Science minister: Shanghai Expo to be low carbon, high tech

BEIJING - China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said here on Monday a lot of new and high technologies will be applied to the Shanghai World Expo, which is designed to highlight the theme of "Better City, Better Life" with the latest technologies.

Clean energy will be used to supply electricity for the six-month exposition beginning May 1, said the minister at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the country's top advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The 5.8-square kilometer exposition site will become the venue for the largest-scale solar energy application project as 4.6-megawatt solar power generators will be put into operation, said Wan, who is also vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

A group of 34 3-megawatt wind power generating units are under construction and will supply clean energy for the event.

"After the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Shanghai Expo will continue to have a zero-emission of vehicles in the expo site with the use of various kinds of electricity-driven cars," said Wan.

In the landmark four pavilions along the Central Axis of the expo site, LED lamps account for more than 80 percent of the lighting system, the minister said, adding that devices have been installed in the four permanent buildings to recover all rainwater.

The minister, who was born in Shanghai in 1952, said he hoped the high technologies to be showed and applied during the exposition could be applied to the daily life of every one and help Shanghai boost industrial development and restructuring.

"As science workers, we will take the exposition as a good opportunity to learn the R&D ideas of other countries and the latest technologies from them," he said.