Jumbocruiser pollution impact

16.12.2019

This short article discusses the difficulty in trying to minimise the environmental impact of our operation.  Of course buying new coaches in itself has an environmental impact.  "They" rarely mention the negative impact of new vehicle builds.  Is it better to buy a new electric car or keep the old smelly diesel one going for a few more years. What pollution is caused in the manufacturing process ? Pragmatically it is better to keep the smelly diesel out of enclosed areas like cities because the particulate emissions harm people so in a way it is a no brainer. Some older diesels emit more carbon dioxide than modern petrol engines so which is worse, short term particulate pollution or long term greenhouse gases ?  I think people are rightly upset that for so many years the EU have been promoting diesel which ironically is (or was) a byproduct of petroleum refining and then they are expected to merely just dump their car? Some countries are subsidising trade ins but I do not believe I am being cynical when I suspect that all that does is bump the price of new cars accordingly. Of course the fact that certain car companies have defrauded the public has not helped.  I always avoided following VW and Audi diesel cars because the fumes came in to my car so it looks like I was justified in my suspicions.

With regards to emissions, the Jumbocruiser main fleet averages under 3 years of age and is rated mainly at Euro 6 (the best) or EEV (the next best).

One could argue that it is not environmentally friendly for bands to fly from the US to Europe (or vice versa) and tour around thus adding to the emissions.  How far do we take this argument ?  The ideal would be to live as comfortably as we do yet at the same time take all reasonable steps to reduce our emissions.  As an example, we find that US band tours in Europe seem to have been defined by using darts thrown at a map whereas European bands tend to be less "ambitious".   If the ,management and promoters got together to provide more simple routing it would not only save money but reduce the environmental impact.  As European bands do this then I see no reason why US bands can't. Of course festival dates are pretty well set in stone but even then we have recommended to bands they ask the festivals to switch the booked dates for the band to save huge mileages and costs.

There is an irony that festivals themselves maintain statistics on their environmental impact (i.e. they collate mileages for contractors to travel to and from site, etc) but what is the point ? Surely that is merely a PR exercise and otherwise meaningless ?

We DO need to reduce greenhouse gas emmissions urgeny.  Also to find ways to absorb more at earth level. Grow more trees and stop felling the Amazon rainforest. These activities are fully with merit and should be encouraged.  Maybe every ticket at a music festival should contribute to yet another tree ? 

If you wish to discuss any of the points I have made I have a very open mind.  Please contact me at [email protected] if you have an opinion on these issues