video transcript

Once, one of the most polluted towns in East Germany and a long-forgotten hub of the coal industry, Graefenhainichen has a new lease of green life. Green technologies have turned this former environmental dead zone into a hip and happening festival location that draws ten thousands to Ferropolis, the 'city of iron'. MELT!, Europe's largest Indie and Electro Festival, now in its 14 edition, is about raising awareness of the countryside and ecosystem that was once crippled by the coal industry. The organisers aim to turn the festival into one of the greenest events of this kind. SOUNDBITE: Stefan Lehmkuhl, MELT! program director, saying (English): "I mean, a festival is not really eco-friendly but what we can do to make it more eco-friendly is what we do. And now for example we have a solar energy station on the roofs of the halls we have here so most of the power we use here, and we use quite a lot of power, comes from the solar energy stations we have built here in the last year. And now we try to give the people better options to use public transport to get here." The Èlectric Hotel has opened its check-in for festival goers for the first time. For just one euro, people can check in their cellphones or other electric appliances and have them re-charged, using exclusively renewable energy from solar and wind power. Others helped generate their own energy to keep in touch with friends with a little hard graft. International artists from the Indie and Electro scene return year after year to rock the crowds. This year's line-up included Pulp, the White Lies, Boys Noize, The Editors, The Naked and Famous and many others. MELT! sold out its 20,000 tickets once again, proving great contemporary music can go hand in hand with a new environmental awareness. Lisa Giles-Keddie, Reuters