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Green progress at NMH

Since NMH became an Eco-Lighthouse, we have used less electricity, have almost halved our paper consumption and shop more sustainably. The latest is NMH's low-threshold bicycle workshop.

Bicycle workshop light

A travel habits survey in February shows that most people use the subway to and from NMH, with bicycles as a good second. In the survey, we asked for tips for a greener NMH. One repeated suggestion was access to an "emergency bicycle kit".

The tip has been taken into account, and now you can borrow a bicycle rack, bicycle pump and various bicycle tools from the reception on the 1st floor. Please use everything outside the main entrance. It is not for home loans.

Environmental reports

The environmental reports compare from year to year and measure, among other things, energy use, paper consumption, fuel, travel, and the number of eco-labelled goods and suppliers. Since NMH became an eco-lighthouse last spring, this is the first year we have gotten comparable figures.

In addition to the fact that we have almost halved our paper consumption, the purchase of eco-labelled and certified goods and suppliers has increased noticeably.

– Since NMH is entirely new as an eco-lighthouse, there may be some margins of error in the figures we report. The numerical basis is, in some cases, based on manual counts, which can lead to deviations. We have to wait a couple of years until we can get excellent and reliable figures to compare with, says the project manager for Grønt NMH Johan Jørgensen

We must wait a few years to get excellent and reliable figures to compare.

Johan Jørgensen

Fewer flights compared to before the pandemic

NMH aims to reduce the number of flights by 30% by the end of 2023 and 40% by the end of 2025 compared to 2019. The environmental reports show that we are on the right track.

If we compare with the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, the flights have gone straight up, but it is better to compare with 2019 - pre-pandemic time: In 2019, we made 1,212 flights under the auspices of NMH divided into 498 trips in the Nordics, 548 in Europe and 166 in the rest of the world.

In 2022, we only flew 493 times. This also means that we at NMH will emit 123.3 tonnes less CO2 from flights in 2022 than we did two years before.

At the same time that NMH became an eco-lighthouse, the school adopted a travel policy that more clearly encourages climate-friendly travel. For climate-friendly travel to be easy to carry out and at the same time profitable, the personnel section is also working on guidelines for the use of the extra time we may use when we exchange flights for trains.

Less power consumption

Energy consumption in February 2023 was 61% compared to February 2022. Several measures have been taken to save electricity, producing results in 2023. Light bulbs have been changed to LEDs, and the ventilation system has been upgraded.

The steam boilers supply steam to the ventilation system so that the humidity is maintained for the enjoyment of our musical instruments. The steam boilers are necessary and must be left on during the winter, but in March, the steam boilers used 43% of the energy we used in the same month last year. When we enter a less energy-demanding period with a higher temperature outside, we can switch them off and save even more electricity.

What we can measure in a good way is especially electricity consumption and waste. This is where we get the most detailed reports.

Johan Jørgensen

Why are emissions still rising?

Unfortunately, the climate reports show that NMH's total CO2 emissions have not decreased. This is mainly due to two things:

  1. We have several business trips by car. From 2021 to 2022, it rose by 143%. Here we are missing comparative figures from 2019.
  2. We still need to improve waste sorting. The source sorting rate is still well below 50%, and most still go into residual waste. NMH still has to work on this, but unfortunately, it takes time and we have to work with both Statsbygg and the canteen on a joint scheme. The next step is to remove waste bins in every office and set up well-marked waste stations in central locations.

NMH Talk about the environment

CEMPE and Grønt NMH invite you to a panel debate about musicians and concert organizers' challenges, attitudes and experiences related to climate change and climate change.

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