The 2012 London Olympics is billed as the most sustainable one thus far, with a host of green measures ranging from the use of recycled materials for venue construction, to the extensive promotion of using public transportation to venues. This is set to be the new standard for future events and games and is also a pilot for a new ISO 20121 standard.  Has the London Olympics set too high a bar to be followed by future games? Read more

Editor: The London Olympics are alight and besides the performances of athletes from 206 countries, we will be watching with interest to see how the Games live up to the pre-set sustainability standards.

We have followed the sustainability measures for the London Olympic Games with a lot of interest for some time.

We know it is the first time such an event has used the new ISO 20121 standard, which evolved out of the BS8901 standard, which we had some direct experience with in Singapore as SASA was the sustainability consultant’s for the sustainable light art event – i Light Marina Bay – in Singapore earlier this year.

See the case study at www.sustain-abiltty-showcase.com

We obtained from the British Commission some of the sustainability highlights of the London Olympics and also expert commentary from Colin Hunt, Honorary Fellow in Economics at University of Queensland.

From British High Commission Singapore:

Some additional examples of how the London Olympics will be remarkably sustainable, in particular in transport and waste management.

-           64 % of construction materials were transported to the Olympic Park by rail or water, thereby reducing the project’s carbon footprint.

-           It is the first truly “public transport” Games. This includes the ‘Active Travel Programme’ to get tens of thousands of people cycling and walking to venues.

-           98% of material from the Olympic Park demolition work was reclaimed for reuse and recycling – exceeding a target of 90%.

-           2 million tonnes of soil were cleansed of pollutants and more than 80% of soil was reused on-site, in the UK’s largest ever clean-up of contaminated land.

-           The use of temporary structures that can be dismantled and re-used after the Games – in particular, the Basketball arena, one of the biggest temporary venues ever built for a Games (see the photo below).

-           4,000 colour-coded recycling bins and composting bins are being placed at venues and the Olympic Park, aiming to achieve 70% re-use, recycling or composting during the Games.

The different ways the London Olympics 2012 has been planned and built while considering the angle of the local ecology.

-          Carving out a new ecology of wildlife, plants and woodlands, the 250 acres of parkland is one of the biggest urban parks to be built in Europe for more than a century.

-          It has been designed to mitigate the effects of climate change and increased rainfall in urban areas by acting as a sponge to help manage the water flow to the Thames.

-          More than 4,000 trees, 300,000 wetland plants and over 8 kilometres of waterway have been installed for local residents and visitors to enjoy. There are more than 650 bird and bat boxes installed across the Olympic Park.

-          Ecological aims have also been incorporated into venue design – e.g. the Main Press Centre has a ‘brown roof’, which uses seeds and logs reclaimed from the Olympic Park construction site to create new wildlife habitats.

Source: www.london2012.com/about-us/sustainability/

Has the London Olympics really gone green, and what can others learn from it. The Brazil Olympics in 2016 and plans for the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast of Australia in 2018 have the opportunity to be sustainable too. Here’s an expert commentary from Australia:

By Colin Hunt, Honorary Fellow in Economics at University of Queensland (16 July 2012):

Green innovation: the upper compression ring of the Olympic Stadium main roof truss is made from 2,600 tonnes of surplus gas pipes. London 2012

For seven years, the London Olympics Organising Committee has been striving to live up to the sustainability vision it set itself. It’s been a long, honest fight. On the eve of the Games, how well have they done?

The case was made for a sustainable London games and Paralympics back in 2005, based on WWF’s Vision of a One Planet Olympics.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has tried to instill sustainability into every facet of construction and delivery. The Committee set sustainability objectives, standards and tools. There is even a powerful watchdog on the LOCOG — the Commission for a Sustainable London (CSL).

It’s not easy being green

Despite the commitment, failures in delivery have already attracted a good deal of attention. The most conspicuous is in energy, where the CSL criticises the lack of an effective plan. The renewable energy target will not be met, because a wind energy project was cancelled, and the carbon footprint will not be reduced by much.

London does not meet all EU air quality standards. This together with the need to cut greenhouse emissions prompted the development of impressive public transport infrastructure and links. However, diluting this is the provision of 4,000 cars to transport the “Olympic family”; and congestion on an ageing road network could still pose a problem. Rail transport from Europe is being encouraged. But the greenhouse emissions of international travellers are not accounted for and will be only marginally ameliorated by carbon taxes and airline offsets.

Sustainable fuels such as biogas could have been used much more for combined heating and cooling. Instead, fossil fuels will be prominent; 169,000 litres of diesel be used in power generators. The indirect energy consumption of offices and operational sites will be around 25 million kWh, sufficient for town of about 160,000, drawn mainly from the grid.

Materials reuse is very low. While nothing reaches the dump, recycling isn’t a perfect solution: it costs money and uses energy.

Some PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which contains the dangerous pollutants cadmium, lead and phthalates, is still being used on site; and some cooling systems still use HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), a powerful greenhouse gas. LOGOC makes the point that that future event organisers need to engage suppliers early to ensure safe alternatives are available.

The sustainability of Olympics sponsors is one of the trickiest “green Games” issues. Sanjeev Gupta/EPA

CSL has also criticised the sustainability of merchandise. By last month only one games partner, Adidas, had disclosed the location of its factories. And the consequences of appointing the Dow Chemical Company as an Olympic Partner have rebounded and continue to dog games organisers, taking the focus off achievements.

Delivering a physical legacy for some purpose built venues may be a headache. How will they attract users and revenues?

Games’ green achievements

It is inevitable that in a project of such ambition and scale there will be failures; but when measured against the impressive successes they seem relatively minor.

Some parts of the Olympic complex have been very well planned. The block that housed the construction offices is to be taken over by games administration; then post-games it will become commercial. The games village will become sustainable housing. And a 20-year programme will follow to deliver new homes and development to the precinct.

A hundred hectares of the Lower Lea River Valley, once a degraded industrial area, will be transformed to parkland, with an emphasis on encouraging the return of biodiversity.

But perhaps the most impressive of the green initiatives is the commitment to sustainably-sourced supplies. Sea freight and delivery by rail and water are mandated. Paper consumption is minimised. No food packaging will go to landfill and all food waste is to be composted. Water reclaimed from sewage is used for irrigation and toilet flushing. Moreover, all timber used in construction was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Much food will be from certified sources. The fish with your chips — whether from ocean, river or ponds — will be Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified; London became the first “sustainable fish city”.

Facilities built in the Lea Valley are planned to benefit the community in the long-term. London 2012

There are no less than 100,000 contractors involved in supplying the games, and all of them are subject to sustainability standards and tests. Innovations wrought among suppliers are expected to have a lasting effect.

Socio-economic implications

An outstanding feature of the games planning and execution is the integration of physical with social and cultural objectives. The lower Lea Valley is being regenerated not just physically, but socially and economically.

There has been an alarming rise in obesity and an increase in inactivity in the UK. Thanks to the Olympics, local people now have facilities on their doorstep. Schools and communities are being encouraged to participate in physical activity and sport.

Thirty thousand out-of-work Londoners have been assisted into jobs. Targets for employment, with hiring free of discrimination, have been largely achieved. The training the unemployed receive should help them get post-games jobs.

But is the outlay of £9.3 billion (add blowouts and legacy costs) worth it? While good for business, it’s the taxpayer who’ll bear most of the burden.

The real cost is the opportunity cost. What else could £9.3 billion plus buy? What would have been the benefits if the money had been invested directly in the renewal of east London and lifestyle programs across the UK? Such autonomous programs would not have the added appeal of the olympics — a positive externality — nor would there have been the boost to tourism revenues. It will be fascinating to see the results of retrospective economic analyses.

Challenges for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

What are the implications of London for other major events? The Rio Olympics in 2016 is confronted by a high bar; but more comparable with London is the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. However, the Gold Coast’s games’ bid is more about the Gold Coast being open for business than about sustainability.

Such a sunny city: with a focus on renewable energy, the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games could outdo London 2012 for sustainability.

Environmental targets are mentioned in Gold Coast’s bid, but none are actually specified. Motherhood rules, rather than standards and tools; the One Planet Principals are simply stated to be “very relevant”. When it comes to renewable energy there is no games target, simply a reference to the existing Australian government’s objective (20% of electricity from renewables by 2020).

Yet the delivery of renewable energy presents an ideal opportunity to outdo London. The Gold Coast boasts 287 days of sunshine a year, has good wind, and there is plenty of time to organise the production of biofuels.

Another obvious opening is to make sure the millions of meals to be served by licensed vendors are sustainable. As in London, all eggs, poultry and pork could be sourced from RSPCA certified farms. Furthermore, the Gold Coast could grasp the opportunity to become Australia’s first sustainable fish city. Such innovations would make for good publicity — as well as leaving a lasting legacy.

But does the Gold Coast have the vision?

Source: www.theconversation.edu.au