“Thrills in the name of science and sustainability” – Calgary is Awesome (also in Calgary City and Press )

Joey Hundert doesn’t want to blind you with science, he wants to blow you away.

The co-founder and CEO of Sustainival, Canada’s first sustainable midway and travelling carnival, has brought his brain-child to Beakerhead and he’s not leaving until you’ve puked all over the Tilt-a-Whirl ….

Every ride at Sustainival is powered by waste vegetable oil converted on site into biodiesel fuel. COURTESY/SUSTAINIVAL

In actuality, Hundert is here to demonstrate the power of sustainable resources.

“The reason we chose this context was not to make an economic point,” says Hundert, “it was to make a point in reality of showing that there is a different way to do almost anything. In this case, we are powering gigantic machines, each of which consumes the same amount of power as say 50 or 60 households.”

To run the average midway, Hundert says the power required is about equal to that used by 500 households — 500 households running on waste vegetable oil.

Vegetable oil?

That’s right. The Sustainival team collects waste vegetable oil from the host city and brings it back to to the midway where it is converted into biodiesel fuel — in an attraction called Flower Power — and used to power the generators.

“The Flower Power trailer has two doors, one on the back and one on the side, so people can walk right through it,” Hundert says. “And our masterful doctor of biodiesel, Andrew, will explain to anybody who through how it all works.”

About 1,000 L of waste vegetable oil is converted on an average day at the midway. As well, Sustainival employs wind and solar power on site to run other attractions or area lighting.

On an average day, the midway uses about 1,000 L of waste vegetable oil. COURTESY/SUSTAINIVAL

The costs of running such an operation aren’t cheap, and Hundert is resolute when he says he’s not in it for the money.

“It’s more so to spark curiosity, spark an interest in doing things differently. Doing things that speak more to sustainability, knowing that more attention and brilliance flows into future solutions, the more the economics become feasible. Sustainival is a registered Alberta non-profit. We know what we’re here to do, and that’s to inspire and educate.”

Hundert hopes for Sustainival to one day become a household name and the “Cirque du Soleil of sustainability.”

“We seek to stand for excitement about the future, demonstration of the possibility and a place of total inspiration and so we’ve been on a very intentional path of growth as a non-profit … and I think we’ll last. And that’s the intention, to last and become a known and trusted experience for people to have their minds blown.”

Check out Sustainival at Beakerhead Sept. 12-15 located in Stampede Park.

And for more Beakerhead, click HERE to read Amy Jo Espetveidt’s festival preview.