking out the whole green thing and came across your comment.

 

The Arcola - this is the Theatre that until recently claimed to be or predicted it was going to be the only carbon neutral theatre in the UK. This confuses me, especially as when I visited they had not even done the most basic stuff to reduce energy consumption like draft exclusion and insulation of doors and windows! The cafe, which is full of LED fixtures - low energy of course - has them burning brightly all day and as they do not produce much light I can only assume it is for effect!

 

Now I totally understand the value in bringing the subject to the discussion table. The folk at the Arcola are fantastic at PR and getting lots of press coverage to bring environmental issues to the fore and into the mainstream. But surely if you are going to hold yourself up as a exemplar of energy efficiency then a few low wattage fixtures and some hydrogen fuel cells are not going to cut it. If you have attracted people to your venue by engaging them with climate change issues then surely you need to demonstrate affordable, real, tangiable solutions to venue GHG (green house gas) emissions? Otherwise, from the outside it looks like pretty cynical marketing and a bit like emporours new clothes syndrome!

 

Recently I heard on the grape vine that PLASA were advising its members that BS8901 - the British Standard for sustainable events, is going to become as vital as health and safety in our industry and that if its members were sensible they would take PLASA up on its £2650 + VAT course on how to become BS8901 complient. A five seminar course held in London, so if you live outside it's not ideal. A correspondance course or perhaps on line event would perhaps be more appropriate and cost less than hiring a venue and what ever else constitutes the astronomical fee.

 

Surely something like this should be free, come out of membership fees, afterall it is for the universal reduction of GHG emissions and the greater good. I would suggest it would also provide a decent offset for the ever increasing number of events PLASA is holding around the country, all of which produce plenty of unecessary carbon emissions and waste.

 

I have read the standard, which by the way is not law, and any individual with any common sense could integrate its guidelines into their daily working practices and business strategy - to buy the standard costs considerably less than £2650 + VAT - £120 to non members and £60 to members. I am sure if you work in events of any kind you can encourage your employer to get it for you. See: http://www.bsi-global.com/en/Standards-and...oducts/BS-8901/

 

Of course the other thing is that whilst PLASA is extolling the virtues of BS8901 and sustainability they are also organizing a track day at Silverstone for their members - oh the irony!

 

I have written enough for discussion so far. However I feel strongly that its time to put the screws on our industry associations, our venues and our management. We must also take action whereever possible to cut our own carbon emissions and others, it need not cost the earth, be boring or depressing. Most of the action we can take are pretty cheap to do - look at: http://ecotheater.wordpress.com/how-to-go-green/ for the basics. I will come back with more very soon and it won't cost you a penny.

 

And remember that in entertainment by far the biggest carbon footprint comes from the audience travel and then the offices, it is generally not what happens on the stage for a few hours a day that is the problem. The same goes for trade shows - it is the audience travel to those shows that costs, it would be interesting to know if more local shows mean people go to more shows or just the one local to them - Perhaps PLASA could do an audience survey on their PLASA show in Leeds and see if those attending will now not need to come to the show in London in September?

 

I've just lit a show at the Arcola in Hackney who are working hard to make themselves into a green theatre, while some of their ideas don't work brilliantly (the LED equipment is a bit disco and doesn't dim very nicely, while the Flourescents give a nice light but snap on and off at around 2% and give funny colours while changing colour and fading up and down) but they have done a couple of very nice things:

 

- They have down lamped their Source 4's to 375w, since their grid is only at 3m they have no real need for the full whack of a 575 unit, and the 375w stuff is suprisingly bright, even when next to a 750w Source 4

- They have down lamped the Acclaim fresnels to 300w, again these work very well, although you have to re-consider your colour choice a bit as they have a much warmer colour temperature than the 650w units

- They have got some Selecon Aurials, which are 50w birdie type units, with an in-built transformer and a 'beamshaper' (lens and shutters to you and me) on the front, these are good as they are very small and can be tucked in around the set, and they are suprisingly bright, however they are really designed as architectural units and so focusing them is a pain and they don't lock off very well.

 

I think the above are probably some of the best ways to go - looking at whether you need the full brightness for all the lights you have and down-lamping where possible. The next step for them is to down-lamp their Par 64's to CP88 and they will be away.

 

I'm not a fan of LED for theatre, gave it a go but you just can't fade it or get a good intensity, however I can see where it would work for music/R&R, Flourescent has it's benefits but again the snap on/off is a problem.

[ecotheatre]

well what can I say, thanks very much for all the feedback, I thought no one had answered as I didn't know about getting email notifications for responses! I will try and link this thread to my website - any help on this would be welcome.

 

I totally understand those who say they have enough to do just doing their job without the often percieved added cost of being eco friendly. To be honest all feedback is good and gives a much more realistic view of the industry and what is actually going on. The very fact that we are all talking about it is great. As you know I used to do a forum Trawler some years ago and maybe I might suggest we run one for this thread. Whilst there is much the individual can do, it is hopeless without the support and efforts of organizations, manufacturers and trade associations.

 

It goes without saying that any efforts you are making or information you have on what is going on in the industry would be very welcome - good and bad! You can feed back to the blog on Ecotheatre - Ecobitch: http://ecotheatre.co.uk/?page_id=8.

 

I am also currently doing an MSc in Architecture: Energy and Environment studies and I have various papers and studies in the pipeline such as: getting more natural light into auditoriums and public areas: how much more electricity we use on our stages even though fixtures and machinery is more energy efficient whether folk are really turning off their moving lights or if staff scheduling or other pressures means that this is impractical. But again, any suggestions for research are welcome.

 

I am inclined to agree with enviro-mentalist that more needs to come from our industry associations and unions. In that respect it is good to see the ABTT has incorporated sustainability and energy efficiency in its big yellow book - Technical Standards for Places of Entertainment. http://www.abtt.org.uk/publications.htm.

 

There is also a new website: www.greeningtheatres.com which has some useful information and of course: www.ecotheatre.co.uk!

 

In terms of the Arcola, take a look at their site: http://www.arcolaenergy.com/contribute/

 

I am sure they would not mind some scrutiny in what they are actually delivering (enviro-mentalist)

 

Once again many thank for your feedback and keep it coming.