Expo 2020: Germany

I have a sense of elation and foreboding as I arrive to explore Camps Germany in the last weeks of Expo 2020. I have a good book with me and know that the wait will be over an hour for the ever-so-popular Germany pavilion. So I settle in with my book until the doors open at 10am. Soon after, I register my attendance and enter the enormous pavilion for my first lecture of the day in the Welcome Hall.

Welcome Hall

The lecturer arrives and opens a book on the lectern. With the pages, projected onto a screen, we learn about the world; the creation and evolution of man and our impact on the world that we live in today. How will we protect our world for a more sustainable future? How will we sure up biodiversity whilst providing clean energy and creating positive impact plans for the future of our cities? The answer seems to be ideas.

Ideas Lab

We enter the Ideas Lab where Germany is represented by numbers: 100,000 ideas, 100,000 yellow balls. Each ball represents an idea, action or statistic for a more sustainable future.

In addition to being invited to wade through the pool of ideas, we are invited to deposit the balls into waiting kiosks to learn more. Each ball triggers the presentation of the ideas, actions or statistics that are gathered in the room, for example:

• in 2018, almost 5 farmers per day converted their operations to organic farming methods;
• one third of the land in Germany is forested, these woods and forests produce up to 38 million tonnes of oxygen;
• there were estimated to be 22 million car sharers in Germany in 2019; and
• 53% of Germans buy second-hand clothes (doing something good for themselves and their environment).

There is time to explore before heading up the escalator to the Energy Lab.

The Energy Lab

The future of energy is here now, at least for Germany. The focus is on the creation and storage of clean energy with no adverse impact or harmful emissions. This means learning about how to replace finite, damaging fossil fuels that accelerate climate change with sustainable solutions. The transition is within our reach although it looks like Australia is still a bit behind the rest of the world from the statistics that confront me.

With technology such as sub zero ampacity (frozen energy transportation), photobioreactors (rethinking biomass) and innovative energy storage (for example storage on the seabed) science and technology are joining forces in the fight for the planet.

Even the simple act of balancing can be a source of energy and there are plenty of opportunities to try our hand at assisting. Trying to keep all the systems in balance will be a challenge indeed!

The Future Cities Lab

In the Future Cities Lab we discover how population growth will require us to think outside the box. In the future, cities will be bigger and ever more densely populated. Feeding the masses without the need for even larger swathes of land for agriculture means rethinking the food cycle and creating green cities (and green spaces) to support food production within urban areas.

Germany is leading the charge in terms of sustainable food production with a consortium led by the Humboldt University in Berlin. They are exploring sustainable methods for food production that are CO₂ neutral, do not require transport and are expandable according to need. A trifecta is set up – insects, fish, plants – whereby they all support the nutritional needs of the other.

Circular Life Cycles

Insects, in this case black soldier flies, are particularly well suited for industrial breeding due to their high reproductive speed and nutritional value. The larvae feed on organic waste and grow up to 15,000 times their original size in only two weeks. Their excrement serves as high-quality plant fertilizer and the insects are a highly nutritional source of food for fish farming.

Fish are a good source of nutrition for humans and the cichlid is supposed to be easy to breed and farm as well as making few demands on their environment. They are omnivores and happy to have black soldier flies as their main meal. The wastewater from the fish farm provides tomato plants with water and nutrients.

’The tomato is the most popular and most cultivated vegetable in the world. The species-rich, nutritious and robust plant is particularly suitable for high-performance cultivation. The plant residues from tomato cultivation serve as food and breeding soil for insect farming.’

Other innovations such as: climate controlled food towers that will optimize cultivation, provide short term growth and harvest cycles and provide a reduction of transport pollutants by 90%; and horizontal lifts that operate by magnetic, rope free mechanisms that are multi and interchangeable) are examples of innovations and solutions that we are likely to meet in future metropolises.

Biodiversity Lab

As well as innovations in energy and the way we live in and develop our future cities, we also need to turn our minds to understanding and protecting our planet’s biodiversity.

’Almost two million animal and plant species are known to exist, yet this is only a fraction of life on Earth. Each of these creatures has an influence on its own ecosystem. These systems are the basis of life for humankind: a tree, for example, produces oxygen, purifies water, stores CO₂ – and in turn is home to thousands of other species. However, it only performs these functions in intact ecosystems. In order to protects these systems, we need to understand them better – this requires everyone’s help.’

The exhibit tries to explain biodiversity by way of monetary investment. The world’s countries are said to invest $45 billion in the preservation of nature reserves. This investment returns and estimated $5,200 billion in ecosystem services. Seems to me like a winning equation.

Did you know that 4.8 billion organisms can live in just 1 cubic meter? Neither did I. All in all it seems like a sensible step. Looking after what we already have at the same time as we strive to make life more efficient and effective.

Graduation Hall

After listening to some lectures, studying the reading material and doing some of our own experiments, we are ready to graduate. Campus Germany hope that all its visitors take their knowledge into the world in order to use these ideas to create a better future for all humankind.

Symbolic of the world coming together we swing in sychronicity. Great things can be achieved by thinking and acting together. I hope it is true that there is more in this world that unites us than divides us.

Good To Know

The Germany pavilion is located in the Sustainability District of Expo 2020 in Dubai. As Expo has progressed, Campus Germany has become more popular and the waiting times much longer. Arrive as early as possible and be prepared to wait for your registration. This pavilion is one of the highlights of the Expo so your patience will be rewarded.

Want more of Expo? See the UAE, Egypt and the USA all in a day. Plus China and more of the Opportunity and Mobility Districts.

Expo 2020 runs until 31 March 2022.

Would I Return?

Yes, if I get the chance before it’s all over. There is always more to learn.

Note: some information from the exhibition has been quoted in this article.