Greenest Games Ever?

Uganda doesn't participate in the Winter Olympics, but that doesn't mean they won't be touched by them.

Wood burning cook stoves for the African nation are one of the projects being funded in the quest by Vancouver Games organizers to negate the environmental impact of hosting the Games.

With just under 100 days to go until the Games begin, organizers said Tuesday they now have a better idea of the environmental scale of their operations and are confident they'll be able to be carbon-neutral.

It's now estimated that 268,000 tonnes of carbon emissions will be produced by the Games, according to a study commissioned by the organizing committee and carried out by the Centre for Sustainability and Social Innovation at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

Two years ago, a study by the David Suzuki Foundation predicted there would be more than 300,000 tonnes of emissions.

"Since then, we've changed some of our plans, we haven't built quite as many venues, we've reduced the size and scope of the operations in order to achieve better efficiencies,'' said Linda Coady, vice-president of sustainability for the organizing committee, known as VANOC.

An estimated 118,000 tonnes are direct emissions from Games operations, and the rest is from indirect causes such as spectator travel or Games-time events held by sponsors.

Earlier this year, the organizing committee signed a sponsorship deal with Offsetters, a Vancouver-based carbon offsetting company, to help negate its own emissions.

That includes accounting for the emissions created by all 7,000 athletes and officials who are attending the Games.

But on Tuesday, they announced that 25 of their partners will be voluntarily working with Offsetters as well to make up for their own impact.

"We're taking a wide slice on this and deploying two different types of strategies against it,'' said Coady.

"One is VANOC and Offsetters taking responsibility for direct and then the voluntary component leaves the opportunity for spectators and partners to go a bit further and look after the aspects of their indirect footprint.''

For spectators, Offsetters launched a carbon calculator on Tuesday to see how much carbon is emitted when someone travels to the Games.

For example, two people coming to Vancouver from Montreal for four nights and attending three events would be responsible for 2.46 tonnes of carbon, according to the calculator.

To offset that would cost $64.13, which the company would invest in clean energy technologies, including the wood-burning stoves in Uganda and wind farms in Turkey that make up what it calls its 2010 Legacy Portfolio.

VANOC's carbon emissions take into account one of its most ambitious projects - the torch relay.

Currently underway, the relay is travelling over 45,000 kilometres by land, sea and air.

The 2007 report that first analysed the Games' carbon footprint suggested the relay would create about 1,500 tonnes of emissions.

The report estimated that the flame itself - which will be fuelled by a blend of propane, iso-butane and hydrocarbons - will be responsible for about five tonnes of carbon emissions.

To put those numbers in perspective, the David Suzuki Foundation said driving a mid-size car for a year produces about five tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Coca-Cola and RBC, the two presenting sponsors for the relay, have pledged to offset all of their emissions from putting on the 106-day events.

On the web:

http://www.offsetters.ca/2010-travel-and-accommodation-calculator

 

 

SOURCE: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/