Arcola

TEDx Youth @Thames Event – 20 November – ZSL London Zoo

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If the voices of young people alive today were heard in parliaments, councils,
courtrooms and corridors of power, what would we do differently? If future
generations not yet born could speak to us now, what would they say about the
world we hand down to them?

With speakers who have innovative ideas and creative solutions to the challenges intergenerational justice poses for topics such as climate change and sustainability, democracy, law, and economics, its certain to be a fascinating afternoon. For more information including how to book tickets, see HERE

The event is part of a global network of independently organised TED events.

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Better Batteries

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BETTER BATTERIES

Better Batteries is a UK-wide campaign encouraging the music and theatre industries to make the switch to using rechargeable battery systems, particularly for portable sound equipment, and increase battery recycling rates in line with government regulations.

WHY?

  • Rechargeable batteries have 32 times less impact on the environment than disposables.
  • Rechargeable batteries are completely reliable.
  • Significant cash savings can be made from using a rechargeable system.

Julie’s Bicycle invites you to find out more and get involved at www.BetterBatteries.info, they are launching the nationwide campaign to raise awareness to the environmental and financial benefits of using rechargeable batteries.

Recycle your Batteries

In 2009 only 10% of batteries were recycled in the UK and in February 2010 regulation was put in place requiring this to increase to 18% in 2011, and 45% by 2016. Recycling batteries is crucial to reuse finite natural resources and prevent the release of harmful chemicals such as lead, mercury or cadmium.

Case Studies and more information available here

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Sustainable Solutions for a Fair Future talk: Maria Adebowale

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The next ‘Sustainable Solutions for a Fair Future’ talk will take place on Thursday 29th September in the Arcola Tent. Our speaker this time will be:

Maria Adebowale, who is the founder and director of the environmental justice organisation: Capacity Global. She will be talking about Capacity Global and how they aim to support every ones right to a clean and healthy environment by supporting strong, diverse and multi cultural community action as well as providing innovative thinking on the opportunities for environmental justice and equality, policy, research, campaigns and legislation.

Maria was recently listed in The Independent on Sunday’s –Top 100 Environmentalists.She works on environmental justice and environmental equality policy. She has a Masters in Public International Law from SOAS, University of London. Maria is also the author of numerous publications in environmental justice and equality and the principal author of The Third Sector Climate Change Declaration. She is also the Access and Inclusion Commissioner for English Heritage, a trustee for Allavida, Matron of the Women’s Environment Network and Chair of Waterwise. She is a former Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission..

Time:  Doors open 6.15pm, starts at 6.30pm

Venue: Arcola Tent, 2 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL

Cost:  £3 (£2 concessions). Pay on the door

SSFF website: http://www.arcolaenergy.com/contribute/going-green/green-events/sustainable-solutions-for-a-fair-future/

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The Green Deal: a new revolution in energy efficiency

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The Green Deal: a new revolution in energy efficiency

As part of its sustainability, Arcola Theatre continuously strives to improve its energy efficiency. In this post, we take a closer look at the Green Deal initiative being set up by the government to increase energy efficient efforts in the UK.

What is it?

The Green Deal is a new government initiative, which is intended to revolutionise the energy efficiency of British properties. It is anticipated the Green Deal will be launched in autumn 2012.

Through the Green Deal, many households and businesses can improve their energy efficiency and reduce their fuel bills through better insulation and installing energy efficient boilers. The Deal is hailed as an innovative financing mechanism which allows consumers to pay back through their energy bills. Thus, the crucial aspect is that there are no upfront costs whatsoever. Therefore, consumers can see the Green Deal charge alongside the reductions in energy use which generate savings on their bill. It also means that if they move out and cease to be the bill-payer at that property, the financial obligation doesnt move with them but moves to the next bill payer: the charge is only paid whilst the benefits are enjoyed.

Why is it needed?

At a local level, the Green Deal will enable many households and businesses to improve the energy efficiency of their properties and thus generate economic gains. At a national level, the UK needs to become more energy efficient to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.

Break down of the consumer journey

1. Advice
All businesses and households will be permitted to an energy efficiency assessment, undertaken by an accredited assessor.

2. Finance
A new finance mechanism is introduced, whereby the cost of energy efficient installations is paid back through the energy bill.

3. Installations
Accredited installer will install the measures, subject to the highest standard and to ensure that genuine energy bill and carbon savings are met.

4. Repayments and follow up
After the energy efficiency measures have been installed, a charge will be added to the energy meter at the property and will enable repayments through their energy bills for any Green Deal charges taken out. Repayment obligations belong to the occupier of the property.

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Fair trade versus Local Produce / Fair trade and Local Produce

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Arcola Theatre, in association with the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, is connected with Growing Communities, an organisation that deals with the distribution of local grown produce. Growing Communities is a social business which runs community-led box schemes which can be collected from various pick-up points in Hackney, and is all local, fresh vegetables! As with Fairtrade products, local produce also have numerous benefits: supporting the local economy, reducing food miles, and enhancing community involvement and spirit.

With the concerns surrounding climate change increasing day to day, many firms, households and consumers are searching for ways to reduce our negative impact on the environment and to reduce our carbon footprint. With this in mind, the argument becomes in favour of local produce and somewhat against imported fair-trade. Thus, this raises the question: can they not both exist together?

Many of the products that we buy are only grown in developing countries and therefore it is logical to buy these Fairtrade products. For example, us Brits, we do love our tea! And tea, where does it come from? The majority of tea plantations are found in Asia, South America and Africa; places where the climate is suited to growing tea. Thus, in this case it makes sense to transport and ship over Fairtrade goods rather than growing and producing local goods. It can even be said that in some instances the level of carbon emissions is lower from transporting Fairtrade goods than producing local. In addition, the number of jobs created in tea plantations provides a boost to the local economy and their carbon footprint is reduced as they can afford to buy local food.

Buying local, however, does have its benefits and is often preferred for certain types of food. Our desire to buy local is often a result of our increasing concern over food quality and the need to trust what we buy. With local foods, it is possible to go to the Farmers market and meet the farmer and learn more about where the food comes from. This is increasingly being for advertised international foods through TV adverts and marketing, however the ease with which it occurs with local foods is unparalleled.

At the end of the day, some goods are just better suited to being produced abroad and others that we love are better made locally. A harmonious result is that balance of both types of goods in our shopping basket.

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Arcola joins the theatre DEC pool

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The Theatres Trust and Julie’s Bicycle have joined together to undertake a comprehensive survey of environmental and sustainability issues facing performing arts venues in the UK.

Arcola is participating in the Theatres Trust Ecovenue project, which is improving the environmental performance of 48 London theatres by providing theatre-specific advice and awards of Display Energy Certificates. The Theatres DEC Pool will compare the performance of participating London venues with national theatre building performance.

The Theatres DEC Pool will cover all theatres throughout the UK and enable venues of similar types to compare approaches and share best practice. Theatres will also be able to see where they can contribute to promoting a more sustainable theatre sector. Analysis of the data will inform the next series of Government DEC benchmarks so they can be relevant to the theatre industry as a whole and will be incorporated into the Trust’s established Theatres Database.

See the Theatres Trust press release for further information: HERE

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Arcola Theatre’s Carbon Footprint, April 2011

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We are working with Julies Bicycle to monitor our carbon emissions using their Industry Green Tool, which involves entering figures for our consumption of electricity, water, and consumables as well as figures on staff and audience travel in to their website on a monthly basis. April was the first month in out new building on Ashwin Street where we have had enough data to start using their monitoring tool again. Arcola Theatre’s carbon footprint for April 2011 was equal to 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide, that’s 0.38 kg CO2e per seat, per show. The average person in the UK will emit 10 tonnes of CO2e per year, if Arcola Theatre continues with these emissions throughout the year our annual carbon footprint would be 36 tonnes of CO2e.

We don’t think that’s good enough, over the month of May we will be working to reduce our carbon emissions further. We will start by ensuring that we are not heating the building unnecessarily over the warmer weather and ensuring all electrical outlets are switched off when the building is closed. The Industry Green tool assumes an average travel emission for each audience member per show, unless we enter data regarding audience travel. The estimated average travel emissions are the biggest contributor to our carbon footprint at present and we’d like to be able to provide the site with more accurate data on audience travel therefore we are conducting an Audience Travel Survey this month. If you would like to help us with this then please click on the link at the end of this article.

Travel Survey

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PVC Tape in Lighting Rigs.

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Rubber strap at work!

With each show that comes into Arcola comes a different lighting rig.  We encourage production companies to look at ways they can reduce the carbon footprint of their show, and last week we introduced a new way of doing this during the pre rig of Uncle Vanya.

The large amount of cable used in theatre lighting rigs is usually taped to a lighting bar with PVC tape, which is not reusable.  We have estimated that approximately 198m of this tape is used per production.  We did think of using Velcro ties instead, but Lighting Designer on Uncle Vanya, Alex Wardle came up with an idea using rubber bands, which we developed so we could use recycled materials.

For the production of Uncle Vanya however, we’ve swapped this PVC tape for reusable rubber straps, made from used bicycle inner tubes. Just under 100 of these were made especially for this production.  We hope that more companies will be interested in using these straps if the trial on Uncle Vanya goes well, so that eventually we can be free of PVC tape on our productions.

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Arcole Sustainable Solutions for a Fair Future series continues Thursday

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A brief reminder about the next event in the Sustainable Solutions for a Fair Future series.

Join us this Thursday from 6pm, as Charlotte Webster from Solar Century will be discussing the global potential of solar power, including macro and micro uses; barriers to uptake and new policies, and the UK story of solar power. We’ll discuss what’s happening on the ground and what individuals can do.

Founded in 1998, Solar Century is the UK’s largest independent solar energy company and has delivered a number of high profile projects including the Eden Project, the CIS Tower and the Big Brother House. Solar Century is working on the largest solar housing project with 650 homes in South Yorkshire powered by solar electricity by 2012.

Cycle Sunday organised in partnership with Artsadmin, will take place on 12 June. It will be a jam-packed day with events, discussions, workshops and artistic interventions all about bikes and cycling. Click HERE for more information

Arcola Energy for Schools.

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We launched Arcola Energy for Schools during Climate Week 2011 (21 – 27 March).

Climate Week is a national campaign to get people taking action on climate change.  It has created some controversy due to its partners, see Guardian blog HERE.

Arcola has enjoyed the opportunity of bringing the excitement of the science of renewable energy to over 100 local school children. Full report coming soon on our latest news page

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