Yes, the sun has got its hat on, hip hip hooray, and should be out in the coming days. Which makes the timing of a campaign titled “kies voor groene warmte – choose green heat” perfect. The holidays are upon us, the festivals are kicking off with Rock Werchter on 1 July, and young and old will be heading off on vacation.

The Flemish Energy Agency wants us to think about using green heat by installing zonneboilers – solar boilers and warmtepompen – heat pumps. To drive their point home, the agency handed out at railway stations thousands of zonnedouchezakken – solar shower bags, which is a very long word for a black plastic bag that you can fill with water and hang in the sun until you are ready to prick it and create your solar shower.

The bags are of course bioafbreekbaar – bio-degradable. To help things along, some BVs (Bekende Vlamingen – Well-known Flemings) have offered to be filmed to show how the bags work. And you can take your pick, though I would imagine actress Lien Van de Kelder’s performance under the solar shower will prove an encouragement to many.

So will these bags find their way into the campsite at Werchter in the coming days? A survey reveals that, surprise surprise, festival goers don’t spend much time keeping themselves clean. Details that you probably don’t want to know include the fact that 20% ververst niet dagelijks hun onderbroek – do not change their underpants every day. A similar number poetsen niet dagelijks hun tanden – do not brush their teeth every day. Is there no good news? Well, more than half say they shower every day. And to keep the smells under control, there is a lot of deodorant spraying.

Drinking is a major feature of festivals: gemiddeld drinkt men twaalf bekers bier per dag – on average people drink 12 glasses of beer a day. The food you can just imagine, though a very few mentioned eating fruit.

Sociology Professor Vanbeselaere describes the feestgedrag – festival behaviour as a ritual: “De examens zijn voorbij en de jongeren willen allemaal samen vieren – The exams are over, and young people want to celebrate together”.

Sounds good to me. And they can all look forward to clean underpants and salads in a few days as they gather their strength and, dare I suggest, earn a few euro before the next festival.

www.energiesparen.be