How Theatres are Becoming More Environmentally Friendly
Name: Krishna Gokani | Term 2, Week 1 |Theme: Theatre & Sustainability
I love the theatre, I have been an avid visitor for as long as I can remember, although until recently, it was a struggle to find anything with regards to how sustainable and how green the theatres actually are behind the scenes. The National Theatre for example, has taken some major steps to try and improve their environmental sustainability, including conducting long term monitoring and investigation into the efficiency of their buildings. Since 2016, they have achieved a 25% reduction in the energy carbon impact and 67% of non-production waste is now recycled.
Beyond this, the National Theatre has done so much more! All of the electricity that powers the National Theatre from the national grid is now generated by wind and solar. In the past 50 years, they have also updated their buildings to make them more energy efficient. They have done this by implementing new LED lighting in their auditoriums and foyers allowing for better monitoring and thus reduced energy use. The building is heated and cooled using a heat pump which uses heat from the ground. They have also changed their food and drink policy to ensure that at a minimum, 60% of fruit and veg comes from the UK, but anything that comes out of the UK are Fairtrade or from the Rainforest Alliance.
All of these things that have implemented truly give me hope that the future of theatre can become green. The National Theatre is a member of the Arts Council England and Julie’s Bicycle Spotlight Scheme. They have been given a 4 star “Creative Green” rating by Julie’s Bicycle.
Bibliography
“Environmental Sustainability | National Theatre”. 2019. Nationaltheatre.Org.Uk. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre/environmental-sustainability.
