Quiet on set: solar panels replace generators on the Prime Video Original Series 'Fallout'

Amazon MGM Studios piloted new technology to minimize on-set emissions during filming of the show’s second season, using sunlight to power basecamp, even during the night.

The Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films series Fallout, with Season Two currently streaming on Prime Video, depicts life after an apocalyptic event. But behind the scenes, the show’s team is adapting to our changing planet, reimagining film and television production, and testing new sustainability technology. 

With the goal of reducing the environmental impact of the show’s California desert set during its second season, the team piloted a generator-free basecamp to provide electricity for the set—a first for an Amazon MGM Studios production and an emerging technology for the broader industry. The basecamp served as the central production hub for makeup and wardrobe, catering, and more.

The average carbon footprint of producing one episode of an hour-long scripted drama is about 105.4 metric tons, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 25 gas-powered passenger vehicles in one year. Fuel consumption, meanwhile, is the leading source of emissions across features and series productions, ranging from 34% to 65% of total emissions. 

The most carbon-intensive part of a set is the diesel from generators and vehicles, so swapping traditional diesel generators for a Solar Ring ® system—a network of trailers topped with solar panels that feed into a central electric power station—can help enable teams to minimize carbon emissions by powering basecamp with sunlight, even at night.

Working with GreenLite Trailers, the Solar Ring ® system on Fallout supplied approximately 4,952 kilowatt hours of energy over the course of a 20-week trial and across 14 trailers with solar panels. At times, the system produced enough energy to power additional trailers that didn’t have solar panels, including a Sprinter van belonging to Walton Goggins, who earned an Emmy nod for his starring role in the show’s first season, and lived in the vehicle during the filming of Season Two.

“One of the biggest challenges of film production is that we have to bring our power everywhere with us,” said Katherine Braver, Amazon’s global production sustainability project manager. “Film productions can’t plug all of their lights and equipment into house power if they are filming in the middle of a city, and we film in areas that have no power whatsoever, so we basically bring our own little power plants everywhere we go. Historically, these power plants are diesel-running generators.”

But Fallout’s second season—in a remote, desert location—was a great opportunity to test this solar panel technology to help tackle that challenge, powering electric vehicles and heavy equipment in far-flung outposts, and proving that cleaner energy can deliver under tough production conditions.

On set, the difference was noticeable. Generators are loud and, typically, hum noisily at basecamp. But batteries are quiet, Braver said, and they don’t pollute the air with particulate matter, unlike diesel generators.

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.

Amazon plans to include this kind of technology in our growing toolkit of cleaner, mobile power and looks for future opportunities to deploy and stress test our capabilities in the demanding environment of film production.

“The purpose of the fund is to trial cleaner tech solutions on productions to see what works across sustainability, budget, and operational considerations,” Gera said. “As we learn more, we move into investing in promising technology for use across productions.”

Decarbonizing film productions at the pace that Amazon aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions requires an all-of-the-above approach to cleaner energy adoption, Braver said. “We aim to lean into the various types of cleaner energies available across our filming locations, whether that is using hydrogen fuel in the U.K. or solar power across the sun-drenched cities of the southwest.”


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