Every year, St. Patrick’s Festival invites businesses, landmark buildings, entertainment venues and cultural institutions to 'Go Green' for St. Patrick's Day. For this year's Festival we want to make the Greening more inclusive and accessible, by encouraging more people to get involved, in new and innovative ways.

We are asking participants to Go Green for the duration of the festival, either in the traditional manner of lighting up buildings, or alternatively by adopting the colour green in other ways in your businesses and organisations throughout the city for the duration of the Festival which, this year takes place from Thursday 16th – Sunday 19th March.

We feature each participant on our Festival website, and the initiative gains extensive coverage in the run up to and throughout the Festival, both nationally and internationally. Please get in touch with our Hospitality Department (hospitality@stpatricksfestival.ie) and let us know you are taking part so we can include you on the website.

We are aware that while for some, illuminating your building may be as easy as a switch of a button, with no impact on costs or energy use, for others it may not be as straightforward. We have included some alternative suggestions with this letter as well as guide information to help you to Go Green this year.

We would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincerest thanks to all of you who have supported us in the past, and we hope that you will be involved again this year. We also look forward to welcoming many more of you on board for Greening the City in March 2023!

Guide to Going Green

If you are thinking of going green for St. Patrick's Festival, 16th – 19th March, here are a few tips:

Alternative ways of Going Green

Traditionally, we've celebrated our Greening of the City by asking organisations to light up their buildings green for the duration of the Festival. This year, we'd like to invite businesses who may not have the capacity to illuminate their buildings to consider adopting the colour green in other areas. Below are a few examples of how you might look to 'Go Green'. If you are undertaking any of the following initiatives, make sure to email us with images

· Asking your staff to wear green, or introduce a small element of green into current staff uniforms
· Bring the colour green into your offices and public spaces in as many creative ways as possible
· Incorporate the colour green into your social media profiles
· Amend products and offerings where possible to include an element of the colour green (e.g. food and drinks offerings)
· Window dressing featuring simple green displays
· Green fabric alternatives for external building facades that can be safely secured

If you are undertaking any of these initiatives, make sure to email us at hospitality@stpatricksfestival.ie with images or tag us online at #SPF23 and #TheGreening23

Lighting up your building

LED

LED lighting has become extremely popular in recent years with an explosion of colour-changing buildings in the city, including the Convention Centre and National Concert Hall. Luckily, if your building is fitted with colour-changing LED lights, then Going Green for the Festival could be as simple as pushing a button. If you have white-only LED, this can easily be changed to green using colour filter/ gel (See below). If in doubt, talk to your electrician.

SON (High Pressure Sodium)

SONs are a very popular type of architectural light and are seen on buildings all over the city including Trinity College and Bank of Ireland at College Green. Also used in streetlights, they produce a warm orange colour. Unfortunately because of this, it makes it very difficult to change this orange to green using colour gels or filters. However, some High Pressure Sodium lamps can easily be swapped to a type of bulb available that simply retro fits into the existing lamps, called a Metal Halide which is available in a specialist green colour. Again, if in doubt, talk to your electrician or contact your local electrical wholesaler for more information. Popular brands for Green Metal Halide bulbs are ‘Venture’ and ‘Colorlite’.

Metal Halides

Metal Halides are similar to SON lamps, but produce a cool white colour. As referred to above, there is a green bulb version available which can easily be retrofitted. If you already have white light metal halides on your premises, you may be able to change their colour with green gels for minimal cost. However, this depends on the amount of heat emitted by the light fixture. Again, check with your electrician if in doubt.

Green Gel/Colour Filter

Colour Filters or Gels are a specialised, heat-resistant, coloured plastic used mainly in theatre and stage lighting, with 1000s of shades available. Gels can be put on any white light source, including fluorescent tubes. It is a simple cost- effective solution for greening your business. Gels are available from theatrical lighting suppliers like Production Services Ireland (01) 2933677, or Cue One (091) 761855 and similar.

Always ask for “HT” (High Temperature) filter, as it will last longer.