Edinburgh International Science Festival 2018 – begins on Saturday

Photos Zac (5) and Ellie (4) at Ecoville which has taken over The Mound Precinct . The 30th Edinburgh International Science Festival, powered by EDF Energy, opens tomorrow, Saturday, 31 March with a theme of Life, the Universe and Everything.

Photos Zac (5) and Ellie (4) pose for photographers at The Mound precinct where Ecoville has taken over for the duration of the two week festival. Amanda Tyndall, Festival Director, told The Edinburgh Reporter : “It is exciting that it all begins tomorrow. This is Ecoville our low carbon village of the future, not of the far distant frightening future, but the near future.

“We have mocked up a little village that visitors can come to and learn all about the small behavioural changes and attitudinal changes and the technology that can help us as we try and transition to a low carbon future.”

The 30th @EdSciFest begins on Saturday. At The Mound you can see for yourself how small changes will help the planet pic.twitter.com/PKRX90CQJW

— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) March 30, 2018

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David Rodger from Shell told us about the Eco-marathon car which is on display. We are delighted to be at the EISF this year and we are displaying our car which is very much about the future of motoring and energy efficiency It is a student competition which attracts entries from all around the world. It is all about designing and building cars that can go great distances with a very low amount of fuel or battery power.

“Shell wants to be very much part of this energy transition so we are really involved in this growing space in terms of energy efficiency and the development of low carbon solutions.

Robert Hamill the team manager from University of Strathclyde told us about their car which they will be entering in the competition. He said : “We have a similar design that we are currently working on, hoping to take to the competition down in London at Olympic Park in the summer.There is a team of us at the university and we are working on a battery/electric prototype of our car. It will be a carbon fibre body, unpainted to make it even lighter.”

David explained : “The competition will be at our Make the Future Festival in July.”

You can find out more about the car and the competition here

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt_Ruy_ejPY?feature=oembed&w=696&h=392]