Sustainability and SXSW

2008 Information:

SXSW Offsets Emissions with Austin Energy REC Purchase

February 18, 2008 - Austin, TX - South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Conferences (SXSW) in Austin, Texas has announced that it is purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the City of Austin to negate its carbon footprint of 263 tons generated by the company during the planning and delivery of its 2007 event. Austin Energy will retire 448 solar RECs on behalf of SXSW and use the proceeds from the sale to begin implementation of a local renewable energy project.

One project under consideration is a solar charging station. The charging station would provide sufficient power to charge small devises such as cell phones and laptops, as well as electric scooters and bikes.

SXSW Managing Director Roland Swenson said "We are delighted to be able to partner with Austin Energy to pioneer this innovative renewable energy development especially since it is important to us that we support locally based projects. We appreciate that purchasing RECs not only reduces CO2 and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, but also other toxic pollutants. RECS also meet the key criteria of an offset - namely that the CO2 removal is additional to business as usual activity.”

“One of the goals of the Austin Climate Protection Plan is to reduce the carbon footprint of events that bring visitors to Austin,” said Austin Mayor Will Wynn. “This purchase by South by Southwest is an excellent partnership with the City and a great example of the kind of community leadership that will help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Despite a 10% increase in the number of stages used in the 2007 Music Festival and an 80% increase in the size of office space, SXSW's carbon footprint measurement for the September 2006 to August 2007 period grew by 6% from the 2006 baseline.

“The challenge for any business trying to reduce their carbon output is how to reduce emissions while a company is continuing to grow” commented Operations Director Eve McArthur. “One of the things we did that kept our emissions from being even higher was to work with Austin Energy on their program to make our office buildings much more energy efficient. In the past year we have seen a 30% drop in electricity consumption in one building."

Some of the Greener Actions in the pipeline for SXSW 2008 include offering all delegates 24/7 access to biofuel made from cotton seed waste for their vehicles; eliminating all bottled water for staff and volunteers and using municipal water fountains instead; featuring environmental issues in the conference programs and offering tips to delegates on how to have a greener SXSW.

“SXSW has shown a tremendously strong commitment to implementing its Greener Actions Plan and environmental issues are now integrated into the programming and production of SXSWeek,” noted Una Johnston, SXSW’s UK & Ireland Manager and now its Environmental Consultant. “Our ongoing use of the standards, guidelines and tools contained in the World Resources Institute’s GHG Protocol to calculate emissions for a second year is generating really helpful information.”

In November 2007, SXSW was one of 14 festivals, including 10 from the UK, 2 from the US and 2 from Australia to win A Greener festival Award 2007 and receive the ‘Red Kite Mark’ which was awarded following completion of a 62 point questionnaire on its environmental policy.

2008 Green Tips (PDF - 67.3KB)

2007 Information:

Sometimes you have to face an inconvenient truth: if you want things to change, you've got to start at home, with yourself. That's why, starting this year, SXSW is taking steps to become carbon neutral.

Even if you're not familiar with the term, you probably are familiar with the idea that carbon dioxide emissions play a major role in global warming. The idea, then, is to reduce your output, with the ideal target being zero. Easier said than done – and, in practice, almost impossible. But there are still things you can do beyond the obvious fuel economy, insulation and energy conservation. For instance, you can support renewable energy sources by buying carbon credits from alternative energy producers. You can also offset carbon dioxide by encouraging organisms which process it into oxygen. (They're called trees.) And finally, you can widen the circle to the firms you do business with, helping them to reduce their carbon footprint.

Here's what SXSW has done so far. Starting, literally, at "home," the SXSW offices, we had an audit done by Texas Energy, and followed their recommendations to replace our offices' heating and cooling system with a much more efficient one, insulate the attic, replace the lightbulbs with more efficient ones, and deal with the heat-transfer of the large windows by putting a film screen to slow down the leakage. This summer, we'll be analyzing our staff's commuting and travel patterns and looking for ways to make them more energy-friendly. The SXSW Festival is working with Ecology Action of Austin to recycle all waste from our outdoor parties and events and will use biodiesel in generators and production trucks. We've got our name on a waiting list to purchase green electricity from Austin Energy's Green Choice Power Program and are supporting the Austin Convention Center in its goal to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Certification by 2008. We've bought wind energy credits from Green Mountain Energy Co. and donated $5000 to the Austin Parks Department for the purchase and maintenance of native trees. We're working with Texas legislators to strengthen the state's energy policy. And, probably most importantly, we're constantly looking for new ways to implement this carbon-neutral policy.

That's why we're urging everyone attending SXSW this year to look into the idea for themselves. Reducing your carbon footprint as an individual is fairly simple, and has gotten a lot of publicity, but doing it as a business is only a little more complex. It's also good business: studies show that consumers are strongly attracted to companies that are conspicuously "green," and, with the rising cost of energy, the savings can definitely be seen on your bottom line.

SXSW is only beginning to realize the myriad opportunities around us for greening up our act, and we're constantly seeking more of them. In the weeks and months to come, we'll be setting up a page of links to information resources on our website, and talking more about this aspect of our business in the pages of SXSWorld magazine. And if you're working towards carbon-neutrality, too, let us know what you've found and we'll pass the word along.

If you would like to know more about our 2006/7 Carbon Neutral project, you can see the details of methodology, process and results (including snappy graphs!) here.

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If you would like to know how to measure (and reduce) YOUR carbon footprint, check out BeGreenNow.com

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10 simple things you can do to help stop global warming:

1. Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take public transport more often. You'll save 1.5kg of carbon dioxide for every 5km you don’t drive!

2. Change a light
Replacing six regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs will save 400kg of carbon dioxide a year.

3. Recycle more
You can save 1000kg of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

4. Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your car's fuel efficiency. Every litre of petrol saved keeps 2.5kg of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

5. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water — use less hot water by installing an energy efficient triple A rated showerhead (3 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (225kg saved per year).

6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 545kg of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

7. Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer
You could save about 900kg of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

8. Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

9. Turn off electrical devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of kilograms of carbon dioxide a year.

10. Be part of the solution
Learn more and get active at www.climatecrisis.net.

With thanks to www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/