With modern audiences now expecting more than just whizzes and bangs, drone light shows are increasingly being used as an exciting alternative to fireworks.
Made famous by the NFL Superbowl and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony, drone light shows are quickly gaining popularity. The displays use precise, illuminated aerial drones to bring vivid, high-fidelity images to the night sky, often synchronized to music.
One of the central drivers behind this interest is a growing concern over the environmental impact of fireworks. Despite fireworks being a mainstay for centuries at festivals such as New Year, Diwali, Bonfire Night, Bastille Day, and Eid, organisers are now looking to drone displays to wow audiences without harm to health or the environment.
The problem with fireworks
While there’s nothing quite like the boom and colourful explosion of a firework, they are something of an environmental disaster, causing considerable air pollution and damage to the environment.
Encased in a firework is a cocktail of chemicals and compounds that, when detonated, emit harmful gases and residues into the surrounding area. These include the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and the particularly nasty, ozone (https://www.nature.com/articles/35082634). These reactive gases not only contribute to climate change but also irritate the lungs and exacerbate issues like asthma.
As well as greenhouse gases, when a firework explodes, it releases fine particulate matter into the atmosphere. Amongst other things, these particles include toxic metals such as aluminium, barium, and lithium salts. While these metals are useful in giving fireworks their bright colours, they also pose a significant risk to health and the environment.
This is because, during the explosion, these metals are not destroyed. Instead, they are spread far and wide as a toxic fog, ending up in the air, water, and soil. If inhaled or ingested, these metals are known to cause long-term health problems.
Studies are now revealing that the concentration levels of this type of particulate matter – known as PM2.5 – increases 2-10 times (https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5735/htm) around the time of festivals and national holidays. Ultimately, this makes a firework display an environmental hazard.
As a lot of pet owners will attest, fireworks can also be a terrifying experience for animals. For wildlife, the noise and fires caused by fireworks are distressing and dangerous, affecting their normal behaviour and causing a large number of deaths.
The benefits of drones over fireworks
Fortunately, drone light show technology has advanced enough to be a viable and more environmentally friendly alternative to fireworks.
The light shows are performed by hundreds (or even thousands! (https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/commercial/2021/5/3281-drones-break-dazzling-record-for-most-airborne-simultaneously-655062)) of illuminated drones, all moving in unison to create images in the sky. The drones’ movements are all overseen by a central computer on the ground that issues pre-programmed flight commands and arranges them into large-scale, colour-changing, dynamic displays, hundreds of feet in the air.
Unlike the short lived bang of a firework, these displays involve no explosions and can even be held in indoor areas.
Drones don’t release greenhouse gases
While there is something fun and exciting about the ephemeral nature of fireworks, the good news is that we no longer need to rely on the release of harmful gases to light up the night sky.
Carrying ultra-low energy LED arrays, drones can be programmed to emit any colour we want for a prolonged duration. The drones are powered by electric batteries and therefore emit no greenhouse gases or particulate matter known to cause health issues like COPD.
Lower carbon footprint and renewable energy
By design, a firework is a single-use item. A drone, however, is reusable. Not having to explode to emit light means a drone can be reused over and over again.
This can lead to significant carbon savings. With the production of anything involving a carbon footprint, reusables like drones often recoup this environmental debt by reducing the need for further production. A drone simply needs to be recharged and reprogrammed and it can be used for a completely different display almost indefinitely.
Not only that but drones can be powered by renewable energy such as wind, solar, and hydropower. Solar power, for example, is now being used to charge storage batteries that can automatically recharge drones after use.
No fires, noise, or mess
Whether it’s through misuse, accident, or negligence, fireworks can be extremely damaging to the environment.
In a recent report (http://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Seasonal-fire-causes/Fireworks#:~:text=Fireworks%20fire%20%26%20injury%20facts,million%20in%20direct%20property%20damage.), it was estimated that fireworks start 18,500 fires a year in the US alone, usually with disastrous consequences. Often, animals become caught up in these fires and perish or have their natural habitats destroyed.
Affecting the environment yet further is the enormous amount of debris fireworks leave behind. The plastic and cardboard leftovers from the explosion pollute the environment and are a known hazard, especially to horses and birds.
Drone light displays, on the other hand, are operated by trained professionals with the drones themselves leaving zero mess behind. This makes the drones exceptionally safe, automatically returning to their docking stations after the event, with no impact on the environment.
They are also much quieter than fireworks, spooking fewer animals. While your average firework is somewhere between 120-175 decibels, a drone light show can often be audibly imperceivable to audience members. The displays are, instead, accompanied by music which is less startling than the enormous booms of a firework that are considered potentially damaging to hearing (https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52478-How-to-protect-your-hearing-this-fourth-of-july).
Drones are the future of light shows
The environmental case for drone light shows over fireworks is difficult to argue against. They don’t emit greenhouse gases, they can be reused and recharged using renewable energy, and they leave no lasting imprint on the environment.
But, perhaps most importantly, drone light shows are arguably more suitable in the 21st century. With drones able to synchronise with music and effectively create animated, 3D scenes, they can be used to tell stories to audiences that expect more. With each drone acting as a pixel in a multi-dimensional display, drone light shows can simply do things even the most sophisticated fireworks displays cannot.
This capability to inspire awe and tell compelling narratives without damaging the environment means the future of drone light shows is looking bright.