Really interesting report by Ecolibrium on Green Travel for Events.
The reports states :
Travel and transport is the most significant source of emissions from event production and touring, typically accounting for more than 80% of an outdoor event’s carbon footprint in the UK.5
The Taking Action section goes on to giving recommendations on how to reduce your event's travel-related emissions. As in the case of the sustainability guidelines we have talked about in a previous post on our blog, recommendations are great, but the question of their actual implementations remains. Implementation requires overcoming 4 major hurdles:
- Event designers need to be aware of the guidelines
- Event designers need to have access to the guidelines at the time they actually design the event. We are talking here about either access in their head/mind, or access through any type of tool such as a book, web site, or software tool.
- Event designers need to also have enough understanding of the guideline to actually implement them
- The tool and process used by designers needs to accommodate the implementation of the guidelines
A number of Ecolibrium's recommendations are handled in EventMapStudio. In a previous article we've described the different technologies we use to assist event producers to make their event more sustainable. They range from User Interface design, to smart wizards, or information design. They are applied to different phase of the event design process, from event definition, to event layout, all the way to event promotion and activation.
Let's take some of the report's recommendations and see how EventMapStudio facilitate their implementation
Promote/provide car-sharing services
EventMapStudio support the inclusion of car-sharing services at multiple levels:
- Carpool and Car-share parking building block are provided so they can be included in the event planning. Moreover, they are clearly marked as sustainable options as opposed to other forms of parking.
- The intelligent algorithm that powers the real-time user feedback on sustainability checks for the presence of these options, alerts the users in case they have not been included.
- The intelligent algorithm that generates the event sustainability rating checks for these options and considers their absence or presence in the rating it generates.
- The Sustainability Information made available to the public lists any carpool or car-sharing parking, and explicitly point them out as more sustainable options for the public to use. It also explicitly credits the event organizers for making such options available.
Provide clear information about alternative ways to travel.
EventMapStudio helps the event organizers include more sustainable ways to travel in several ways:
- Sustainable transportation building blocks are provided and clearly marked as sustainable options. These include Carpool, Car-sharing, Bicycle, Electric car parking areas, Bus/shuttle/taxi drop-off areas, and Public Transit stations.
- An Event Intelligence wizard helps the event producer automatically locate public transit stations available around the event, and include them on their event layout. Another wizard does the same thing for bicycle sharing locations.
- The intelligent algorithm that powers the real-time user feedback on sustainability checks for the presence of these sustainable travel options, alerts the users in case they have not been included.
- The intelligent algorithm that generates the event transportation sustainability rating checks for these sustainable travel options and considers their absence or presence in the rating it generates.
- The Sustainability Information made available to the public lists any sustainable travel options, and explicitly point them out as more sustainable options for the public to use. It also explicitly credits the event organizers for making such options available.
Provide electric car charging
EventMapStudio helps the event organizers include more sustainable ways to travel in several ways:
- Electric car parking is provided as a building block and clearly marked as sustainable options.
- The intelligent algorithm that powers the real-time user feedback on sustainability checks for the presence of Electric car parking, alerts the users in case it has not been included.
- The intelligent algorithm that generates the event transportation sustainability rating checks for Electric car parking and considers its absence or presence in the rating it generates.
- The Sustainability Information made available to the public lists Electric car parking, and explicitly point it out as more sustainable option for the public to use. It also explicitly credits the event organizers for making Electric car parking available.
Provide secure cycle storage at the event, and ensure people are aware of it in advance.
- Bicycle parking and Bike Rack are provided as a building block and clearly marked as sustainable options.
- Our Event Intelligence wizard can identify and locate all the bicycle sharing location available around an event's location
- The intelligent algorithm that powers the real-time user feedback on sustainability checks for the presence of Bicycle parking, or Bike Rack alerts the users in case neither has been included.
- The intelligent algorithm that generates the event transportation sustainability rating checks for Bicycle parking and considers its absence or presence in the rating it generates.
- The Sustainability Information made available to the public lists Bicycle parking and Bike Rack, and explicitly points them out as more sustainable options for the public to use. It also explicitly credits the event organizers for making them available.
Encourage artists to consider their travel plans and emissions.
EventMapstudio explicitly asks the event organizer whether or not they have
Provide clear travel information in advance on the website, e.g. a map of the site and the locality with the nearest bus stops and other local transport links clearly marked, e.g. links to bus timetables or shuttle bus options.
EventMapStudio enables events to automatically publish for the public a detailed map that includes transportation options, including all the more sustainable options (see above). This pubic map is responsive so it is equally accessible from a desktop computer or from a phone. It can be included on the event's web site. This is achieved using 4 main strategies
- We provide the building block corresponding to sustainable transportation options , so the event designer can include them
- We provide the user interface to facilitate the users' behavior of selecting such options
- Our Event Intelligence algorithms support the new behavior, by, for example identifying all the bicycle sharing stations available in the area around the event.
- We provide the data structures and the functionality to allow the seamless generation and publication of the map.
Promote sustainable options in communications.
EventMapStudio enables events to automatically publish for the public a detailed map that includes transportation options. This map also includes sustainable options such as water use, energy use, food, and solid waste management options. In the same way we have described for transportation, and using all the same techniques and strategies, EventmapStudio enables the inclusion, and promotion of sustainable options at events.
Our Conclusion
Ecolibrium's report on Green Travel for Events includes many insights on sustainable event travel. It is a welcome addition to all the work organizations such as Julie's bicycle, Vision 2025, Ecolibrium, or Reeve do to better understand event sustainability, and derive best practices in the field. Our work at EventMapStudio is to integrate all these valuable learning into our event design tool so all this knowledge and best practices are seamlessly integrated in the behavior of our users as they design their events.
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