The Tokyo Olympics is just two years away now, and the organizing committee wants to power the entire game using only renewable energy (RE).
Electricity will be generated from only renewable sources like wind and solar, for both the main event and the Paralympics, as well as the athletes’ village, international broadcasting center, and the main press center.
To achieve that, the organizing committee intends to rent and lease the infrastructure needed to do this during the event. That also involves buying renewable energy from power companies and installing solar panels wherever possible.
In addition, the committee also plans to build solar roads in the area around the 2020 Games. These will involve solar panels embedded directly in the roads, using a special resin to ensure they durability. Pilot projects are already being carried out, with solar panels having been installed beneath a parking lot outside a convenience store in Tokyo. That alone is now powering 10 percent of the store’s electricity needs.
The Olympics committee for Japan is also carrying out other green efforts for the games, including crafting the medals from recycled precious metals harvested from old mobile phones.
The Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games too were entirely powered by wind energy. Similarly China is also planning a low-carbon Winter Olympics in 2022 which will not only support China’s ambition to lower harmful emissions, but it will also see them pioneer a movement towards the cost-effective decarbonisation of the world’s greatest spectacles.