During the summer months music festivals big and small will be held across the length and breadth of Flanders. Some are relatively small, attracting just a few hundred visitors mainly from the village or town in which they are held. Others such as Tomorrowland and Rock Werchter attract tens of thousands of music lovers from home and abroad.
Travel to and from the festivals is the aspect that has the most impact on the environment. However, diesel generators used at the festival site, the use of old style non-led lighting and cooling systems are also anything but green.
Some Flemish music festivals such as the Paradise City festival that is held at Perk in Flemish Brabant are making real efforts to reduce their carbon footprint by, for example, using solar panels. VRT News’ podcast ‘Ons Climaat’ (Our Climate) examined how festivals in our region are attempting to reduce their impact on the climate.
Festivals in Belgium have made strides to become more sustainable by, for example the introduction of reusable plastic beakers. However, it’s a different story when it comes to energy use. A lot can change and indeed needs to change in order to reduce festivals’ carbon footprint.
Experts examined energy use at the Boomtown Festival in Ghent. The 7-day festival takes place in the city centre and attracted some 25,000 visitors last year. Not surprisingly perhaps, the festival stage was found to use the most electricity.
Solar panels replace diesel generators
As festivals often don’t have access to the electricity grid, many use diesel generators for their electricity supply. As a lot of electricity is required, numerous diesel-powered generators are used. This results in pollution and what’s more, the generators are often inefficient.
However, some festivals have turned their backs on diesels and are using solar panels. One example of this is Paradise City, a dance music festival held at Perk in Flemish Brabant. Recently the festival received an award from the Greener Festival Foundation for being the most sustainable music festival.
In the last edition of Paradise City, the energy for one stage, including associated bars, came entirely from a 435 square metre mobile solar panel installation. The world music festival Sfinks also generates energy on site in this way. Very large festivals such as Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop are also experimenting with green energy.
Leuven University’s (KUL) Cédric Lecluyse told VRT News that why this is a good solution in some cases, it cannot be done everywhere. "At the Boomtown Festival in Ghent (East Flanders) we would have to fill the entire Kouter (the square where the festival takes place, ed.) with solar panels. That's just not possible." A huge festival like Tomorrowland or Rock Werchter would of course also require a very large surface area of solar panels. Moreover, very large batteries would also be needed and these would require transportation (by lorry) to the festival site.
However, by being creative solutions can be found for even the biggest festivals. The Glastonbury Festival in England has a permeant solar panel installation that produces more electricity during the course of the year than the festival uses during its 5 days.
LED lighting and less electricity use by appliance in “stand-by” mode
There are other ways too of reducing the environmental impact of festivals. Here in Flanders for example some festivals have already switched to “sustainable” food courts. At Paradise City meat is off the menu. Instead, festival-goers are served a host of vegetarian alternatives that in as far as possible are made from local produce. Meanwhile, the Sfinks Festival already uses a system that allows it to serve soft drinks “on draught” rather than in cans or bottles. This greatly reduces waste.
There are other so-called “quick wins” that can help make a festival greener. Energy-efficient fridges to keep drinks cool and the use of LED lighting can greatly reduce environmental impact.
Some major bands already started experimenting with their own climate-neutral material a few years ago. Coldplay, for example, stopped touring in 2018 to work out a climate-neutral system. They didn't completely succeed, but the group says that its 2022 tour had only half the environmental impact of its previous tour. Coldplay achieved this thanks to to LED lighting, lighter Belgian-made stage equipment and kinetic flooring that generates energy when the audience jumps up and down.
The study also gives another tip that to some at least may sound surprising. Cut the among of time appliances are left in “stand-by” mode. "Equipment is often left on at night to prevent condensation. That is not always necessary"; Cédric Lecluyse explains. At the Boomtoom Festival energy consumption outside concert hours was cut by a quarter thanks to switching off appliances completely rather than leaving them in stand-by mode. Although this may sound like a lot it is only roughly the equivalent of a diesel car driving the 55 or so kilometres from Bruges to Ghent.
Transport has the most environmental impact
The greatest impact on the environment comes not from the stage or the catering, but from the transportation of equipment, performers and music lovers to and from the festival site. If festivalgoers were all to go to festivals on public transport or by bicycle the environmental impact of festivals would fall significantly.
The set that used the most energy at last year’s Boomtown Festival consumed around the same amount of energy as just three cars travelling one way between Bruges and Ghent. People wishing to use public transport need to be able to get home once the music has stopped. Some concert organisers are already taking this into account. For example, concerts at the AB concert hall in the centre of Brussels now finish early enough to ensure that concertgoers can get home on public transport if they wish. Meanwhile, some music festivals arrange extra train services for festivalgoers.
When Paradise City invested in the provision of night trains the percentage of festivalgoers travelling to the festival by car reportedly fell from almost 59% (in 2021) to 47% (in 2022). Meanwhile, the percentage of people travelling to and from the festival by train increased from 8% in 2021 to 21% in 2022.
There is of course the issue of the transportation the performers and their equipment to and from the festival. This is something that the organisers of the Paradise City festival already take into account. Paradise City's Gilles De Decker told VRT News that "We once refused an artist because he absolutely insisted on taking a private jet. This wasn’t an easy decision, because the artist would have attracted a large audience."
Nevertheless, the festival still does not include artists’ transport when it calculates how far it is to reaching its goal of becoming climate-neutral.