Quiet on set: solar panels replace generators on the Prime Video Original Series 'Fallout'
Amazon aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040. Investing in carbon-free energy, scaling solutions, and collaborating with partners to broaden our impact are just some of the strategies we’re pursuing to meet our goals. As part of The Climate Pledge, all of Amazon’s businesses are working to decarbonize their operations. For Amazon MGM Studios, that means working to transition to cleaner, mobile power on productions.
When a new project is greenlit, Braver works with the production company to identify opportunities for more sustainable technology on set. She also works on the studios’ sustainability research and development fund, which focuses on replacing fuel with cleaner tech options like the Solar Ring ® system. On the Season Two set, the fund also supported a new water system that collects, condenses, and filters ambient air to create clean drinking water to limit single-use water bottles, water delivery costs, and emissions from transporting water as actors and crew hydrated in the heat. Robust recycling programs, reusable catering materials, and responsible waste sorting further helped the show imagine a future with more sustainable productions.
The film industry has been implementing sustainability initiatives on sets for about two decades, said Sachi Gera, Amazon Studio’s business operations and sustainability lead. Initially, studios were focused more on better waste management practices. But recently, the industry is thinking more about cleaner technology, and “needle-moving opportunities to really reduce carbon footprints,” Gera said.
On some sets in the United Kingdom, for example, Amazon is piloting hydrogen fuel to charge batteries that help run basecamps and other parts of sets. These hydrogen-powered units are quiet, and like the Fallout solar panel system, don’t produce particulate matter, improving the air quality. Amazon MGM Studios has also invested in multiple battery systems thanks to the sustainability research and development fund.