Powering Lives, Connecting Communities
With a new, highly interactive exhibit, Chicago’s energy distribution utility is reaching out to its community in new ways. Visitors to ComEd’s Chicago North Community Center explore the energy system behind their outlets and discover how they can get involved in their city’s sustainable future.
Visitors move through distinct sections of the exhibit where they learn about energy efficiency and smart devices for their homes, the upgraded technology and sustainability of the smart grid, and changes they can witness across the city. Fifteen media experiences including large-scale theaters, touchscreen stations, and animated videos take them from area to area.
STEM Challenges
At a series of three interactive STEM Challenges, visitors role-play as technical experts, learning about the problem-solving behind energy efficiency, repairing a power outage, and pinpointing prime locations for rooftop solar panels. In each story, visitors advance through a series of graphic-novel style illustrations to complete their task.
People
At several stops along the way, visitors meet the people behind the energy system, from construction workers to data analysts. One highlight is an up-close look at the work of an overhead electrician. RLMG filmed a ComEd employee climbing a 40-foot electrical pole in order to create an immersive experience. Visitors can check out the view for themselves in 3D, and look down if they dare!
Connected Communities
At the end of the exhibit, visitors enter the Your Impact zone, where they are invited to consider their own role in making Northern Illinois more connected, resilient, and green. At a touchscreen, visitors choose actions they can take in a number of categories – environment, transportation, education, and more – to build an individual “sustainability signature”. These visual signatures are sent to a dynamic, 25-foot wide data visualization where visitors can see their actions join with others, reinforcing their role in the transition to a smart city.
Here, visitors and students will receive a close up look at the evolution of the grid, and the work that’s underway to bring cleaner and more resilient energy to power the needs of our customers for years to come. This space was created for the community, by the community, and we hope that our customers from across the territory will take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more about the future of energy.
Gil Quinones | ComEd CEO
