Festival-goers fully recharged at RE:charge expo

A pair of tense faces, hands poised to hit the right button. A picture of a train and a car appears. The two players try to be first to hit the button and select the most energy-efficient form of transport. This interactive game, the ‘sustainable strike contest’, tests contestants’ knowledge of energy use and was a hit with young and old at the science expo RE:charge during SummerLabb at Eurosonic/Noorderslag 2016.

SummerLabb – the lab of the festival world – spends the year touring festivals to give festival-goers the opportunity to touch and interact with innovations in sustainability. SummerLabb brings together small local initiatives, knowledge institutions and large multinationals to show visitors the sustainable city of the future, full of surprises and innovation.

SummerLabb opened the 2016 festival season last week with Eurosonic/Noorderslag in Groningen. Science LinX was also there. Representing Energy Academy Europe and its partners Gasunie and GasTerra, Science LinX gave a sneak preview of the new exhibition RE:charge, which is about energy transition – the challenging transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable sources of energy.

Peak times

Visitors learned about the world of energy transition in thought-provoking exhibits. In the board game ‘slimme energie match’ they could experience how it feels to be the energy supplier of four big cities, each with a power station that may or may not be sustainable. The challenge was to provide each city with the right amount of energy during peak times without wasting energy at off-peak times.

Visitors could also earn a personal energy label by answering questions about their shower habits, choice of transport and willingness to invest in the future. Most of them had a bit of a scare: we all have our blind spots when it comes to energy. If it isn’t taking long showers, then it’s intensive car use or turning up the heating instead of putting on a thick woolly jumper. But most were pleased with their green label of Energy Angel, Babe or Cutie!

The three full days of SummerLabb witnessed many fantastic interactions and enthralling discussions on sustainability and energy transition. If you missed it, keep an eye on the website for the new dates of the ensuing touring exhibition RE:charge.