Vancouver wins a Green Medal for Eco-Friendly Olympics

As the 2010 Winter Olympics draw to a close and athletes from around the world count up their Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals, it is also important to honor the planners of the great event with their own “Green” medal for making the 2010 Vancouver games one of the most eco-friendly and sustainable Olympic games ever.

As reported at the British Columbia Renewable Energy Blog,  The David Suzuki Foundation awarded the Vancouver Olympics with a bronze medal for its “climate scorecard.”  The Vancouver-based foundation lauded Olympic organizers for creating innovative and energy-efficient venues which use clean hydroelectric energy as well as waste heat from refrigeration systems, landfill methane, and ground-source heat pumps.

“We feel like we’ve raised the bar,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Some of these technologies will be a legacy for generations to come, that will benefit cities all over the world.” Such eco-friendly concerns come naturally to 45-year-old former organic farmer, who earlier ran the Happy Planet juice company, and whose primary form of transportation is a well-used mountain bike.

Grouse Mountain, Vancouver’s most visited attraction (drawing more than a million visitors annually) constructed its very own 1.5 megawatt wind turbine. Dubbed “The Eye of the Wind,”  this 213-foot tower was installed this winter and was fully operational in time for the Olympics. The force of the wind will spin the blades to speeds as high as 160 mph at their tips, and is expected to offset up to 25 percent of the Grouse Mountain’s annual operational electricity needs.

Offsetters estimates the 2010 Winter Games will create 118,000 tons of carbon emissions directly attributable to the 2010 Winter Games through venue construction, facility heating, and athlete travel. Additionally, the site estimates the event will produce 150,000 tons of ‘indirect’ emissions from flights and accommodation for spectators, media, corporate sponsors and their partners. Visitors to the event can offset their carbon footprint while attending the Games by purchasing offsets at the venue. Eco-minded Olympics fans around the world can purchase one ton of carbon offsets for $25 (Canadian dollars) at the Offsetters site and receive a commemorative certificate and a special limited edition Offsetters 2010 pin.

The Olympic Athletes Village has received the highest environmental certification in the world; with a LEED “platinum” certification. Two other venues –  the day lodge at Whistler Olympic Park and the Whistler Sliding Center –  have attained Gold LEED  certification.

The City of Vancouver created the first neighborhood energy center in North America to use sewage to create enough heat and hot water for the 2,800 athletes and officials warm  in the Olympic Village site, as well as thousands of residences and businesses in the southeast False Creek area of Vancouver. According to the Vancouver Sun,  the $30 million facility is using heat recovered from untreated waste water to heat the neighborhood instead of traditional gas or electric heat. The new facility promises a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent compared to the use of natural gas. The Resort Municipality of Whistler also upgraded its waste water treatment plant so it can heat and cool the athlete’s village in Whistler.

Additionally, winning athletes received medals made from materials reclaimed from end-of-life electronics (ewaste) otherwise destined for the landfill. Teck Resources Limited provided 2.05 kilograms (kg) of gold, 1,950 kg of silver, and 903 kg of copper sourced from its operations around the world to produce these beautiful awards. Thanks to Teck, the 2010 medals are making Olympic and Paralympic metal history as the first to contain reclaimed precious metals. The content of recovered metal from the e-waste material in the medals is: Gold: 1.52%; Silver: 0.122%; Copper: 1.11%.

An article at TheOlympian.com says energy readings from the event showed a savings of 112,700 kilowatt hours, or about 16 percent, during the first five days. The second week of competition revealed a 15.4 percent savings of 136,690 kilowatt hours of electricity (kWh) during the second week of competition, compared with what venues built without these aggressive energy-saving features would have used. The tracker has also measured total savings of 16% since the Games began.  Spectators and managers can click into the Venue Energy Tracker to review energy use at specific sites of the Games.

Thomas Mueller, Canada Green Building Council president and CEO, remarked that “From a buildings’ perspective these are the greenest Olympics ever,” thanks to conservation measures that are expected to save more than 18 gigawatt hours of electricity annually – enough to power more than 1,600 homes for an entire year.

Congratulations to the 2010 Winter Olympics for setting an example for all other Olympic Games to follow!

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The Olympics set a great example to show how to be eco-minded!
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Why not recycle them at eCycleGroup.com?

Tags: Alternatives, Eco-friendly, olympics, sustainable