The EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, which is expected to attract 75 million visitors, will also showcase Oldenburg as a centre of research and science. The University of Oldenburg, together with the Oldenburg energy company EWE AG, will be presenting its research in the field of renewable energies and energy efficiency at the Bremen EXPO stand. The "Smart House Oldenburg" project, which is being built as a zero-energy house in the centre of the city of Oldenburg, will also be presented at the world exhibition from 1 May to 30 October 2010.

Prof Dr Hans-Jürgen Appelrath, Vice President for Research at the University of Oldenburg, believes that energy research will have a more long-term and global impact on science than almost any other topic. The EXPO is therefore an excellent forum to showcase Oldenburg's high level of expertise in this field. In addition, the participation in Bremen's EXPO appearance in Shanghai is an expression of the excellent co-operation between Lower Saxony and Bremen.

Thirty years ago, the University of Oldenburg was one of the first European universities to make research into renewable energies a central task for the future. This has resulted in the development of an energy research centre in north-west Germany, which has also led to the establishment of numerous companies. In the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan region, the number of jobs in this industry is now estimated at around 20,000.

Oldenburg's research is supported in particular by the Energy and Semiconductor Research working group at the University of Oldenburg with 130 employees alone, the Wind Energy Centre of Excellence ForWind (40), the EWE research centre NEXT ENERGY (50), the "Energy" department at the Computing Science Institute OFFIS (40) and a recently founded research group for storage technology at the Bremen Fraunhofer Institute IFAM.

The Oldenburg-based energy company EWE AG will be exhibiting the E3 electric car developed with Karmann at the EXPO. EWE wants to use it to demonstrate the integration of electric vehicles into the energy networks of the future. The vehicle batteries could be used as storage in the future. For example, they could be charged when a large amount of electricity is fed into the grid, such as when there is a lot of wind, and feed electricity back into the grid when production from renewable energies is lower than current demand.

The third project is the "Smart House", which is being built in the centre of Oldenburg as a house of science and whose model will be presented at the EXPO. The starting point is a historic residential building, which is being renovated and given a very modern extension. The 1,200 square metres of floor space will reflect architecture from the 16th century (construction of the old building) to the 21st century. The internationally renowned Stuttgart-based architectural firm Behnisch developed a concept for a low-energy building that can host events and conferences, while at the same time presenting scientific core competences in the areas of "Energy & Climate Protection" and "Living & Life in the Future". The project takes up and carries forward the idea of the "City of Science 2009" - the popular scientific communication of education and research. The house will be built and maintained by a company whose partners are the University of Oldenburg, the Jade University of Applied Sciences and the OFFIS information technology institute. From summer 2011, it is to become an attraction for visitors to Oldenburg and the people in the region.

Info: www.oldenburg-energy.net