Madrid replicates its Air Tree in the UBPR, a landmark of the Spanish city's Eco Boulevard. The "tree" is a decagonal steel building topped with solar panels. Equipped with self-opening window shades and a fan with blades spanning 7 meters, it creates a temperate and shady enclave for visitors. The decagonal shape of the "tree" is covered by screens where images of Madrid and Shanghai are projected, with a view to bringing the two cities and their cultures closer.

Energy Potential Everywhere

The Saudi Pavilion houses the world's largest 3D theater. Zhao Yayuan

In addition to popular green energy producers like solar and wind, Expo architectures tap into a broader variety of extant energy resources, such as sound, the energy and heat emitted by home appliances, and the warmth of the human body.

Low-temperature electricity generation is epoch-making technology that is yet to enter wide application. The roof of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion is covered with solar screens of 2,200 square meters that heat water to 95 ℃ to generate electric power. Its capacity exceeds 200 KW.

One of the two elevators in the Eco House in the UBPR can store and recycle the energy produced in its movement up and down the shaft.

The German Pavilion, Balancity, makes use of a fascinating new energy source. The awe-inspiring cone-shaped room gets its dramatic, choreographed lighting from a sphere of three meters in diameter that dangles from the ceiling, its surface fitted with thousands of LEDs. In tune with visitor hub-bub and ambient noise it swings back and forth or in circles as its sound sources move or change tone. The speed, color and patterns of the graphically-programmed LEDs change nimbly with the intensity of the motion and sound.

The Hamburg House, the first certified passive solar house in China, reaches further into hidden energy sources in everyday life. In the winter its highly insulated shell can effectively trap the sunshine, heat from home appliances, and residents' body warmth, saving the building from drawing on any direct heating supply.

Humanoid Machines

In recent decades robots have taken on more tasks in society besides assisting in surgery and car assembly; they now do laboratory experiments, household chores, and security checks; they also entertain us. The Shanghai Expo gives visitors a glimpse at the latitude of their uses and the altitude of their intelligence.