Ø Experts see showcasing and wider deployment of sustainable technologies as true 'legacy' of 2012 London Olympic Games
Ø "Domino effect" as future Games strive to be even greener, building upon lessons learned in London
Ø Research exposes lack of public awareness of how such technology will help them live greener, healthier lives in the future
The Olympics are a microcosm of the sustainability challenges and opportunities that we will face in our future cities and communities, according to a new GE report, conducted by Future Poll[1] and published with less than 6 months to go until the opening ceremony. The staging of the Games has helped inform and at times expose some of the key global challenges we face in key areas such as transportation, energy, infrastructure and healthcare.
Entitled 'From Stadium to Street; what could we learn from staging the Games?', the report is based upon in-depth interviews with a range of leading experts in specialist fields such as sustainability, healthcare, energy, construction and architecture - as well as the opinions of futurologists and technologists. The report also gauges public awareness and opinion in London and Rio (the destination of the next Summer Game in 2016).
With its pledge to be the most sustainable in history the London 2012 Olympic Games has had to face the significant challenge of building and powering facilities which will be watched and scrutinized by billions of spectators around the world, as well as looking after the transport and healthcare needs of the thousands of spectators expected to descend upon London in the summer.
As such, the Games provide a useful technology 'test and learn' environment to help us understand how we tackle such issues on a global scale -- that is, how we build, move, power and look after a global population which is expected to reach 9 billion by the middle of the 21st Century? GE's report asks whether any of the technology deployed at the Games will play a part in tackling these wider challenges in the future.
Mark Elborne, CEO and President GE UK commented:
"The Olympic Games focuses attention on the wider infrastructure issues we will face in the future and how we could potentially tackle them. By providing a highly concentrated environment -- a microcosm of our cities and communities -- it allows us to test technology such as smart meters, clean energy and electric vehicles. The Games also helps us understand the difficulties in deploying such technology and helps inform how we might approach such challenges on a wider scale."
Consumer "awareness gap"
As part of the report, the general public in the UK and Brazil were questioned about their perceptions of sustainability and the Olympics. Whilst experts see the Olympics as an invaluable learning environment, the research reveals a worrying lack of understanding of the sustainable technologies around the Games and their relevance to how we will live in the future.
Although 61% of people in the UK and 76% in Brazil see the Olympics as a 'force for good', just 25% of Brazilians and 1 in 10 (12%) Britons believe the Olympic Games will leave behind technologies for the wider society to inherit. The research demonstrates the continuing need to capture the hearts and minds of consumers in order to inform and educate them about the challenges of our global future and the role technology can play to tackle them.
The findings highlight a broader awareness gap on the part of the public about the legacy benefits of the Games in terms of technologies that could enhance their lives:
* While over half of UK consumers questioned agreed that the cutting edge technologies on display at the Olympics are likely to trickle down to wider society once the games are finished, the remaining half disagree.
* 17% of people surveyed in Brazil and only 5% in the UK believe that the Olympics will improve their country's green credentials or reduce environmental impact.
* Only 12% of Brits believe that after the Olympics East London will have buildings that showcase green technologies, while 8% think it will have sustainable energy generators.
While this awareness gap exists, just over one in three people surveyed in the UK (34%) say the focus on creating a sustainable Olympics has motivated them to consider the greenness of their own behaviour. This illustrates the role the Games can play in embedding new concepts in the public psyche and changing attitudes.
Continued Mark Elborne:
"As a sponsor and Sustainability Partner of London 2012 and a world Olympics Partner through to 2020, we are very conscious of the legacy that the Games must leave behind -- part of this has to be to increase consumer awareness of both the technology and the needs for change.
"The modern Olympics have continually redefined global achievement -- whether through individuals pushing themselves beyond the limits of their physical abilities or as the only global event to bring more than 200 nations together. In the future, the Games' motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger" should represent both the spirit of sporting achievement and inspire solutions to the growing challenges of our age, as host nations concentrate on making the greatest show on earth the greenest show on earth. "
Ends
[1] Future Poll is the research division of the Future Laboratory
Mark Maguire
GE
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