Petrol attends Expo 2020: our vision of a low-carbon future for a better tomorrow
Expo 2020 is a World Expo hosted by Dubai from 1 October 2021. It presents human achievements the international public under the slogan ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’. Petrol, with its vision of a low-carbon future, has played its part in this success story.
What do a telephone, a Heinz tomato ketchup, a zipper, an ice-cream cone, a touchscreen, and the Eiffel tower have in common? All of them have become parts of our daily lives and all were first presented to the public at World Expos. For more than 170 years, World Expos have been a platform for countries from around the globe to share new technologies and cutting-edge achievements that will very soon become parts of our daily lives.
Expo 2020 is a World Expo currently hosted by Dubai. It is also the first Expo to put a great emphasis on the business segment (B2B and B2G), providing a great opportunity to establish new partnerships and exchange knowledge and technologies.
The future is already here!
More than 190 countries, international organisations and companies are participating in Expo 2020 Dubai which covers an area of more than 4 square kilometres with the central Al Wasl Plaza surrounded by three large themed districts, each devoted to one of the Expo’s three sub-themes – Opportunity, Mobility, and Sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai has 152 robots on-site to enhance visitor experience, from offering snacks to cooperating in Expo parades and even teaching Tai Chi. There are also robots in charge of taking visitors’ temperature and reminding them of social distancing. Visitors can enjoy in AI generated poetry based on visitors’ impressions, the future of the aviation industry and the IoT, showing how digitally integrated smart cities can help with problems affecting humankind. Then there is the future of our (sustainable) cities showcased by holograms, as well as virtual reality and practical presentations of ultra-modern mobility and technology services aiming to combat excessive consumption and production. And much more.
The future is here already, said Petrol’s representatives who visited Expo 2020. “You could feel genuine competitiveness as to which pavilion would best present its topic,” Luka Strnad Petrca, their mobility expert, said with delight. “One of such is definitely the Emirates Pavilion with its virtual commercial aviation future experience.”
Miha Kirn, Executive Director of Energy Procurement and Trading at Petrol, had the opportunity to see the latest technologies at Expo 2020. He also visited the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which includes an innovation centre. “This is a unique concept aiming to raise awareness of the importance of innovative labs focused on the major defossilization challenges,” said Miha Kirn and explained that the centre earmarks a great deal of human and material resources for researching and exploiting the sun, an unlimited renewable energy source.
Sustainability as the central topic of Expo – and of Petrol’s vision
The very central topic of Expo 2020, be it a matter of opportunity or mobility, is sustainability. The Expo revolves around the current social challenges. Its message is that each one of us has the power to build a better and more sustainable world. This is the same vision as that of Petrol.
They were delighted to join the Slovenian Pavilion, which will be present in Dubai until the end of March under the slogan ‘Slovenia. Green and Smart Experience’, highlighting the sustainable, modern and creative nature of our country. So far, the Pavilion has hosted over 370,000 visitors and roughly 100 business and social events.
They attended the global Expo in the time between 10 and 23 January 2022 which coincided with the ‘Travel, Connectivity & Mobility’ week and the ‘Sustainable Development, Green Technologies & Wood’ week. The topics presented are connected to Petrol’s strategic orientation toward ensuring a low-carbon future along with modern and sustainable mobility.
How have they, at Petrol, been realising their vision of a better tomorrow?
At the Expo’s Digital Business Forum organised by Slovakia they presented the visitors how Petrol has been realising its vision of a greener future.
At this event, Tadej Smogavec, Head of Sustainable Mobility Development at Petrol, represented Petrol and Slovenia. He talked about the projects that they create to ensure a better tomorrow, the transition to a low-carbon energy company, and the importance of digitalisation in developing a sustainable mobility. The participants showed great interest in the presentation of Petrol’s platform used to manage e-mobility, and the pilot battery storage deployment project whose IT system enables carefree power storage and flexible power supply for the needs of ultra-fast chargers or the network.
Tadej Smogavec was also a speaker at an event hosted by the Slovenian economic delegation in the field of transport: “I presented the e-mobility development vision in the field of cargo transport. Its greatest potential is present in cities which will close their centres to all internal combustion engine vehicles. All companies engaged in the transport of goods and people and public utility services will need to electrify at least a part of their fleets and a proper charging infrastructure will need to be deployed and adapted to the specific needs of commercial electric vehicles. Petrol has already implemented pilot e-bus and e-truck charging projects, thereby pointing to the further path of development”.
They presented their Petrol Smart City app
Petrol’s presentation of low-carbon solutions was one of the exceptional presentations of a sustainable future held in various Expo 2020 pavilions. They organised a reception at the Slovenian Pavilion for potential new partners in the development of energy transformation solutions where they premiered their virtual smart city app, which presents Petrol’s energy solutions in a virtual reality to change urban centres into modern, energy-efficient and smart cities.
“Having attended the Expo and presented our integrated energy solutions is of great importance to us here at Petrol. Our innovative Petrol Smart City presentation using Augmented Reality (AR) was a huge success, enabling us to establish potential new partnerships that will help Petrol to grow in the digital future,” said Bojan Stojanović, Head of EU Projects at Petrol.