Today the Science Museum in London, UK, opens Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery, a major new free gallery which explores how the world can generate and use energy more sustainably to urgently decarbonise global energy systems to limit dangerous climate change. Through striking displays of contemporary and historic objects from the UK and abroad, interactive digital exhibits, and specially commissioned models, the gallery shows how the past, present and future of energy systems are shaped by human imagination and innovation and explores how we all have a role to play in deciding our energy future.

The free gallery examines this century’s defining challenge through the lens of imagination across three sections. In Future Planet, visitors can examine how climate scientists use complex computer-based models to understand our planet, and what these tell us about the range of climate futures that might lie ahead. In Future Energy, technologies - and the people behind them - that are reimagining how energy is supplied and used today are highlighted alongside historic artefacts which provide a longer view of the current energy transition. Our Future looks forward to a new world that is being dreamt up, with children’s creative ideas of how the world will meet its energy needs displayed with expert responses to them.

At the centre of the gallery, uniting science and art, is contemporary artwork Only Breath. A kinetic sculpture that breathes and blooms, it stretches to 5 metres wide when unfurled and signifies the power of nature to inspire technological change. Next in Future Planet, visitors can learn about climate modelling and see a mass display of instruments used to measure the climate on air, land and at sea.

Vital low-carbon technologies for the energy transition, from nuclear, hydrogen and solar to wind and tidal power, are explored in Future Energy. On display for the first time is a quadrant from the Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly (ZETA), a nuclear fusion experiment created in the late 1950s, alongside models of made by Rolls-Royce of a small modular nuclear reactor, which may power more of our homes in the future, plus part of a real (but non-radioactive) canister used for storing nuclear waste in the UK.

Every hour the Sun sends more energy to Earth than we use in a year. Yet to use this solar energy, it must be captured and distributed to where it’s needed. The objects on display showcase the sheer variety possible with solar power; from a model of a solar-powered classroom to a towering 5m tall parabolic solar mirror used on huge solar farms, and a model of the Xlinks ship built to lay a 4,000 km long cable to supply the UK with electricity from Moroccan solar and wind farms. An interactive game also invites visitors to solve challenges at solar installations across the world.

The Scottish islands of Orkney are playing an important role in the energy transition, with abundant wind and tidal energy being harnessed to develop an innovative hydrogen economy. Visitors can see a model of the hydrogen and renewable energy projects on the islands and watch a film featuring the people and places behind these pioneering projects. On display in this section for the first time is a vast 7m long tidal flow turbine blade made by Orbital Marine Power that once helped to generate enough electricity to power a thousand homes.

It was by imagining a world powered by electricity that American inventor Thomas Edison created the world’s first public electricity network in London in 1882 and established how electricity is supplied to this day. On display for the first time are rare surviving Edison tube mains cables which made this feat of engineering possible and transformed the way we live. Electrification has a long history, and visitors can also marvel at the first electric taxi, the Bersey cab, hailed by Londoners in 1897. These remarkable innovations remind us that major change is possible and that many of the technologies needed to achieve this low-carbon energy transition already exist.

The gallery also explores the challenge of energy storage and access to power when it’s needed. Visitors can balance supply and demand in an interactive game based on the National Grid, examine a variety of batteries used to store energy, and play with a working model of a gravity battery, which uses falling heavy weights to generate electricity. Low-carbon vehicles are also on display; visitors can see a bicycle from the world’s largest urban bike sharing scheme, the Chinese Hangzhou Public Bicycle scheme, alongside a 2006 public electric car charging post. Also on display is a canister for synthetic aviation fuel from British company Zero and the Royal Air Force, which undertook the world’s first flight using 100% synthetic kerosene in 2021.

The Future Energy section looks at the building and construction industries which also need to decarbonise. On display are traditional adaptation techniques and unusual building materials, including a ‘urine bio-brick’ developed by the University of Cape Town that sets hard at room temperature. Visitors can also see heat pumps, which are likely to become increasingly common in UK houses as gas-powered boilers are replaced.

In Our Future, the gallery encourages visitors to imagine the future, and use their creativity as a powerful tool for generating knowledge, stimulating innovation, and shaping decisions about how we live. This section features a digital installation showing children’s ideas and scientific experts’ responses to them. It also displays a decarbonisation tracker so that visitors can see how the UK is performing on its low carbon journey.

Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, said: ‘In a week when we’re celebrating a record 2.25 million visits by UK residents to the museum, including a million children, this stunning gallery offers even more to ignite curiosity among the millions who will visit in the year ahead – provoking important conversations about the urgent need for the world to generate and use energy more sustainably. Our curators have created an inspirational experience, supported by hundreds of people from artists to those involved in acquiring, conserving and transporting vast objects safely into the gallery, and of course vital funding from our generous sponsor Adani Green Energy.’

The gallery’s Title Funder is Adani Green Energy, a major Indian renewables company. Mr. Sagar Adani, Executive Director said, 'The Science Museum has put together the world’s best curated gallery on energy transition. As one of the world’s largest renewable energy companies, we are dedicated to making progress towards net zero – and there is no greater resource in the fight against climate change than education. Through the sponsorship of the gallery, we aim to inspire young minds, scientists, and innovators to imagine a future powered by clean energy and build a carbon-free world. It is an initiative to stimulate their interest, curiosity and awareness, and encourage their active participation in creating clean technologies. The gallery brings together the global community to enable the shift towards energy efficiency, clean energy adoption and carbon emissions reduction. We hope the museum’s millions of visitors learn about the vital importance of renewable energy in tackling climate change.'

Energy Revolution was designed by award-winning architects, Unknown Works. A key element of the gallery’s sustainable design was the reuse of redundant shelves from the Science Museum’s former object store. The gallery’s carbon footprint has been monitored and recyclable aluminium was also used where possible.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The museum is on course to welcome three million visits in the year ending on 31 March with more UK visitors than ever before, including 1 million children visiting with their schools or families among the record 2.25 million domestic visits.

For further information and interview requests, please contact William Dave through pressoffice.SCM@sciencemuseum.ac.uk, or 020 7942 4886. Download high-res images here: (https://we.tl/t-hLK9hZCuJu)

About the Science Museum

The Science Museum is part of the Science Museum Group, the world’s leading group of science museums that share a world-class collection providing an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe. Engaging people with humanity’s greatest challenge – the fight against devastating climate change – is a major priority for the Group alongside reducing the impact of our own activity as we work towards achieving net zero by 2033. The new gallery is part of the Group’s climate focused public programme, which includes our Climate Talks series that has been watched by thousands of people and featured more than 70 global leaders, experts, activists and campaigners. (https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk)

About Adani Green Energy

Solar power developer Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) has one of the world’s largest renewable portfolios and plans to triple its renewable power generation capacity over the next four years. The company develops, builds, owns, operates and maintains utility-scale grid-connected solar and wind farm projects. It plans to invest $20 billion in clean energy generation, component manufacturing, transmission and distribution over the next 10 years and become the world’s largest renewable power generating company by 2030. Listed in 2018, AGEL is helping India meet its COP21 goals. Mercom Capital, the US-based think tank, recently ranked Adani Group as the #1 global solar power generation asset owner. (https://www.adanigreenenergy.com)

Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery

Ticketed; FREE

Level 2

(https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/energy-revolution)

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