Green power rejected at Athens games

ATHENS, Greece, 2004-08-04 (Refocus Weekly)

Organizers of the Olympic Games in Greece have failed to fulfill their commitment to incorporate renewable energy into the event facilities.

“Green energy is the most striking failure for the Athens Olympics,” says Nikos Charalambides of Greenpeace Greece. “It was the intention that all electricity used by related premises and users during the Olympics in 2004 should be generated by renewables.”

“For a country that markets itself as a country of endless sunshine, solar energy for the games shouldn't be so difficult,” he adds. “But green energy at the Games is close to zero.”

Australia set a “major breakthrough for the environment” in 2000 when the International Olympic Committee said the environment will be the third pillar of the games. In its bid, Greece presented a series of commitments and promises to exceed the ‘Green Games’ of Sydney.

“So the lack of green commitment in Athens is even more shocking,” says Charalambides. “This list of failures in the environmental performance of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games shows that when there is no strong political will, failures will override wins.”

Greenpeace has assessed the environmental performance of the Athens games, and its detailed analysis of the ‘green promises’ of the local organizing committee shows that “Athens is disqualified from the race for environmental excellence.”

“Solar energy, wind energy and other alternative energy sources will be used on a large scale to heat water and provide electric lighting and air conditioning,” the organizing committee had promised but a construction tender issued in 2001 by Olympic Village S.A. did not ask for energy efficiency measures or renewables (“even solar water heating was excluded, in a country with one of the most advanced solar manufacturing industries worldwide,” the report notes). Original documents suggested that the use of solar, combined with enhanced building methods and materials, would save 10 million kWh a year.

The top two proposals that have not been realized are the use of solar water heaters and photovoltaics for solar electricity, with the “supply of green electricity by nearby wind parks” in thirteenth spot. Other losses are low-e windows for energy conservation, ceiling fans and natural cooling, air-conditioning using natural refrigerants instead of HFCs, district heating and cooling, and the correct orientation of buildings for bioclimatic design (50 buildings of the Olympic Village are not properly oriented).

“It was the intention of ATHOC (Athens Organizing Committee) that all electricity used by related premises and users during the Olympics in 2004 should be generated by renewables,” with an estimate of 80 GWh of green power to be provided. “This translates to some 300 MW of wind power capacity that could provide green electricity for one month.”

The current installed wind capacity in Greece is 410 MW, most of which is connected to the grid, but it is not possible to develop wind parks in the Athens district due to disagreement from public authorities. Private developers suggested that 250 MW could be developed realistically, but the “bureaucracy has set all these plans down the drain, and the dream of green energy supplying the Games has faded.”

The need for distributed generation became evident during a black-out affecting half the country last month.

“With regard to solar energy, photovoltaics have been excluded from the Olympic Village and other Olympic venues,” the report notes. “The same is true for solar thermal systems, both for hot water supply as well as for solar cooling.”

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