1. In 50 words or less, provide a Summary Description of the exhibit or show.
Energy: Power to Choose engagesinvites visitors in exploring the fascinating world of energy in Canada, including the science and technology of production and transmission; the environmental, social and economic challenges and opportunties; and the important role all individuals play with their consumption choices – aimed at enabling our sustainable energy future.to reflect on their own energy consumption, as well as the social, economic and environmental consequences of energy production in Canada – enabling them to make more informed choices about energy today and into the future.
2. Provide an Overview of the exhibit or show. Note: If the project involves an online presence connected to other aspects of the exhibit or show, please clearly describe the connection for the jury.
Energy: Power to Choose encourages visitors to reflect on their energy consumption, as well as the social, economic and environmental consequences of energy production, transmission and distribution in Canada. The exhibition invites visitors to make informed choices around energy and to understand how their choices affect Canada’s larger energy landscape. At 7,500 square feet, it is the country’slargest exhibition on this topic.
The exhibition is structured around a central forum, a space that highlights the global nature of the energy topic. Visitors flow around and through the circular room which features the “Magic Planet,” a cutting-edge interactive spherical projection that animates global energy data. Electronic questionnaires around the Magic Planet call for personal reflection and dialogue by polling visitors’ knowledge, opinions and actions around energy.
A historical overview of Canada’s energy consumption is presented through a series of artifacts from the museum’s collection, while various objects and graphics suggest ways that visitors can reduce their own consumption in practical ways. The exhibition also explores the opportunities and challenges faced by industries in harnessing and delivering energy from all primary sources available in Canada. Through audio-visual tools, the exhibition explains in simple terms how each energy source is harnessed, while artifacts highlight important societal stories around these sources. The visitor is prompted to view Canada’s energy production, transmission and distribution as an ‘energy mix,’ driven by availability, economics, policy, new technologies, and social expectations.
An additional area is devoted to more light-hearted aspects of energy including a human-sized hamster wheel that produces electricity, a live display of electric eels producing electricity, and a thermal-imaging camera.
As the keystone of the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation’s “Let’s Talk Energy” initiative, Energy: Power to Choose features a prominent screen which displays the #letstalkenergy live Twitter feed and encourages visitor-to-visitor interaction in real-time. This pan-Canadian energy literacy initiative, which connects 27 museums and science centres across the country, encourages Canadians to learn more about the energy that powers their daily lives. Supplementary online education tools related to the energy exhibition are also available online.
Energy: Power to Choose is flanked by parallel exhibitions on energy at the Canada Aviation and SpaceMuseum and the CanadaAgricultureMuseum.
3. Describe the relevance of this exhibit or show to Canadians and/or residents of the region.
Energy is of vital concern to Canadians. Not only does Canada have one of the largest energy consumption rates per capita, it is also globally among the largest energy producers. Canada is an “energy nation”, but there is a lack of common understanding of energy across the country, including many myths about sources and uses. Energy: Power to Choose strives to open a dialogue around energy and encourage energy literacy, enabling visitors to make informed choices.
While the country has the challenges of being cold, large, and sparsely populated, it is the availability of cheap energy that has turned Canadians into big consumers. In contrast, public opinion has Canadians wanting to be more environmentally responsible. By understanding their role as consumers and its rippling effects, visitors are called to action and encouraged to save energy in a variety of ways.
The energy industry employs a large number of Canadians and its economic benefits affect the lives of all Canadians. In addition, the environmental challenges and societal impacts related to each primary source of energy are of concern to Canadians. In understanding the potential alignment and conflict of these elements, visitors are prompted to see how their opinions and actions can influence how energy is produced and distributed in Canada.
4. Describe the participation of other partners in the development and delivery of the exhibit or show.
Energy: Power to Choose was the result of the cooperation of a variety of partners, who provided support in the form of research, loans of objects, expertise, design and fabrication, as well as funding. For a complete list of all partners, please see Appendix A.
Government organizations provided research and loaned objects, such as a resource map from the Centre for Energy Information, a SmartCar from Natural Resources Canada, and wind turbine research models from the National Research Council Canada. Additionally, a number of private sector companies donated cutting-edge technologies that are displayed in the exhibition. Some examples include a wind turbine blade and nacelle from Wenvor Technologies Inc., a proof-of-concept nuclear fusion model from General Fusion, and a solar panel from OPEL Solar Inc.
Sponsors provided monetary funding as well as in-kind donations. Various interactive elements in the exhibition were developed with energy industry partners to leverage their expertise and present the information to visitors in an engaging and memorable way. Enwave Energy Corporation funded an interactive model showing its deep lake water cooling system in Toronto, while the Canadian Wind Association worked with curatorial staff and a model maker to create functioning scaled wind turbine designs for visitors to understand how each responds to wind.
The exhibition team worked in collaboration with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering to develop the Human Hamster Wheel interactive. The museum provided the interpretive goals and design vision, while graduate students designed the software and electronics. This collaboration resulted in one of the most popular elements of the exhibition.
As a part of the “Let’s Talk Energy” initiative, the exhibition benefited from the guidance of a national advisory committee made up of academics, industry, environmental and governmental representatives. Being under the umbrella of the This connection to the broader initiative allowed for more efficient sharing of information, a broader base of perspectives, and a larger audience reach.
5. Explain how this exhibit or show demonstrates the highest standards of science centre/museum practice through innovative techniques and creativity.
Relevance: Energy: Power to Choose looks at a contemporary, multi-disciplinary and science and technology-driven highly contentious issue, prone to divisive debate, to create a debate dialogue, prompt Canadians to make consider their choices, and call them to action. The exhibition focuses the topic of energy on the visitors, by encouraging them to see how they affect the Canadian energy system with the choices they make.
Objectivity: The exhibition presents balanced, unbiased information in a language that avoids emotionally-charged expressions. To remain as objective as possible on such a difficult and complex topic, the research included a broad variety of sources produced by the curatorial staff and external experts.
Layered approach: A layered content and text approach is used to ensure that visitors can quickly extract key ideas without extensive reading. More complex information and details are available through a variety of digital and print media. An example of this layered approach is the clothesline interactive. While pre-school children simply pin T-shirts on a clothesline, other visitors can take in the energy conservation tips written on the T-shirts and come to understand that using a clothesline rather than a dryer is an easy way to save energy.
Accessibility: Although the content, language and style of the exhibition are aimed at visitors aged 10+, the exhibition offers enriching and engaging experiences to audiences of all ages. For example, role playing (dress-up station for energy-related jobs) and the human hamster wheel speak to younger children, while information on emerging technologies and about energy distribution is aimed at adults.
Catering to different learning styles: The exhibition stimulates learning and enjoyment through a range of interpretive techniques, including artifacts from the Museum’s national collection, audio-visuals, text, photographs, interactive experiences, and social media.
State-of-the-art interaction: Among the numerous interactive elements are a few stand-outs:
- At the heart of the exhibition is the “Magic Planet,” a cutting-edge interactive spherical projection that animates global energy data including energy consumption around the world, changes in climate, and carbon emissions.
- Touch-screen questionnaires call for personal reflection and dialogue by polling visitors’ knowledge, opinions and actions around energy. Results to date are displayed immediately so visitors can compare their responses.
- A one-of-a-kind human-sized hamster wheel produces electricity and sets off a giant Tesla coil.
Stepping out: While the use of live animals at the CSTM is unusual, the exhibition ethically uses electric eels to power a lighting display. This special element is the feature of a daily feeding demonstration and is very popular with the museum’s visiting population.
Social media on-scene: Energy: Power to Choose features a prominent screen which displays the #letstalkenergy live Twitter feed and encourages visitor-to-visitor interaction in real-time.
Showcasing the distinctiveness of the Museum’s collection: Canada’s nuclear energy story includes the Tokomak fusion reactor and the ZEEP fission reactor. The CSTM is the only institution in the world to exhibit both a fusion and a fission nuclear reactor core. In addition, treasures from the hydro-electricty collection represent some of the most significant technologies in its realmthis domain, including an Edison direct current (DC) generator.
Looking ahead while looking back: The exhibition gives historical perspectives on the development of various energy sources through artifacts, but also displays new and emerging technologies to showcase the future of energy. For example, on loan from the RoyalOntarioMuseum are water jugs from over 5000 years ago, while other artifacts such as the OPEL solar collectors were produced in 2011.
Highlighting Canadian innovation: Historically, Canada has been a leader in a number of energy-related technologies (wind, nuclear, hydro, oil). Through artifacts, stories of scientific research and technology development are presented and connect Canadians with their heritage. For example, the National Research Council (NRC) was a world leader in research on wind turbines in the 1970s and 80s; the exhibition tells this story through images, text, and models borrowed from NRC.
Design that resonates: The design exemplifies the principles presented in the exhibition. The exhibition uses LED lighting on motion-detected dimmers to reduce the amount of energy consumed. Much of the cabinetry is built with recyclable materials such as glass and metal; fasteners were used instead of glue to facilitate recycling at the end of the exhibition. Display cases are modular for easy rearrangement and reuse at a later date.
Flexibility: The contemporary nature of the topic makes it dynamic as information and technologies are constantly changing. The exhibition offers flexible methods for incorporating and updating content through its modular design. Glass panels can easy be removed, updated, and replaced without disturbing the flow of the exhibition, while existing structures can accommodate new artifacts in display cases[A1].[AT2]
Connecting to curriculum: The exhibition generally facilitates an overarching goal of the Grades 1-8 Ontario curricula “to relate science and technology to society and the environment.” It speaks directly to the Grade 5 Ontario Curriculum for Science and Technology by treating the topics of energy, sustainability and stewardship, as well as Social Studies curriculum related to aspects of citizenship and Canadian government. The Grade 6 science curriculum calls for an understanding of electricity and electrical devices, and Grade 9 geography covers the flow of resources through human-environment interactions. These concrete connections encourage and facilitate school group visits[A3].
Connecting art and technology: (mention commissioned painting, sculpture of pipeline, pipeline model)
Part of a larger picture: As the keystone in the national “Let’s Talk Energy” initiative, the exhibition resonates beyond the walls of the museum. Through the initiative, Canadians will have access to the information, ideas, and interactives presented in the exhibition through the initiative’s affiliated partners, as well as parallel online tools.
6. Demonstrate the size and/or significance of the audience reached by the exhibit or show relative to the potential audience.
Since the opening of Energy: Power to Choose in July 2011, the museum has enjoyed over 150,000 visitors. Of these visitors, 8,000 have participated in the touch-screen questionnaires of the central forum of the exhibition, polling their knowledge, opinions and actions around energy. However, the significanceof the audience of Energy: Power to Choose lies in its reach beyond the experience of the exhibition itself. Through associated education programs and demonstrations, online resources, and the “Let’s Talk Energy” initiative, the exhibition extends itself in different forms.
Within the museum, over 30,000 visitors to date have attended energy-related demonstrations during their stay. These include feeding the electric eels to demonstrate their electrical discharge while eating, demos showing the science of electricity, and most significantly, ‘energy carts.’ Energy carts allow visitors to see, touch and smell oil and biomass samples, measure radiation in everyday objects, and experience Eddy currents (cutting-edge wind turbine technology) firsthand. These thousands of visitors have had an enhanced experience of the exhibition, providing them with a deeper understanding of the topic of energy.
Energy-related school programs have welcomed almost 3,500 students to the museum since September 2011, from Grade 2 to Grade 9. The exhibition’s strong connection to curriculum has motivated these visits, in addition to the museum’s reputation for hands-on experiences. With the busiest time for school visits forthcoming (March-June – usually 40,000 students per year), the museum anticipates this number will continue to increase significantly.
Online tools related to the exhibition include “Driving the Future: Transportation, Energy, and the Environment” for Grade 9 classrooms and “Do Try This at Home: Playing with Energy.” “Driving the Future” has been downloaded over 3,500 times since the exhibition opened, with a Canadian audience making up 66% of the total and having reached all regions of the country. Downloads to the United States make up a notable portion at 11%. “ Do Try This at Home” has been downloaded over 450 times and most surprisingly the largest number of users have been in – in order of rank – the United States, India, and Canada.
In addition, two ‘Edukits’ have been developed on the energy topic for classroom use. Edukits consist of information, activity plans and materials necessary to carry out a comprehensive series of lessons. These are relatively new and have not yet been widely circulated, but their availability ensures that an additional segment of students outside the National Capital region will benefit from the research and development of the exhibition.
Lastly, as the flagship exhibition in the national “Let’s Talk Energy” initiative, Energy: Power to Choose will resonate in exhibitions and projects across the country through the Museum Affiliated Partners Program (MAPP). Twenty-seven museums and science centres have already become part of this network, allowing potentially enabling the knowledge and resources used to create the keystone exhibition to reach a much wider audience as these institutions develop and change their own energy-related exhibitions and programs, and Energy: Power to Choose to evolve and grow with the benefit of their experiences. The participating institutions are invited to use the research commissioned for Energy: Power to Choose, including historic assessments, economic and environmental reports, and the exhibition’s interpretive plan. They are also free to use to the museum’s photo collection, including the CN Images of Canada collection, as well as have preferential access to artifact loans. This sharing of knowledge, resources and artifacts is an innovative way to reach audiences beyond those that physically attend visit the museum and to learn from each other.