Dead and Buried

Production Name - Dead and Buried

Production Company - Vico Films, Glencormack Business Park, Kilmacanogue

DAC - Dead and Buried DAC

Funders - Screen Ireland, BBC Northern Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland

Sustainability Advisor - Stan Nangle

Timeline - Production shot for 8 weeks (week 4 – week 11)

The producers and funders of the series Dead and Buried each have ambitious emissions reduction goals and this was reflected on the production by the engagement of a Sustainability Advisor to oversee the setting and achievement of the emissions reduction goals, the utilisation of the BAFTA/albert carbon calculator to measure the carbon footprint of the production, and the application to Screen Ireland for support for enhanced emissions reduction measures under the recently announced Sustainability Innovation Fund.

The Screen Ireland Sustainability Innovation Fund offers support to promote the implementation of emissions reduction practices and accelerate the uptake of low carbon technologies across four categories.

1. Energy/Emissions Reduction: reducing the amount of energy consumed by the production or powering the production with renewable sources of energy.
2. Waste and Circular Economy: Designing out the need for raw/virgin materials and maximising the value of all materials used on the production through applying circular economy principles.
3.  Transport/Vehicles: reducing the GHG/carbon emissions from transport related activities.
4. Protecting Nature: implementing practices to protect nature and biodiversity on/around production sites.

Funding was obtained for four innovative projects.

Project 1: Hybrid Battery-Generator to power the Catering Department

Topic - Energy/Emissions Reduction

Supplier - Sunbelt Rentals

Funding Approved - €7050.00

Project Cost - €6,575.00

Project 2: Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel to power trucks and generators

Topic - Energy/Emissions Reduction

Supplier - Euro Oil

Funding Approved - €3,920.00

Project Cost - €2,199.64

Project 3: Hybrid Towerlights for the Locations Department

Topic - Energy/Emissions Reduction

Supplier - AllGen

Funding Approved - €400.00

Project Cost - €0.00

Project 4: Circular Economy measures in Costume Department

Topic - Waste/Circular Economy

Supplier - Circular Economy Ireland CLG

Funding Approved - €2000.00

Project Cost - €2000.00

Background

Catering providers on film & TV productions typically use a diesel fuelled generator to power the catering truck and fridge. The catering truck normally runs from about 6am until 4pm on shooting days. On many productions this generator may run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to power the fridges. 

The diesel usage for these generators runs at a minimum of about 300 litres per week, increasing to more than 600 litres per week if running at night and at weekends. The generator is specified to have enough power to run the peak load from the kitchen and the fridge, however the power requirement will fluctuate throughout the day and drops to a negligible fraction of this capacity to power just the fridge at nights and at weekends. The diesel usage fluctuates slightly based on the load, however it only does so within a certain technical range and is therefore burning excessive amounts of diesel when the demand for power drops below a certain threshold. This is particularly pronounced at times when the generator is running but there is no demand from the fridges. In the past two years a number of productions have fuelled these generators with HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) instead of diesel. This reduces the CO2 emissions from the generators by almost 90%, however it increases the cost of fuel for the generator by about 20%.

Overview

The hybrid system consists of a battery that is capable of powering the peak load from the kitchen and the fridge for prolonged periods, together with a generator that can charge the battery whenever it needs to be charged. 

The battery system is able to respond efficiently to fluctuations in demand even down to zero demand. The diesel engine of the generator only switches on when the battery needs to be charged, and then it runs at its optimal, most energy efficient power output for only the amount of time needed to recharge the battery.

Objectives

1. To obtain detailed data showing the actual power required to run the catering truck and fridge trailer through the run of an 8 week production.
2. To identify the potential fuel saving that can be made by running a hybrid battery system where the generator is only running for short periods of time during the day.
3. To identify the technical and logistical issues that need to be addressed in order to mainstream the use of hybrid battery systems on film and TV productions.

The project ran for 8 weeks and the charts below show the daily consumption of power by the catering truck, fridges and unit base set table. The blue bars show when the power was coming from the battery and the green bars show when the generator was running to charge the battery and powering the catering set up directly. The generator typically ran for 3.5 hours to recharge the battery, and the battery typically needed recharging four times per week.

Weekly and Daily Power Use Profile

Chart 1 shows the daily consumption of power from the battery in kilowatt hours (kW/h) in red (left hand scale). It also shows the power generated by the generator each day in green. The blue shaded area shows the peak, trough and average storage of the battery each day (right hand scale).
Note that the generator does not run at all on Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday. It only runs for about 3.5 hours on the days that it does run.

Chart 2 shows the generation and consumption through the run of the day on February 2nd. The battery is 59% charged at midnight and has a draw of about 0.5kW/h for fridges through the night. The catering crew begin switching on equipment from about 08.15 at which time the battery is still 51% charged. At about 14.15 the battery has run down to 15% and the generator is switched on. The generator runs for just over 3.5 hours and during this time it provides all the power demand from the catering truck and fridges together with charging the battery from 15% to 100%. At midnight the battery is still 85% charged. The battery then powers the fridges over the weekend and at midnight Sunday night is still 31% charged.

Outcomes

The trial was embraced by the catering crew and they took ownership of
the operation and management of the hybrid system. They appreciated the importance of the trial as a potential means of reducing emissions and were pro-active in finding solutions to logistics issues and providing feedback on the operation of the trial.

On average, the generator only ran for 3.5 hours on four occasions each week to charge the battery. The battery provided power to the catering truck and fridges 24/7.

The generator consumed about 10 litres per hour when it was running. It
is estimated that it was using an average of about 160 litres a week
charging the hybrid battery. If the generator had been powering the
catering truck and fridge directly it would have consumed about 600
litres per week.

This saving on fuel amounts to about 3,500 litres, which would have a cost of about €3,766 if using mineral diesel, or a cost of €4,892 if using HVO.

The emissions reduction is equivalent to 11.63 T/CO2e if using mineral
diesel and 0.875 T/CO2e if using HVO.

There was a requirement for an extra vehicle movement to tow the battery
to each new Unit Base where normally there would only be a need to move the generator.

Having the battery unit to provide power enabled more flexibility around the logistics of moving the Unit Base. The catering generator was typically moved first with the catering truck, and the battery unit stayed at the initial Unit Base to power the set table and ancillaries. On some occasions the facilities team were able to move their generator to the new Unit Base before wrap and power their remaining vehicles and equipment, that were still required at the initial Unit Base, from the battery unit. This gave them more flexibility when organising the move and helped shorten their working day.

Costs

Supplier - Sunbelt Rentals

1x Temporary power package to include the following:

• Towable diesel silent generator.
• Towable battery storage unit.
• Interconnecting power cables and comms cables.
• Distribution to provide min 2 x 32a 240v supplies & 3 x 16a 240v supplies
• Data collection and analysis including load and fuel usage.

Rental price per week for above package. - €775.00 x 8.2 =  €6,355.00

Deliver all equipment to Bray on 19th Jan. - €250.00

Collect all equipment from Bray on 15th March. - €250.00

Engineer to attend site on delivery/setup/training - €150.00

Supplier - Out Of The Blue Catering

Moving the additional piece of equipment between Unit Bases - 13 x moves  @ €90 - €1,170.00

Total Gross Cost - €8,175.00

Less cost of standard diesel generator (€200 x 8 weeks) - €1,600.00

Total cost for Project 1 - €6,575.00

Recommendations

The hybrid battery system reduces generator run-time by up to 90% across a full week. When the generator is fuelled with HVO this yields a combined emissions reduction of the order of 95-99%.

It is recommended that a plan be developed to make the use of hybrid batteries mandatory for all catering departments on film and TV productions that are in receipt of Section 481 funding over the next 2 to 3 years. This requirement could be expressed in terms of a maximum weekly carbon footprint for power so as not to exclude any other power options that may also reach the same standard (such as mains power from a 100% renewable tariff).

It is recommended that in the interim Screen Ireland should make the use of hybrid batteries mandatory for all catering departments on productions funded by Screen Ireland which have a Sustainability Advisor. This will enable catering providers to gain experience of using the hybrid system in an environment where they have technical and logistics support available from the Sustainability Advisor on the ground.

It is recommended that Screen Ireland convene a working group to look at the technical and logistics aspects involved in using hybrid batteries to power Unit Bases. Unit bases have a much larger power requirement than catering, they vary in size from job to job, and can also vary in size from day to day. This provides a challenge in terms of understanding and specifying the technical requirements for each job to ensure that there is sufficient power to meet the daily demand while still achieving an acceptable cost:benefit in terms of emissions reduction.

Background

More than 50% of the carbon emissions from a film and TV production are generated by burning petrol and diesel to generate power at remote locations and to move people and equipment from place to place.

Roughly a third of diesel usage typically comes from running generators for power while a further quarter of diesel usage is attributable to usage in trucks. 
The fuel for these generators and trucks is generally purchased in bulk by the production and is delivered to the Unit Base by the oil company in a bulk tanker.

The amount of fuel used in generators and trucks varies from production to production depending on the number of day shoots, split  days and night shoots, together with the number of internal locations vs extermal locations, and the number of unit moves that have to be made during the production.

Overview

This project funded the marginal cost of using HVO fuel in generators on this production.

The price difference between mineral diesel and HVO averaged 32 cent per litre over the 8 weeks. The multiple generators used on the production burned 171 litres of HVO per day. 

It was originally planned to use HVO fuel in trucks on this production, however the supplier of the trucks insisted that they be fuelled with mineral diesel.

Objectives

The purpose of this trial was to help to mainstream the use of HVO as a low carbon alternative fuel that productions can use to significantly reduce their emissions from sources that are under the direct control of the production and for which there is a simple alternative option.

Outcomes

The generators were fuelled with rebated HVO. There were no problems observed with using the HVO fuel in these engines. The HVO was purchased from the supplier EuroOil and the price difference with rebated diesel (aka Green Diesel or SFGO) was tracked for each order. This price difference worked out at 32.06 cent per litre.

The carbon footprint for 6,861 litres of diesel would have been 21.25 Tonnes, whereas the carbon footprint for the same amount of HVO is 2.66 Tonnes. This is a saving of 18.59 Tonnes at a cost of €118.32/Tonne.

The trucks consumed 3,587 litres of diesel with a carbon footprint of 11.11 Tonnes. If these trucks had been fuelled with HVO the carbon footprint would have reduced by 9.72 Tonnes to 1.39 Tonnes. The price difference between road diesel and HVO was between 11c/litre and 16c/litre during this period. If HVO had been used the emissions saving would have had a cost of €45.82/Tonne.

Costings

Supplier - EuroOil

Generator Fuel: HVO Green (Excise duty rebated fuel for off-road purposes) - 6861 litres  @ €0.3206/litre - €2,199.64

Truck Fuel: HVO White (HVO for road going vehicles) - 0 litres - €0

Total cost for Project 2: €2,199.64

Recommendations

The use of HVO fuel in generators should be made mandatory on all productions receiving funding from the State in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Screen Ireland and the Sustainability Guild should facilitate conversations between the companies who hire trucks onto film productions and suppliers of HVO fuel in order to bridge the knowledge gap and remove barriers to making HVO mandatory as a fuel for trucks on all productions receiving funding from the State.

Background

During winter months it is necessary to provide mobile tower lights to illuminate areas where film crew may be moving around in darkness in the morning or late at night. This will include crew car parking areas, Unit Bases, Tech Bases and access routes between same.

Standard tower lights are diesel powered and run at full power from when they are switched on until they are switched off. These machines are also very noisy and can cause disruption to neighbours when operated in residential areas, or can even impact on the Sound Department during filming if they are located close to set, such as on access routes or adjacent to Tech Base.

Hybrid Tower Lights have a combination of a large battery and a smaller diesel powered generator. They can offer significant reductions in fuel usage when set up correctly, as well as offering major reductions in noise pollution, sometimes down to zero noise during specific times, such as after 8pm in residential areas.

Overview

This project sought to carry out a detailed trial of the costs and benefits of using hybrid tower lights. 

Objectives

To gather data about the operation and effectiveness of hybrid tower lights vs the marginal costs of using these more modern pieces of equipment in residential areas on a production with a significant number of split days (working until close to midnight).

This is information that can be used to accelerate the utilisation of these machines on productions and particularly to encourage suppliers to upgrade their fleet of tower lights to low emissions technologies.

Outcomes

One hybrid tower light was hired from AllGen for the duration of the production. This towerlight could run on battery power for 4 hours before having to be charged by running the onboard generator. This towerlight could also be powered directly from an electrical source using a 16 Amp cable.

The locations team were asked to position the hybrid tower light so that it could be plugged into mains power, or into a generator, whenever possible.

The hybrid towerlight did not have onboard telemetry so it was not possible to obtain detailed data about the runtime on mains, runtime on battery and fuel use. The towerlight was turned on and off by various security staff, facilities crew and locations crew which meant that it was not possible to capture usage data in the way that would have been possible if there was a dedicated operator.

AllGen did not charge a premium for the hire of the hybrid generator so the cost of this trial was €0.

Costings

Supplier - AllGen

1x Hybrid Tower Light for 8 weeks @ €175/week each - €1,400.00

Less cost of hiring standard tower light (€175/week each) - €1,400.00

Total cost for Project 3 - €0.00

Recommendations

Hybrid towerlights offer significant benefits in terms of reduced emissions and reduced noise. It is recommended that further trials be undertaken in order to get more detailed data about run times, charging times and fuel use. This will require that the towerlights being trialled have onboard telemetry to collect the data, or that there is a dedicated operator who can record the data on a daily basis.

It is recommended that Screen Ireland and the Sustainability Guild facilitate a conversation with the Locations Guild to promote the widespread use of hybrid towerlights on productions.

Background

The Costume Department offers a huge opportunity for the development of a Circular Economy model that can provide signficant benefits across the Irish film & TV production industry. The Costume Guild was the first Guild to appoint a Sustainability Officer to their Executive and Costume Designers have been co-operating to integrate circular economy thinking into the way their craft operates for some time.

Circular Costume Ireland (CCI) is a not-for-profit company set up by Costume Guild members in 2023 in order to put the infrastructure in place to support the expansion and development of the circular economy model in Ireland by shooting phase, providing consultancy, equipment hire, clothing hire, support with the development of Asset Disposal Plans, and providing storage and disposal services for embargoed costumes at the end of the shooting phase.

Overview

This project sought to enable the Costume Department on the production to access a significantly higher level of support from CCI than would normally be possible on a production of this type, at this budget level.

Objectives

The project seeks to provide an enhanced level of support to the production in relation to circular economy practises, to document how this enhanced support was reflected in the improvement in outcomes on the production, to provide guidance on how the lessons learned can be applied on other productions and to identify where further work need to be done

Outcomes

Consultancy: 
A member of CCI provided bespoke advice to the Costume Department on the development and implementation of circular economy systems that fit with the requirements of the production and the approaches ordinarily taken by the members of the Department.

Asset Development Plan: 
A member of CCI provided hands on support to assist the Costume Supervisor and their team to develop an Asset Disposal Plan for the production that is specific to the requirements of the production, and in doing so help to develop the skills of the team in this area.

Case Study:
A member of CCI prepared a Case Study that documents the process used to engage with and support the Costume Department on this production, that creates a template for developing an Asset Disposal Plan that can be shared with the Costume Guild for use on future productions, and which identifies areas where more work needs to be done to support productions in implementing circular economy measures in a cost effective manner.

Costings

Supplier - Circular Costume Ireland CLG

Membership Fee (includes 10% discount on standard hire fees) - €500.00

Consultancy (Consultancy and advice on implementing a Circular Economy approach in the Costume Department.) - €500.00

Asset Disposal Plan (Preparation of an Asset Disposal Plan for the Costume Department to enable them to  optimise the opportunities to engage with Circular Economy principles at the end of  the production) - €500.00

Case Study (Preparation of a Case Study for Screen Ireland documenting the process that was used to support the production, the learnings obtained during the process, and the  costs, challenges and opportunities that were identified.) - €500.00

Total cost for Project 4 - €2000.00

Recommendations

Having a member of CCI engage directly with the Costume Department on the specific issues that arise on a particular production enables a much more effective conversation about the practical aspects of taking a Circular Economy approach. 

It is recommended that all Screen Ireland funded projects should be provided with additional funding to support enhanced sustainability measures in the Costume Department in order to track the challenges that are faced on productions and to embed the circular economy model across the sector.