The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in a move to reduce power consumption and exhibitor costs, has offered exhibition organisers the option of switching off.
The Centre has installed dedicated electricity outlets for cleaning in its main exhibition halls, enabling exhibition organisers to switch off all other power overnight.
The new system was trialled at the Reed Gift Fair – the biggest trade show in Australia – during February, and played a major role in reducing power consumption at the event by an impressive 12 per cent.
Centre chief executive Ton van Amerongen said the new power reduction option would now be offered to all exhibition organisers.
“The Centre has won many awards for energy saving initiatives associated with its environmental program Ecowise but we are constantly looking for new ways to conserve energy,” he said.
The Centre has won the Best Green Initiative category at the national Exhibition and Events Association of Australasia’s Annual Awards for the past four years and recently won the Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) New South Wales Award for Corporate Social Responsibility.
“This latest initiative is part of our ongoing drive to reduce our carbon footprint and set the benchmark for the events industry.”
The Centre participates in Earth Hour each year and has been recognised as a Green Globe (Silver) Benchmarked Convention Centre, a Bronze Partner of the NSW Government’s Sustainability Advantage program and received the Earthcheck Silver Certification and ISO 14001:2004 Standard for Environmental Management Systems.