Sunrise Festival and SolarAid Making a Brighter Future!

The Award winning Sunrise Celebration Festival, Somerset, renowned for setting new standards in environmental policy, is teaming up with SolarAid, one of the most exciting new energy projects around committed to combating poverty and climate change with solar power.
Sunrise was the first major music festival in the UK to adopt site wide compost toilets and be powered by 100% renewable energy, as well as having a site wide organic food and compostable plates and glasses policy and a team of eco rangers advising people on recycling and checking green protocol is met.
“Presently we use biodiesel alongside solar, cycle and wind power, but we are looking at phasing this out, starting this year with the firefly solar stage which is the largest of its kind in the country. We are thrilled to be teaming up with SolarAid whose ethics are very much in line with our own.
“Solar power is a low cost solution to many of the global power issues and certainly is a solution at Sunrise, which is like setting up a small town in a fortnight, and is a great example of how we can all occupy the land with minimal impact and waste,” says Daniel Hurring of Festivalife ltd who produce Sunrise.
Replacing carbon emitting technologies with solar power can mitigate global warming and once set up it is a cheap and clean source of renewable power. “We are really pleased to be working in partnership with Sunrise Celebration this year,” says Nick Sireau, Director of SolarAid. “Sunrise and SolarAid are both focused on promoting renewable energy to fight climate change and global poverty so there are some excellent synergies to build on.”
SolarAid is a new charity that helps poor communities in developing countries use solar power to fight poverty and climate change. SolarAid carries out microsolar projects – training solar entrepreneurs to build and sell small solar lanterns, radios and solar chargers for mobile phones – and macrosolar projects, such as installing solar panels on schools and health clinics in Africa.
Visit the Sunrise Celebration this year to see some of the amazing technologies on show across the site and in the new Green Innovations area and share more on how “we can be the change we wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandi).
Sunrise is from 29th May – 1st June 2008 Visit www.sunrisecelebration.com. Info 0845 0096347. SolarAid’s website: www.solar-aid.org