The BBC has launched a new guide – sponsored by the Carbon Trust and in partnership with Arup – to help TV productions cut carbon emissions and save on energy bills.
The comprehensive guide is being made available to all industry professionals to help reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint as part of an industry-leading BBC campaign – The Difference – to improve sustainability.
- The guide is available on www.bbc.co.uk/outreach/sustainability
The BBC has a target of 20% reduction in energy consumption by 2013 and needs to use energy more efficiently and adopt low carbon technologies to achieve this, which is why low energy lighting (LEL) can help. LEL lamps last longer than traditional ones allowing maintenance cost savings to be made, and the new lamps offer more flexible ways to change light colour.
There are already some real success stories with TV productions switching to LEL and proving that it is practical, cost effective and sustainable. BBC Three’s Mongrels has for example saved 40% of its energy consumption by using low energy lighting, and Silent Witness is saving around 30%.
Other BBC programmes are about to introduce LEL including the new set of Casualty, which will use 100% LELs when it moves to Cardiff Bay. Studios in London and in the buildings occupied by the BBC at MediaCityUK will also use new LED fresnels for regional news programmes, sports coverage, the News Channel and on the new set of BBC Breakfast. The BBC believes that by sharing this guide everyone working in the industry can find out how to reduce the carbon footprint of their own productions.
Sally Debonnaire, Chair of the BBC’s Sustainability Committee, said: "The new Low Energy Lighting Guide for TV productions will ensure the BBC is helping programme-makers across the industry to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.
Though each programme is different, we can hopefully share learning across our production methods in order to produce the most sustainable productions possible for the benefit of our audiences and the environment."
Florence Lam, Leader of Arup’s global lighting design team said: ''We've tested the performance of the latest low energy lighting kit in a studio environment. We tested their colour characteristics and lux levels under various beam angles. This information is what production design teams need. We would encourage manufactures and suppliers of LEL to provide better standardised information so better informed decisions can be made.''
Adrian Poole, BBC Director of IT and Technology Delivery, said: "Only by having a shared goal of reducing our energy consumption whilst maintaining the quality of light, have we now got to a stage where low energy lighting is now a reality for productions. We hope that this guide will help move the whole industry forward in creating a sustainable future."
This week the BBC’s Sustainability and BBC Research & Development teams, with Arup, ran a workshop for industry professionals to launch the Guide with performance test results of some of the latest low energy lighting. Participants were given the chance to learn from the experiences of teams using low energy lighting in News production areas of the BBC.