Page 5 - 張祝珊英文中學－ECHO V.13

Feature article

Delve into the Sustainable Germany

5B Yeung Tai Kiu

Competing with 50 teams from 8 countries or cities, our team comes third in
the “Second Life for Retired Batteries from Electric Vehicles” Competition

Last year, under the guidance of our Physics teacher Mr.
Chow, I, together with four classmates, took part in the International
Competition on Second Life for Retired Batteries organized by the
Environmental Protection Department. Devoting all our efforts to
the competition, we finally won the second runner-up and earned a
chance to visit Germany, which is famous for promoting sustainable
development by utilizing the latest technology. My classmate Ching
San Lok and I therefore embarked on an eye-opening journey to
Munich.

Our trip mainly covered visits to science sites. We went to the
Siemens Headquarters and the BMW Museum, where novel high-
tech products were displayed. As a big fan of vehicles, I found the
guided tour on the development of the BMW brand particularly
interesting since the tour allowed me to get to know the original
ideas behind the creation of the brand and how their models
improved with advanced technology. We also visited the Deutsches
Museum, which is the world’s largest museum for science and
technology. Exhibits ranging from those invented in the early
times like the steam engine to those in the modern times such as
nanotechnology were displayed.

Yet, the most impressive visit was to the BMW Plant Landshut.
It is a car production plant that is not opened to the public. The plant
is divided into several parts, including engine production, plastic
Apart from the academic experience, we also pay visits to different famous attractions in Germany production, carbon moulding and light-metal foundry. It was the first
time I went into a foundry. Although it was noisy and hot there and I
kept sweating, I found it worthwhile and fascinating to see glowing
liquid aluminum solidifying in the production process and many
other different components being assembled into a huge product. I
had not known that a car could be manufactured like that!

Besides, we were amazed by German’s sense of environmental
conservation. The historical buildings are well preserved even
though they were built thousands of years ago. As for transport,
cycling is popular and cycling tracks are so well developed that they
are nearly everywhere in the city. Besides, there are sophisticated
systems installed in the buildings to collect rainwater for flushing
so that no single drop of water would be wasted. I think Hong Kong
could learn from Germany to speed up progress in science and
innovation development, achieving environmental sustainability.

It is exciting to witness how a car is produced inside the BMW Plant Landshut Visit to BMW Plant Landshut

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