Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Yesterday morning Vancouver awoke to an Olympic hangover, and I don’t mean the alcohol induced one.  By now, the sudden realization that Vancouver’s two-week international coming-out party has come to an abrupt end is starting to set it.  Next comes the withdrawal.  Previous host cities have called it a “post-Olympic depression”.  Over the next few days, our one million plus visitors will depart, en masse, leaving an enormous void where once stood thousands of slightly intoxicated yet utterly jubilant spectators.

This is not the right space to debate the value of the Olympic games but if we can put that debate aside for the time being, we can have an intelligent conversation on the process, the goals the host city accomplished and the caliber of excellence presented to the world.  I was fortunate enough to be a part of that presentation in a role with the Olympic Broadcast Service.  Seldom seen and hardly mentioned, OBS, as the host broadcaster of the games, is responsible for capturing every moment of every event and broadcasting it to the millions of viewers around the world.  It was an extraordinary production and I am proud to have been a part of it.   It afforded me the opportunity to not only observe the events, the winning of medals, and the spectacular athleticism of some very inspiring individuals, but also to witness what went on behind the scenes, what goes in to the making of an Olympic venue, and everything that just isn’t seen on TV.

Vancouver 2010 Crowd

Emerging from the skytrain station yesterday morning I half expected that it wasn’t actually over and that I would run head-on into the masses once more.  Instead, I found a quiet Granville street, showing nothing but the remnants of a monumental celebration that took place the night before, an outright display of national pride that followed one of the most important moments in Canadian sporting history.  A few stumbling, drunk, and confused stragglers aside, the party was over.  And so Vancouverites begin the process of remembering what life was like pre-Olympics and pondering the legacy left in the wake of the biggest party this city has ever seen.  When the dust settles and the excitement dissipates, what will our visitors take home with them? How will the international audience rank our performance as a host city? What were the true costs? What will be the lasting benefits and will they outweigh the negatives?

I have been living and breathing Olympics for the last month and at the moment the answers to these questions are beyond my comprehension.  The truth and the impact of the whole operation will not become entirely clear to me (if ever) until after I’m granted some degree of retrospection and not until I can clear my mind of Olympic clutter and review the month’s events with a fresh outlook.

However, I can say this: Vancouver put its best foot forward, showed the world how a host city (and a host nation) should act and with a warm “Bienvenue” we invited millions to join us in what will most likely be seen as a successful Olympics.  No, it was not without tribulation, a few missteps here and there, and a relentless and merciless weather phenomenon the likes of which we may never see again.  And yes, it did cost a lot of money.   But we did it.

Because I spend a great deal of my time at Skanderbeg Capital researching and reporting on the “green economy,” during my time at the Olympics I could not help but ponder the environmental impact of the games.  In light of this, I can confidently say that there is nothing green about the Olympics.  It is incredibly resource intensive and any event that involves international travel on this scale cannot be seen as environmentally sensitive.  Its impact is simply too large.

But I can also confidently say Vancouver did an incredible job of mitigating that impact. The 2010 Winter Games, BC Hydro reports, “will produce the lowest carbon dioxide emissions from power generation in the history of the modern Games, at only about a tenth of previous Winter Games.”

Vancouver 2010 Richmond Olympic Oval

Construction of new buildings, where necessary, achieved LEED certification often to the Gold or Platinum level.  Energy consumption was meticulously recorded and, in an incredible display of transparency, displayed for the world to see.  Clean, hydroelectric powered public transit was expanded, thus reducing our reliance on automobiles during the games and afterwards.   VANOC has committed to offset at least 118 000 tonnes of emissions not abated by other measures (about half of the expected total emissions).

Perhaps more importantly though, was the opportunity to present to the world the growing concentration of environmental expertise, capital funding, and innovation now present in Vancouver.  It is already the greenest city in North America, and Mayor Gregor Robertson hopes to achieve the Greenest City in the world title also. With this type of public institutional support and an established climate of business innovation, what better way to show the world that Vancouver is serious about environmentalism, sustainable development, and green innovation, than by throwing the greenest Olympics ever?

Famed philanthropist Richard Branson saw the value in capitalizing on an international audience like no other and took the opportunity to present his Carbon War Room and a grand battle plan to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.  But Branson didn’t really just choose Vancouver because of the Olympics; the real reason was Mayor Gregor Robertson’s vision of a Green Capital and an incredible host of very innovative green start-ups. 

Greenscape Capital Group was there, with CEO Bryan Slusarchuk leading a panel discussion on capital financing for energy efficiency.  Slusarchuk is building a name for himself as an eco-capitalist at large, professing a logical, business oriented way of approaching environmentalism. There’s money to be made and Greenscape is targetting significant profits.  Branson’s Carbon War Room and the remarkable discussion stemming from the summit that took place over the course of the Olympics, will likely further fuel this endeavour.

No Olympics will be able to top Vancouver’s display of innovation, environmental sensitivity and dedication to sustainability, or it’s outright natural beauty.  When the provincial budget is released this week and in the coming months years the total cost of the Olympic Games will become more apparent, but for now, I’m satisfied with the knowledge that the world has a better understanding of why Vancouver is such an important piece of the eco-business puzzle and why it is a place of environmental innovation like no other.