Last time we presented a paperless meeting and first start talking about this trend of being green. This time we want to go further and list some technical innovations that make event industry even more green. Rayan Singel published a nice article on MPI website dedicated to the latest innovations, mobile applications and robots that will make our industry more environmental friendly and convenient.
So what’s the fuss about?
1) How about attending a conference without taking the plane to reach the destination, which according to the author, is the No.1 in percentage way for a delegate to produce high polluting emissions? Anybot is a Robot and it’s here! With a camera for eyes and a control platform on a laptop, Anybot can walk around the meeting room and help the delegate interact with those on site, like a regular face-to-face connection[1].
2) Mobile applications are here for the convenience of the event planners. But with one stone, two birds are hit. Conference planning tools and communications patterns with the attendees add to the measurement of environmental impact of every delegate. First to adopt and to apply that is Tourism Ireland with the iPhone app Conference CO2 Calculator.
3) The third one, not really IT related, but all the way green for sure. Taking as example the Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center, recycling materials, using rain water for internal uses, honoring the sun light and cultivating a roof garden for the caterers’ needs are only a few ways to turn a venue into a sustainable and “green” value generating building.
4) Mobile devices are on the field again but this time to be used as power saving machines. New technologies have been applied to mobile phones and laptops using recyclable materials and electricity savers. It is said that delegates using these devices contribute to a green(er) event/venue.
5) Adding to the first technological revolution, let’s assume that the delegate decides to take the plane… He/she has then the opportunity to make up for the carbon emissions, by taking a hybrid/electric car. As mentioned the London Heathrow airport already uses wheeled pods to transfer the arrived passengers to their destination.
As is now evident, events industry is a fine adaptor of new technologies in its functions. Relatively, IT products and applications cannot and should not only be used for convenience and fashion, rather than, additionally, for practical sustainability.
Concluding, we truly believe that this tendency in being greener is a good way to show we do care about the planet and event industry is also on a way to pursue better life standards for us and the next generations। We hope that more and more venues will start calculating and trying to eliminate the carbon emissions associated with their business processes. What is more important is that more carriers need to continue their researches and adapt the new green(er) technologies as most emissions are coming from them. And of course each participant should make the input in the common effort for better life. We as a next generation of event planners will try to make events more efficient and less harmful for our planet.
http://mindshift-media.blogspot.com/2010/08/anybots-revolutionizing-business.html
Picture 2: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/pod-cars-start-to-gain-traction-in-some-cities/
Article: http://www.mpiweb.org/Portal/Technology/20101101/Green_Tech
[1] You can rent one for US$ 15,000.
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