What nobody knows: as a result of the construction and transportation of materials from all over Germany, stand assembly, staffing and visitors, one thousand square metres of installed fair stands generates an average pollution output of 47 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Multiplied up for an average year, this would be a total of 940 tonnes of CO2 for which we are directly and indirectly responsible as fair constructors. In our field of business, it's clear that we should think about taking steps to protect the climate and our environment. Especially since it's fairly easy to achieve success when making an effort in this direction.

Our founder, Klaus Niemann, started thinking early on about how our company could supply its services in the most environmentally friendly way possible. And we're still profiting from his ground-breaking decisions today. He was a proponent of the "combined transport" goods model as early as 2001, using Deutsche Bahn's rail network to transport newly-built fair stands across Germany in an eco-friendly manner.

In 2004, he commissioned the installation of our very own photovoltaic facility on the factory roof. For six years, this system has enabled MDS Messebau und Service to generate its own electricity and thus protect the environment. This philosophy – to be eco-friendly while making economical good sense – is alive and well in its second and third generation at our company.

On average we built over 20,000 square metres of fair stands in a year, which would – in numerical terms – mean an output of about 940 tonnes of CO2. However, we saved 140 tonnes of this thanks to our in-house electricity production; while a further 55 tonnes were saved with our use of environmentally friendly rail transport. Accordingly, we end up with a CO2 footprint of about 745 tonnes, or a reduction of nearly 21 percent – compared to those of our competitors who do not consider the environment.

Since 2001, we have moved most of our stand construction materials using combined rail transport. This means our HGVs travel to each fair just once and we can almost entirely avoid any HGVs making empty trips. In 2009, we used this system to convey a total of 158 MDS swap bodies to fair sites via rail instead of road transport.

With minor exceptions, all of our fair stands are transported using our own vehicle pool. This is a key fact, since we began upgrading our vehicle pool in 2008. Our goal is to support the eco-friendly emission class Euro 5 – and we have already acquired our first Euro 5-compliant HGV. In 2009, we replaced all of the vehicles in our pool that support our fitters when working in the field. All our fitters now drive "green-stickered" vehicles that are very fuel-efficient. For 2010, we have ordered another two low-emission MAN 26440 (EEV) HGVs: with these, we will have changed our entire vehicle pool over to "green sticker" vehicles.

In 2004, MDS Messebau began operating North Germany's largest solar power plant in Buchholz. The solar facility – which is fitted directly to the roof of our factory building – generates around 160,000 kWh of electricity a year. This is more than twice the amount of power we need for our own consumption. We can therefore proudly state that our entire manufacturing operation uses only "clean" electricity. In addition, we also supply 20 "four-person households" with the electricity we feed into the gri

In our industry, it's also important we save on electricity use. We have therefore optimized all of the lighting we use in production, so as to achieve significant cuts in electricity consumption. Time switches plus light and motion detectors also help to cut down on power use – as does our decision to switch off all lighting on our premises at night.

Did you know that all our floor conveyor vehicles are electrically powered? This enables us to run them on our own solar-generated electricity.

Yes, the eco-friendly fair stand does exist. In fact, we stock them. As early as the planning stage, we work to ensure that all parts are capable of being re-used. We also utilise long-lasting materials and transport these in reusable containers. This reduces costs, is economical with resources and avoids wastage.

Of course, we do produce some waste, since this can't be avoided entirely. However, we transport all waste back to our company premises in Buchholz. Here, we separate the waste into general waste, waste paper, metal and wood. This gives everyone involved the time to separate waste according to the certified legal procedures and transport it to the recycling depot. This is simply not possible in the hectic take-down stress at a fair.

All too often, a city's industrial areas present an unattractive picture – purely functional and with everything concreted-over. To avoid these surroundings, we had already moved to a green industrial park by 1999.

The German GRZ rating ("building plot index") here is just 0.5, meaning that only 50% of the ground may be covered. All industrial plots must also be comprehensively planted. Many strips of planted ground run between the individual plots: these include special walking routes that offer extra leisure opportunities for the inhabitants of Buchholz.