Lighting Up The Game; How Arenas Use Energy

 

Large arenas throughout the world serve many purposes including hosting sports games, concerts for some of the biggest names in the music industry, and holding energy events!

These exciting events bring the world of entertainment to light and can ignite the energy sector, by providing opportunities to educate the public on energy, hold conferences and see what the latest products are.  

In November, Jellyfish Energy are proudly sponsoring EMEX 2024 - an energy conference that provides energising insights on sustainability and innovation, helping to inspire a future of cleaner energy. 

As we will be sponsoring this exciting event, it got us thinking about current events in the world today and the arenas where they are held. The scale of events recently held, including the Paris Olympics and Taylor Swift ending her Europe Eras tour at Wembley, brings the question - how much energy is used to power such extravagant events?

From the dazzling lights, to the displays, to the sound systems, to the props, to the security systems, there are many aspects of arena events that require a lot of energy.

 

As society becomes more conscious about our impact on the environment, it is important to consider just how much energy is being used by arenas and if there are any steps taken to reduce emissions. 

 

In the run up to the most exciting energy event of the year, EMEX 2024, let’s take a look at the energy being used to power these three different events!

 

Paris 2024 Olympics 

 

The 2024 Paris Olympics recently came to an end. With over 35 stadiums and arenas being used to support the various sporting games, it is clear the Olympics games required a lot of energy. 

 

Paris declared that to power the games they used 100% renewable energy generated from wind and solar farms in France. There were also other initiatives in place to help reduce their carbon footprint, including promoting sustainable transportation to travel to the games and lighting the arenas by using LEDs.

Taylor Swift’s UK Eras Tour

 

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was held in the UK from the 7th June to the 20th August. Swift returned to London for her final shows, with the last show being on Tuesday 20th August. At Wembley arena, Swift performed to 90,000 fans!

 

Swift performed 46 songs, making her concert over 3 hours long! Each song performed has a unique performance, including different graphics on the screen, special effects, lighting arrangements and colours on the crowd’s interactive LED bracelets. All of these factors, coupled with the maintenance of a 3-hour long show (including security measures, lighting, temperature control and all the food and drinks stalls operating) for 15 shows across the UK, raises an interesting question of how much energy is used to make this concert successfully run! 

 

An article examines that 525,000 kWh of electricity will be used, costing Swift £128,625. This amount of energy consumed could power 194 homes in the UK for a year! 

 

It is no surprise that a concert of such length, dedication and extravagance, requires a lot of energy. 

 

With the final concert dates concluding at Wembley, it is interesting to gain insight into Wembley’s own energy management. 

 

Wembley 

 

The amount of energy consumption at Wembley depends on the scale of the event. On average, Wembley’s energy consumption is approximately 4,000 kilowatts. 

 

In order to remain as sustainable as possible, Wembley has a variety of measures in place, including: 

 

• Changing their lighting to LEDs (as these are one of the cheapest yet most efficient type of lightbulb)

• Securing long-term use of renewable energy since 2019

• Zero-waste-to-landfill venue in 2010

 

EMEX 2024

 

EMEX 2024 - The Net Zero and Energy Management Expo will be held in the ExCeL arena in London, on the 20th-21st November.

 

We are very proud that Jellyfish Energy is one of the main sponsors of EMEX this year. The conference focuses on empowering energy insiders and the public to take steps towards a greener future. There are also opportunities to meet with some of the biggest names in the energy sector, gain exclusive access to new products and get to know energy companies a bit better!

 

ExCeL London is the ‘UK’s leading international exhibition and conference centres’. The arena has been open for more than 20 years and has held EMEX last year and this year! It is a great venue for energy conferences and exhibitions as sustainability is very important to ExCeL. 

 

ExCeL arena prides themselves on doing their bit to be more sustainable. In 2022, ExCeL arena was certified as being carbon neutral. They also use 100% renewable electricity to power their arena and they have signed up to the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge, which commits us to reduce emissions by 50% in 2030 to become net zero in 2050. ExCeL’s values align perfectly with EMEX 2024 - to do as much as we can to work towards net zero and be more renewable. 

Want to find out more about EMEX 2024, check out their website!

We will announce further information nearer the time of the event, and we look forward to seeing you there!