2012 Olympics leads the way for low-carbon London

• London leverages 2012 Games to advance city’s climate-friendly agenda
• Post-event legacy and supply chain accountability multiply impact

By Eleanor Chen

In addition to the flora in the nearby restored wetlands area, a garden now lines the Thames-side walkway between some of the games’ main venues (photo credit: Olympic Delivery Authority)

London wants the world to remember the 2012 Olympic Games that opens on July 27th as the first sustainable one in the series.

In keeping to its promise to the  International Olympic Committee (IOC), the British organisers based the latest Games on the WWF/BioRegional concept of “One Planet Living” – guided by the principle that the world should live within its means.

This aspect of London 2012 also accords with the UK’s commitment to cut emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. The roadmap to this goal includes a detailed plan for transitioning to a low-carbon economy, strategies for low-carbon transport and increased use of renewable energy.

To deliver a “low-carbon Games”, sustainability was incorporated into the design and construction of venues and infrastructure, the planning of Games operations, and a legacy which maximises both the immediate and the long-term economic, social and environmental benefits of the Games to Londoners and the UK.

Not only are all 11 plots of the Olympic Village built to be 44% more energy-efficient than a 2006 standard residential building, but the village will also be converted, post-Games, into thousands of new homes for sale and rent, half of which will be affordable housin (photo credit: Olympic Delivery Authority)

Roads less travelled

The Games uses simple solutions to avoid emissions. Firstly, most of the venues are within or close to the Olympic Park, reducing travel impacts. Other solutions include using existing venues or temporary venues and, where there is no legacy use, choosing low embodied carbon materials.

The major contributors to carbon emissions are transportation during construction, construction material use, and travel during the Games. The railway and London’s river systems were used extensively to reduce road transportation and limit carbon emissions tremendously. Over 60% – more than one million tonnes – of materials have been delivered to the Olympic Park by rail or water. Some 2,000 tonnes of waste has been removed from the site by barge.

Public transportation, in particular the city’s Underground “Tube”, will be the main people mover. Barclays’ Cycle Hire system, a pick-up/drop-off bike rental service with stations around the city, will be available. The Games will substitute 20% of fuel used with biodiesel, cutting emissions by 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (6ktCO₂e).

In April, BMW unveiled its fleet of 4,000 vehicles to be used for transporting athletes, officials and support teams and equipment. Despite scepticism and concern among green campaigners who eschew the use of high-powered vehicles that BMW is so famous for, the automaker surpassed the organiser’s target emissions level of 120 grams of CO₂ per km (g/km). BMW’s fleet averages just 116 g/km, thanks largely to the inclusion of 200 pure electric vehicles; the UK’s national average is 138 g/km.

BMW Group is meeting the London Olympics’ challenging target of 120g/km of CO2 with a fleet that includes bicycles, motorcycles, diesel cars, hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs), including the MINI E and BMW 1 Series Active E (photo credit: BMW Group)

Built to last

The 2012 Games is also setting standards for urban planning and construction standards. All permanent venues are on track to be 15% more efficient than a 2006 building and all 11 plots of the Olympic Village will be 44% more energy efficient than a standard residential building built to 2006 standards.

Carbon emissions have been reduced through efficient building design and average cement substitutions of 32%. This translates to a savings of 85,000 tonnes of embodied carbon. Ramler, the supplier of furniture for the Athletes’ and the Satellite Villages, were able to provide full Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody documentation for over 44,000 pieces of timber used for bedroom furniture in Villages.

Foundations for the Aquatics Centre, Handball Arena and the Olympic Stadium utilised concrete with more than 30% recycled content (photo credit: Olympic Delivery Authority)

The Olympic Village is designed to bring the average daily water consumption per person down to 105 litres against a standard of 160 litres. This is made possible with fittings such as low-flow taps, low-flush toilets and waterless urinals.

The most energy-efficient venue on the Olympic Park is the Velodrome, where indoor track cycling events will take place. Built with 100% legally and sustainably sourced timber, it optimises natural lighting, uses natural ventilation for passive cooling and cuts potable water demand by 70% with a rainwater harvesting system and water-efficient fittings. By reducing the size and depth of the foundations and developing a lightweight cable net system, the design team saved 1,000 tonnes of steelwork. The foundations for the Aquatics Centre, Handball Arena and the Olympic Stadium were built using concrete with over 30% recycled materials. 

The Olympic Park has had tremendous success in recycling; a total of 98.5% of demolition waste has been recycled and in some cases reused – eight buildings have been reused off-site. The Games Committee is also developing zero-waste plans to responsibly reuse, sell on and/or donate products within the UK after the Games.

The 246-ha Olympic Park is built on former industrial land – derelict, inaccessible and unsafe. Today it is the largest urban park in Europe for 150 years (photo credit: Olympic Delivery Authority)

The 246-ha Olympic Park, a public gathering space with ten sport venues, the Olympic Village, media centres and new parkland, is built on former industrial land – derelict, polluted, inaccessible and unsafe – now transformed into the largest urban park in Europe for 150 years.  Small mammals, such as otters, and bird species will inhabit a large wetlands area that will double as part of a system to deal with rainwater runoff for wet, rainy London. 

In addition to the 300,000 plants in the wetlands area, a garden featuring more than 100,000 plants lines the Thames-side walkway between some of the games’ main venues. More than 4,000 properties will benefit from a significantly reduced risk of flooding as a result of the park designs, river widening, strengthening of flood defences and sustainable urban drainage systems.

After the Games 

London has kept legacy in mind from the outset – the first time a host city has done this. The Olympic and Paralympic Village will be converted into thousands of new homes for sale and rent, half of which will be affordable housing. 

Health and well-being standards and good practises developed in the Olympic Park – such as the over 400 cycle parking bays within the Olympic Park construction site – will be shared as part of the legacy learning process.

Coca-Cola plans to collect and recycle the plastic bottles used at the games. The soft drinks giant will also test a waste management system that could be useful at future major sporting events and festivals. Food vendors in the main Olympic Park will use compostable packaging made mainly from starch and cellulose-based bio-plastics. That means that properly disposed-of food wrappers and boxes will not be sitting in a landfill 20 years from now.

Olympic recycling and sustainability plans won’t stop there. Some of the venues themselves will be reused. The basketball tournament venue is an example. 

The stadium is the lightest Olympic stadium, using a quarter of the concrete used for the Beijing games, and features a lighting system suspended from a compression wheel made from re-purposed gas pipes left over from a different construction project. The first Olympic stadium built to be taken apart, its parts are bolted together with the only permanent component being the concrete base that has seating for 25,000. 

Getting past setbacks

However, there are some significant gaps. One of the more high-profile ones that original target of 20% electricity from renewable sources will not be met. Instead, the new target is to save the equivalent amount of carbon by reducing overall energy demand. It is now going to be closer to 11% with biomass boilers on site providing much of the park’s energy. 

London 2012 will not be able to fulfil its commitment for a low-carbon Olympic torch either. While the carbon contribution may have been relatively small, the power of the message across the globe would have been significant.

Despite these gaps, the Games have pioneered new approaches to sustainability – inspiring new standards of sustainability in the construction, events and hospitality sectors; influencing supply chains to adopt more sustainable practices; transferring learning and knowledge; and providing many examples of legacy the people can benefit from. 

Shaun McCarthy, head of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 says: “A lot of carbon has been saved by comparison with business-as-usual construction techniques. If we can transfer that knowledge to the wider industry, we can save a lot more carbon than will be emitted in the whole of the Olympic Games.” 

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