Our work and the environment:

[Solstace]

I think this is a general topic rather than a teabreak one - moderators please feel free to move as necessary.

 

Upon reading a topic regarding batteries for radio mics in Sound earlier today, it's kinda got me thinking...

 

We use lots of power for lighting, sound, rigging and other technical aspects of many a performance. We regularly consume inordinate amounts of glassware, silicon, PCB's, batteries and all-sorts of other planet-destroying gubbins, all in the name of entertainment.

 

At the same time, many venues I've worked have had signs all round the place providing useful energy-saving information, such as turn off the photocopier, lights, heating etc when not in use.

 

So my questions are:

 

1) How much damage are we actually doing to the environment

and 2) What are we or the manufacturers of our kit doing to reduce this?

 

For incidence, there must surely be better ways of powering radio mics than the simple (disposable) AA's, PP3's etc. And surely filament heating isn't the most efficient way to produce light?

 

Discuss...

[andy jackson]

I agree, but I dont think the generall technician will have a great deal of control over it, wether or not he/she wants to.

Every single one of us is working to some form of budget and more often than not they are far to tight, so many people are left to find the cheapest/ most reasonably priced consumables that they can, which are nearly always the ones which damage the environment, this is why although there are plenty of fertilizers on the market farmes choose the cheapest, even though in the long run is will damage their land and inturn their profits.

 

I personaly would love to use renuable sources or more environmentaly friendly products but until they are a similar price and as reliable as the others I wont do, and the products wont get developed to the standards we expect because no one will use them.

 

well thats my opinion!

Andy

[peter]

I'm in the middle of a research project along these very lines as part of my dissertation topic. What I find most interesting is the fact that whilst changing over to energy efficient sources (LED battens instead of cyc lights, for example - incidentally, I've heard very good things about the new PixelLine 110 for this purpose) may be a large capital investment, it can pay for itself within 5 to 10 years on electricity savings alone. Not to mention all the savings in gel, both environmental and financial.

 

Just to throw another one into the bag - how much PVC tape do we throw away in a day/week/year? Plastics manufacturing is surely one of the most pollutive and inefficient of all manufacturing processes.

[Freddie]

Or Gaffer for that matter?

[Simon Lewis]

Have a look at the RoHS and WEEE directives....

 

soon it will be illegal to use devices containing some of the more toxic metals, and most waste electrical and electronic equipment should be recycled.

 

In theory, when you replace electrical devices with shiny new ones, your supplier must take back and recycle the old units, or arrange for this to be done (without charge !).

 

Simon

[Stewart Newlands]

Have a look at the RoHS and WEEE directives....

 

soon it will be illegal to use devices containing some of the more toxic metals, and most waste electrical and electronic equipment should be recycled.

 

In theory, when you replace electrical devices with shiny new ones, your supplier must take back and recycle the old units, or arrange for this to be done (without charge !).

 

Simon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Saw a full show in LEDs last bank holiday whole thing ran from a 13A plug!

[mikienorth]

One way we could reduce our impact as an industry is in battery control.

Granted a fresh battery every show is pretty important if you don't want to look a fool, in a radio mic.

But, do you have to throw those batteries, which on a large musical can become quite a sum very quickly?

They can go into your torches, for a start, and, although you will be changing torch batteries slightly more often, they are not being thrown away straight away, and an admittedly small amount of batteries need not be used by us if we do this.

 

Also, when I was based in a hotel overseas doing this, I changed batteries, due to budget, every three days, on a rotation, so there was always one mic with a brand new battery in, for the featured artist that night.

I only very rarely had a battery start to go over the course of an evening, and it wasn't the hardest thing to change it.

I would have preferred to used fresh daily, but if you can almost get away with it, why not.

 

But I digressed a little. What I want to say is, that in this hotel, they had fixed to the wall behind reception a box for the depositing of batteries for recycling. Duracell Alkaline batteries can be recycled. Maybe the industry would do well to look at this, and possibly arrange for battery bins at venues, to firstly prevent the chemicals contained within from going go landfill, and also to at least show a little willing and recycle the batteries, we send them away to be recycled, and reduce some of our harmful waste.

 

Often, boxes and boxes of batteries are left at my venue. They can last quite well in a converted (courtesy of wavicle) maglite, and last extremely well in followspot sights before we have to dispose of them. (save us a bit of cash too)

[the kid]

I think re batteries depending on the sort, pp3 is the main one I'm thinking of, theatres could colabrate with school's. Electronic/science depatrments use them quite allot, well they did in my school. Thats not exacaly half the amount brought but its a considerable number.

[foh_al]

On the subject of batteries, I think rechargeables have far more potential than we give them credit for.

 

We've been using them (AA & PP3, NiMH) in wireless systems and maglites for several years, and I at least have never had a single problem. Sure, they don't last as long per charge as a good quality alkaline equivalent, but as long as they are properly cared for throughout their life, they can be relied upon. Very rarely do I feel the need to use a disposable battery for wireless, although on most shows I make sure that the chosen rechargeables are not more than a few months old - they have their date of manufacture printed on.

 

Just a thought,

 

Alex

[martinw]

One of this industry's biggest environmental impacts is the amount of electricity it consumes, and over the past 10 years, some advances have been positive, and others negative.

 

One the positive side, the introduction of the source 4 and its competitors have produced large energy savings over old, inefficient profile fixtures like Strand Cantata and CCT Sil. In some cases, 2K Strand Cadenza fixtures have been replaced with 575W source 4 fixtures.

 

On the negative side, these gains may well have been partially offset by the use of discharge based fixtures (mostly moving light) which are left on for long periods of time with the lamp burning at maximum power, with the dimming shutter fully in. These fixtures will often be switched on with the lamp running when the rig check is carried out, and then be left running all night, no matter how often they are used in the show.

Whilst some fixtures will reduce the lamp power when the shutter is in, most of the cheaper fixtures don't do this, and sit there burning your money.

 

Martin

[Andrew C]

- incidentally, I've heard very good things about the new PixelLine 110 for this purpose) may be a large capital investment, it can pay for itself within 5 to 10 years on electricity savings alone.  Not to mention all the savings in gel, both environmental and financial. 

ne of the most pollutive and inefficient of all manufacturing processes. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

5 - 10 years? You will never get the bean-counters to agree to a depreciation over that time. I would have thought that this form of "High Tech" kit is unlikely to last 3 years in a professional environment. That is not to say I don't want a more efficient future.

 

Additionally, when thinking about the green agenda, that reducing the power consumption reduces the load on A/C plant.

[mikienorth]

On the negative side, these gains may well have been partially offset by the use of discharge based fixtures (mostly moving light) which are left on for long periods of time with the lamp burning at maximum power, with the dimming shutter fully in.  These fixtures will often be switched on with the lamp running when the rig check is carried out, and then be left running all night, no matter how often they are used in the show.

Whilst some fixtures will reduce the lamp power when the shutter is in, most of the cheaper fixtures don't do this, and sit there burning your money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

To the best of my understanding, the leaving on of a discharge source uses considerably less energy than striking and restriking the lamp. It is also, when consideration is taken into account of the amount of time it is left on and not doing anything, actually more beneficial in terms of lamp life to leave them on, as around three hours is removed from the life of a lamp when it is struck.

Thus, if a rig is powered up, used for a matinee, then there is less than three hours between the performances, it is actually more economical and better for the lamp, to just leave the lamp on. Admittedly no with shutters closed, but open withe, in the attitude best suited to the fixture's forced or convection cooling designs, typically pointing lens down.

 

These type of lamp use a massive surge of energy to strike, and once up to temperature are designed to use considerably less energy to gain an equivalent light output. A 2kW tungsten source uses, after striking, the same amount of energy as a 2kW discharge source, but it is obvious which is the brighter.

 

Lamp life of a discharge source is considerably greater than a tungsten source also. Are these type of lamp, regardless of their end use in a moving head, or film lighting, or even in converted generic fixtures not already due to their energy saving characteristics, and reduction in waste, due to less replacement, not already a step in the right direction?

[chris512]

I'm glad that this topic has again been raised on this forum, because as I'm sure many people are aware the man made changes to the environment and more specifically climate change is possibly the greatest threat to us all...

 

And therefore I do find it very difficult to be on the one hand campaiging for awareness on this issue, whilst when working having to plot an lx rig using a load of movers and 30k of generic lighting!

 

But there are several thing we can do and a load more than manufactures need to do. For example the issue before of PVC tape (which really gets to me) why don't we have an alternative for this already? Henry Ford was experimenting with agricultural materials back in the 20s and hemp plastic would seem to be a great alternative to PVC, and lets face it in technical theatre would be a great market for it.

 

PVC tape is one example but things like paint (which is incredibly damaging), wood/mdf, the amount of energy used, batteries etc all need to be tackled asap really.

 

its also just the simple things that need looking at. examples:

at my current venue someone has rigged 6 x 1k codas as house working light, there are much better and energy saving ways to do this.

don't leave equipment on when its not needed (pretty obvious isn't it!) it may take 3 seconds longer for the monitor to come back on, but think of the amount of power we'd all save.

when sourcing gear try to do it as local as possible (I know this is sometimes difficult) not only are you cutting down on transport emissions (which is the fastest rising area of UK C02 emissions) but your keeping money within the local economy.

if your a producing venue going through a lot of wood and sets which then are getting skipping find out if someone locally could use those materials which may not be useful for you but saves them a lot.

 

this is a pretty brief post, I could go on with much more but I'd be very interested to see what other ideas people have on this!

[Guest lightnix]

My €0.02...

 

Batteries

Definitely room for improvement here, especially as power consumption for things like radio mics has improved over the years. I frequently scavenge for used batteries, for use at festivals over the summer. No disrespect to any sound engineers, but most of the objections I've encountered to using rechargeables in radio mics have centred on the "extra work" involved in managing a rechargeable - based system (dare I use the word "laziness"?), although the initial cost has also been a concern.

 

LEDs

It's going to be a good few years before we see LEDs as the "standard" light source, although there are several places where they can be used to replace tungsten in the meantime. One client of mine has recently replaced twenty, energy - guzzling, four cell Coda battens with Pulsar LED gear, having convinced the bean-counters of the savings. I can't remember the exact figures, but believe that the energy saving was estimated at around £600 per quarter, along with about £35 per show in gel and about one hour's labour (£16) per gel change. Assuming three gel changes per week, that adds up to nearly another £370 of savings per quarter. Factor in replacement bulbs and the quarterly saving easily rises to over £1000 !

There are other places where LEDs can make considerable power (and labour) savings, for instance in emergency lighting systems, which could also be solar / wind - powered. The same goes for endless strings of MR16 birdies downlighting venue bars across the nation.

Exhibition stands are another area where LEDs can offer cost reductions, especially when you bear in mind the cost of mains supplies at exhibition venues. LEDs also offer great potential for stand - alone lighting installations, completely independent of mains supplies and again powered by solar / wind charged batteries. I'm looking forward to seeing the solar powered lighting system again, at the Big Green Gathering this year. I only caught a quick glimpse of it running last time, although it was still going strong at the end of a long Saturday evening's gig.

One final thing to consider about LEDs on the environmental front, is that they also require less energy to manufacture.

 

Discharge sources

Series 200 Vari-lites featured a standby mode, which dropped the lamp to half power when the intensity iris or shutters were closed. I'm not sure whether other manufacturers do this, as it obviously adds to the cost of a unit. I'm still a little suspicious about discharge lamp life claims made by manufacturers as such sources often start to discolour, get dimmer and flicker way before their quoted lifetime is up.

 

Other

One thing I've often wondered is how many tons of PVC we peel off our shoes and rigs each year, then dump in the environment without a second thought. At LAMDA we used to make reusable cable ties, by cutting old inner tubes from tractor and lorry tyres into loops, which we then wrapped around short lengths of ½x½" wood. This practice saved hundreds of pounds a year and was a fine example of recycling in action.

Then there are things like packaging - how many venues / companies have an active recycling policy.

The new regs which place the responsibility for recycling on retailers and manufacturers is all very well, but there are problems higher up the "chain" as seen with the recent "fridge mountain" fiasco. OK, fine, Wavicle (for instance) can potentially recycle old products, if the customer can make the effort to return them to us, but at present there are few, if any, facilities to which we could take them. Although no direct charge can be made for recycling returned products, complying with these regulations will increase overheads for all businesses and in the end, these costs will have to be passed back to the consumer in the form of higher prices. The same consumer who will then say, "Oh no, that's far too expensive", buy their goods from suppliers in countries where these regulations do not apply and simply chuck them away when they expire. It strikes me that much of the "commitment" to the environment on the part of consumers only goes so far at best and at worst, is little more than lip service.

 

When all is said and done, entertainments is a non-productive industry, it doesn't actually make anything, it only consumes resources. If it wanted to be truly environmentally friendly it would just shut down, or stage only "unplugged" type performances.

[sam.henderson]

All the things mentioned are great things to do but as a general technician, stage manager or designer you may not have a lot of control over being able to do them. However there are plenty of basic things you can do in a venue like recycling paper, safely disposing of used Pyro, old smoke/ haze fluid in a non-harmful way to the environment and even more non-production related getting a car share into work etc. etc.

 

Sam