WALTHAMSTOW: Giant screen not so green

3:04pm Tuesday 8th July 2008

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THE carbon footprint of a giant screen planned for Walthamstow will be the equivalent of almost three houses.

Dubbed the Screen on the Green, the 8.4m wide, 4m high, 1.6m deep structure is expected to be on for 16 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And all that electricity is bad news for the environment.

An average household emits six tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, while the screen could emit ten times that.

If it runs at 100 per cent capacity it will use around 147,000 kilowatts of electricity a year, emitting 64 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

If it runs at 25 per cent capacity, as the council plans, it will use 37,000 kilowatts of electricity a year - 16 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

The screen is one of dozens planned for "every nation and region of the country", despite 2012 organiser's green claims.

Environmental campaigner Clare Joy of James Street, Walthamstow, said: "This is meant to be the greenest Olympics. This is just an example of how 2012, the Government and the council are not joining up the dots.

"You can't be doing a climate change consultation on one hand and then do this kind of thing on the other."

Bob Belam, Cabinet member for the environment, said he was concerned about the screen's carbon footprint but he thought it was worth it.

"You have to outweigh one against the other," he said. "I think the benefits will outweigh the carbon footprint and if it's only the same as three households, that's not really a lot.

"The screen will provide important information for people and will be able to get out messages about anti-social behaviour."

A spokeswoman for London 2012, added the Games did take sustainability seriously but including as many people in the Olympics was more important.

She said: "We want people from Waltham Forest to feel part of what's happening, to engage in our Games and we want as many people as possible to be part of that."

The council is considering projects which will help it offset its carbon footprint and will unveil its Carbon Change Strategy in September.

Cllr Belam said it was too early to outline specific plans.

All that electricity will be expensive too. The estimated cost of the screen, the technology that goes with it and the BBC Screen Manager who will edit content on the screen is £150,000 per year.

London 2012 will foot the bill for that.

But council tax payers will have to fork out between £15 and £20,000 per year for electricity, TV licence and insurance.

Caramel Quin, chairwoman of the nearby Cleveland Park Residents Association, whose members are likely to be affected by the noise coming from the screen, urged the council to consult residents over the screen's hours.

"We have got to decide clearly whether we want it to be on all day like TV wallpaper, or only when something people want to watch is on," she said.

"That would really cut the carbon footprint."