cables, giving them an extended product life cycle, reducing waste and saving unnecessary replacement costs. Some of our clients are also actively adopting environmental management practices that support ISO 14001 certification. These initiatives not only help reduce their environmental impact but can also enhance their position in project tender processes, where environmental policies and sustainability commitments are increasingly assessed and scored.” ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management systems that help organisations reduce their environmental impact and improve sustainability. “We are seeing more and more organisations across the broadcast and live events sectors embedding sustainability into their day-to-day operations, which is an encouraging trend for the industry as a whole,” says Smeeton. TURNING DOWN THE CARBON High-quality audio is essential to any live performance. Poor sound can detract from the
audience’s experience, which is why venues and artists invest considerable time in selecting powerful, reliable PA systems. However, performance is only part of the picture. From the materials and manufacturing processes used to produce loudspeakers to the energy they consume, sustainability remains a significant challenge for the audio industry. “Over the last six years now, we have been aiming to change how we fundamentally build products, switching raw materials to lower-impact options and ensuring we maximise the existing features that would naturally dovetail with sustainability, such as product repairability, longevity and efficiency,” says Andy Land, global head of sustainability at Focusrite Group, whose brands include Martin Audio. “With events and our products, electricity is fundamentally the biggest contributor to emissions, but this is highly dependent on the power source. As our products are inherently compatible with 100% renewable energy, there is no barrier to our products leaving no footprint at an event. In fact, we have been able
EXTENDING EQUIPMENT LIFE The live events sector demands products with long life cycles. Venues can also be affected by extreme weather conditions, making reliability a key consideration when it comes to sustainability. Argosy is a distributor of critical infrastructure products catering to the broadcast, media and AV industries. “Extending the life of existing infrastructure is one of the most practical ways of improving sustainability,” begins Chris Smeeton, sales director at Argosy. “We offer our customers a service to clean, test and, where necessary, repair their fibre Making container-size batteries standard is the most significant development that I’ve seen
Powered by FlippingBook