Green Olympics?

Take this unique opportunity to talk to key players involved in the delivery of London’s Olympic bid. Come hear their views via short introductory talks and then express your own opinions as you quiz the experts directly in small group discussions. Finally we will wrap up with an audience-wide question-and-answer session.

Since Sydney 2000 Olympic bids have to be green. Beijing and London have included strong social and environmentally sustainable aspects to their Olympic ambitions.

For Beijing this means quite radical changes particularly due to local industries reliance on coal and its impact on air quality. The Beijing No. 3 Thermal Power Station and Gaojing Power Station will be converted to gas burning producing dramatic improvements. This is a definite permanent benefit to residents in the centre of the city.

On the outskirts of Beijing a 100-megawatt wind farm will provide power to the city while the Olympic village’s heat and hot water will come courtesy of a £2.4 million solar energy complex. There will be fuel cell buses, solar-panel covered car parks, green roofed blocks of flats and recycling of waste water. These strategies are also being employed by London 2012 to fulfil it’s obligations under the agreements made to the IOC.

London, in conjunction with WWF and Bioregional, is working to a ‘one planet’ blue print., Activities associated with the Olympics will have an environmental impact three times less than they might have if they’d been left to current unsustainable practices. Environmentally sustainable methods, construction materials ,and use of the infrastructure were all part of the winning bid. But is just ‘greenwash’?

Event organised by:
The Science Museum

Speakers

Jane Durney , Bioregional
Mike Sinclair Williams, Olympic Delivery Authority
Olivia Tait, Visy Closed Loop

Facilitator:
Jim Walker, The Access Company