Why music festivals are turning to batteries in a bid for sustainability
Festivals like Lollapalooza are experimenting with the use of batteries to power stages and more. But how sustainable are they – and how long until the industry gets on board?
Since Lollapalooza ushered in the era of the modern music festival in the early 1990s, one main power source has been driving them all: diesel generators. These mobile devices have been particularly crucial to the festival industry given that many of these events take place in open fields and parking lots that aren’t connected to the power grid.
But generators are also environmentally problematic. At the biggest festivals, they can burn through thousands of gallons of diesel fuel over a weekend, spewing carbon emissions that altogether make them the second biggest carbon emitters in live music, after emissions created by fan travel. They’re also loud, and they kind of stink.
“You can hear them from the stage, you can smell them from the stage,” says Adam Gardner of the band Guster, and who also co-founded the music sustainability nonprofit REVERB. “It’s just unpleasant.”
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