Eco-Friendly Club Gets Energized from Dancers. No, Really!

Dancing rocks. Great exercise for your body. Good for my soul. But Dance clubs are hardly the places I think of when I hear the term, “eco-friendly.” Blaring music, high tech effects, flashing lights – that’s gotta add up to a (great time but) huge carbon footprint, right?

Not necessarily.

Clubs in London and San Francisco are introducing the concept of “eco-clubbing” to party people eager to make their mark on the dance floor, not on the environment.

Club Surya in the Kings Cross area of London is touting itself as “Britain’s first eco-nightclub,” offering organic beer and wine, low-voltage lighting and a recyclable water system. What’s even cooler is that parts of the club, which opened its doors last week, are powered by the dance floor itself: Pulsing steps to power pulsing beats. Nice!

The Daily Mail Online shows how it works:

While it’s a fantastic idea, sk from Curiously Persistent has some very valid logistical concerns:

• The initiative will get people in the door once. But the primary choice of clubbing venue revolves around where you will have the most fun. The website doesn’t contain any details on the styles of music or the DJs involved.
• People don’t want to be preached at on a night out. Making people sign a pledge (no. 8) before they are allowed to enter will turn people off
• Free entrance to those that travel via public transport, walk or cycle can go one of two ways. Firstly, unless they are targeting the upper reaches of society, the vast majority of clubbers will travel via tube or bus to get there (taxis are for the journey home only) and so few people may pay. However, how do you prove you have walked in? And getting a receipt for Oyster card journeys can be a hassle

And the Mail Online also notes that some other club owners, like the one that owns the Sustainable Dance Club (SDC) in the Netherlands are getting hot over Club Surya’s claims that it is the first sustainable club in the world.

For more information on Club Surya and future plans for an eco holiday destination called Club4Climate island(?), check out: Club4Climate.

For a stateside eco-clubbing option, look into Temple in San Francisco,  which has implemented a number of green initiatives such as non-toxic cleaning products, low energy lighting, organic foods, and compostable cups for several years but is always looking for more. This from Metrowize:

While a new solar panel system and other well-known eco-friendly practices are on the agenda, there are also some unique ideas that can serve as inspiration for other venues as well. For example, the carpeting is cut in one foot-squared, interconnecting pieces, so stains and wear don’t require full replacement.

“We’re trying a lot of experimental ideas. Some work and some don’t.” explained Mike [Zuckerman, Director of Sustainability]. “A few months ago, we started thinking about all the car flyering that went on in the neighborhood while people were in our club and the trash it caused in the neighborhood. I picked up all of the club flyers on our block, then recycled them as drink tickets and Green passes to get into the club