Article: Hollywood Sending Mixed Messages on Global Warming

ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Gary Gentile

9:34 a.m. September 30, 2007

LOS ANGELES – From “green carpets” at awards shows to organic fruit served to actors on sets, Hollywood is going all out to promote itself as being environmentally hip.

But is it all just show?

No amount of public service announcements or celebrities driving hybrid cars can mask the fact that movie and TV production is a gritty industrial operation, consuming enormous amounts of power to feed bright lights, run sophisticated cameras, and feed a cast of thousands.

Studios' backlots host cavernous soundstages that must be air-conditioned to counter the heat produced by decades-old lighting technology. Huge manufacturing facilities consume wood, steel, paint and plastic to build sets that are often torn down and tossed out after filming ends.

...Still, financial and public pressures have resulted in many studios expanding their environmental efforts, doing everything from using a biodiesel fuel mixture to run the generators on the set of the Fox show “24” to converting Warner Bros.' enormous set-building facility to solar energy.

“Public consciousness on this issue has changed dramatically,” said Kyle Tanger, a principal at Clear Carbon Consulting. “The talent themselves are requesting it from some of the studios. And a lot of these things make economic sense.”

Economic benefit can come to studios directly, by switching to more efficient lighting or cooling systems or driving hybrid cars on location, which can save gas. Other projects, such as installing solar power, can take decades to pay off.

But there are other benefits that are harder to quantify. Besides the public relations angle, many performers and other employees want to work with eco-friendly companies, so it also helps in recruiting and retaining employees, Tanger said.

Form and function merged at this year's Primetime Emmy awards show.

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