Local Transport Coordinator pushing sustainable practices

David Halliday, local Transportation Coordinator goes green with his crew to help minimize greenhouse gas emissions and reduce fuel use. Here’s what he’s putting into practice:

1. A no idling policy that he’s worked with his transport team to instill on productions. This includes adding signage in cast and crew shuttle vehicles that say “no idling”.

   • #GreenFilmTip download ready made no idling signage and other handy flyers at greenproductionguide.com.

2. Engaging with crew and cast on how to reduce the use of single use plastic water bottles and working to ensure that reusable water bottles are available with bulk water stations. They instigated an official no plastic water bottle policy on his production with support from the production by purchasing metal water bottles for cast and crew.

3. Testing EV’s on productions and outreach to vendors like Driving Force to indicate demand and use for EVs as fleet vehicles.

Halliday is part of the growing movement to work with vendors to go green.  He is in touch regularly with rental car vendors like Driving Force and encourages them to incorporate low emission vehicles, hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs) into their fleet. 

We also caught up with Driving Force to get a little more information on their new Hybrid fleet which features the Hyundai IONIQ Hybrid. Driving Force started their fleet with 6 vehicles and have 10 more coming in September. The reviews so far have been incredibly positive, according to Driving Force, with many compliments on how well the vehicle drives and the distance it's capable of on a single charge.

As demand increases, so will the availability of EV rental options through Driving Force. The more productions that take this step towards sustainability, the more cost effective of a solution it becomes for all productions. However, despite a small rental premium to go EV, the savings on fuel costs compensate for the current rental premiums. This means that BC productions can break even on their transportation costs and lower their carbon footprint. An additional bonus is use of the HOV lane as an eco-car in the Vancouver area.

When asked what spurred Driving Force to hop on the sustainability bandwagon, they stated that they are excited to continue to support the BC motion picture industry and participate in any way they could to help make sustainable production viable. If productions want to get their hands on one or multiple of these vehicles, they’re available out of both Driving Force Langley and Burnaby locations.

Thanks, David for telling us what's happening in your department and your outreach with vendors and thanks to Driving Force for helping make sustainable production easier.

How are you incorporating sustainable production practices?  Tell us what's happening in your department and your story could be featured in a newsletter, too! 

Want to learn more about the impact of production and ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions? Attend a Carbon Literacy course! They're free!