How to make movies without a huge carbon footprint

Image source, BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan

The location department of Poldark was asked by the production team to use low-carbon suppliers of lighting and batteries.

The request was not clear. The growing awareness of the film and TV industry's carbon dioxide emissions is one of the reasons why such requests are becoming more mainstream.

Transport and energy are the main sources of carbon emissions. The Screen New Deal states that the average big budget film production produces 2,840 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. It takes 3,709 acres of forest to absorb this amount.

Fuel, energy utilities, and air travel make up half of the money.

Louise Smith focuses on transport and energy when she advises a film or TV production on cutting its carbon footprint The most recent James Bond film, No Time to Die, was written and directed by her. Her background is in environmental science, which is unusual for a person in this role.

Ms Smith tries to get involved as early as possible.

She can use this to see the needs for grid or mobile power. The studio should have a renewable electricity contract.

Diesel has historically been used to power heavy vehicles and generators used for filming. In places where the power grid isn't accessible, generators are important.

For example, Downton Abbey: A New Era uses renewable diesel, also known as HVO.

This renewablediesel is not a panacea.

Producing HVO requires a lot of vegetable oil, which worries environmental groups, who argue that it could be diverted into energy production.

HVO is made from waste. The oils and fats are in short supply due to being used in other products.

Maik Marahrens, who campaigns for renewable fuels and energy at the European NGOs Transport and Environment, says that HVO production adds to the demand.

Ms Smith concedes that renewable diesel isn't a perfect solution.

She encourages the use of batteries with other types of power. She says that battery technology has come on fast in the UK.

This gives productions the ability to co-ordinate their power systems, with batteries connected to power-hungry generators and generators turned off overnight.

The fridges and freezers that need to run overnight might be powered by the batteries. The result is less energy use.

Mobile batteries and solar-powered generators are technological challenges.

The "hearts and minds challenge" is to convince crews that they can get by with less.

Ms Smith says that there isn't much room for error in film.

If a director changes her mind, it makes sense for the chief lighting technician to transport extra lighting equipment to make sure no time is lost.

There is a lot of built-in redundantness and it is a problem in terms of efficiency. The jobs of those people are at stake if they get it wrong.

To allow for just a little spare capacity, Ms Smith might encourage more data gathering to determine how much energy is actually being utilized. Reducing energy waste can be accomplished by using small generators and equipment that is switched on only when needed.

Ms Smith is optimistic about other energy use changes given how electrical teams have embraced the use of LEDs.

When she's making suggestions to producers, she can combine the environmental and health arguments.

At the moment, with high fuel prices and an end to a tax exemption for off-road diesel use in the UK, that's right.

The argument can be made that we've saved a lot of fuel.

The crew had better air to breathe. They're not close to a diesel generator.

The advantage of a quieter set is if generators can be removed completely. The film Bad Words used only solar energy and it was obvious that this was happening. It has been difficult to duplicate this in other productions, which may have more energy needs.

The regulation challenge has been taken up by the city ofVancouver. There is an effort to normalise the use of renewable energy in film.

The Board of Parks and Recreation came up with a plan to move away from generators powered by gas and diesel. There are discounts on shooting fees for productions that don't use diesel generators. The Reel Green initiative has built a network of electric power kiosks, as well as offering resources related to clean energy.

According to an environmental media scholar at the University of Cambridge, Sardinia and Majorca have used their popularity as filming locations to force mobile productions that shoot there to adopt sustainable practices.

More places will have to follow suit.