1. What artistic freedom or hindrance does going green create?
Potentially imposes restriction on what you can and can’t do – powering a show off fuel cell in our case immediately imposed a 5kw max power constraint which has the potential to affect the quantity and type of lighting fixtures you can use, as well as potentially limiting how far you can push things in a tech.
Lantern placement and visual appearance of lanterns also becomes an issue. People are used to tungsten sources: Placing LEDs in a theatre with a low rig makes a bold “futuristic” artistic statement. LED fixtures opens up the world of colour changing creating more artistic freedom during a tech. The LED lighting in our bar allows front of house staff to change the mood of the bar, something not possible with our previously static rig.
It also allowed us to create valuable relationships with companies already working on similar projects or equipment (e.g. White Light, PixelRange, ETC, Selecon, Central), and has, as a result, given us access to equipment otherwise out of our budget.
2. What would you differently in a similar project?
More accurate monitoring tools are needed in our case to allow us to better meassure (and understand) loads.
3. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to do this?
Play with equipment in advance where possible.Don’t rule out tungsten sources. Talk to as many people in advance as possible and look at as many products as possible from different manufacturers. Don’t forget about simple energy saving measures (e.g. turning dimmers / stage lighting / computers off when not needed)
4. What has been your biggest problem? How did you solve it?
Problem: Unfamiliarity with equipment (including the fuel cell)
Solution: Trial and error, playing with and testing equipment, and asking people in the know.
5. What have the advantages been? Such as more time, more assistance, larger budget?
Access to technology otherwise outside our budget, often supported by technical expertise of individuals working in the industry. Industry and press exposure
6. What has surprised you?
The effectiveness and energy efficiency of many tungsten sources (e.g. Selecon 50w Aureols, ETC Source 4s). The effectiveness of lower wattage lamps (when re-lamping our Source 4s with 375 lamps instead of 575w lamps we expected to have to run them at close to 100% to get an output equivalent to a 575w lamp at 60%, where as in reality we still get away with running the 375s at 60%). How unfamiliar many people in the industry are with low energy equipment when you start to ask questions, and therefore how hard it can be to find out about low energy equipment (e.g. our method of finding a good brand of low energy Par38 bulbs was to buy one of each we could find as no one seemed to know the answer already).
7. Is there anything you would like to add?
Theatre has always thrived on creativity, collaboration and solving complex problems with limited resources. The challenge of making theatre more sustainable relies on and requires the same skill set. People who find solutions to problems or innovative ways of reducing waste or electricity consumption should share their knowledge and experience of equipment and techniques. Everyone is free to post on http://www.arcolaenergy.com/contribute/, and the more people that do the more the industry will learn.
