“Wiess Energy Hall 3.0.” The third iteration of this popular hall has enlarged from its previous 8,500 square feet to an expansive 30,000 square feet—almost the size of a football field. Joining the completely redesigned “classic” displays is a bonanza of entirely new exhibits, making the new hall the most contemporary, comprehensive, and technologically advanced exhibition on the science and technology of energy anywhere in the world.
Step off of the elevator into a convincingly realistic environment depicting the dynamic floor of a working, 21st century offshore drilling rig populated by a motley crew of sci-fi robots—an automated “top-drive” mechanism, pipe racker, and “iron roughneck.”
Then, a look at “Energy City,” a 2,500-square-foot 3-D landscape representing Houston, the surrounding Gulf coastal waters, and the terrain of southeast and central Texas. This vibrant 1/150th-scale “white model” uses bleeding-edge projection mapping technology to bring to life the energy value chain with dynamic animation as the entire tableau cycles from day tonight.
Highlights include drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale, oil refining, trainloads of oil and coal, liquefied natural gas terminals, nuclear plants, wind farms, power plants, solar thermal energy, along with a gleaming city skyline, sprawling suburbs, and streaming freeways.
