The Eco-Efficiency Biennial of 2009 (EEB’09) will relaunch the event on an international scale in a new format and in a different location. It will be held at the Torino Esposizioni facilities, an historical complex in the Valentino Park, the green heart of the city. The event will frame activities with the aim of spreading out scientific knowledge, information, environmental education and entertainment for the citizens and for the younger population.

Following on the experiences developed in the Piedmont Region, the fifth Eco-Efficiency Biennial will be devoted to the theme of the sustainable city. Turin boasts some of the most advanced projects in Europe in a number of fields ranging from town planning and landscape architecture to sustainable architecture. The topic is framed into a path that started with the World Bio-Architecture Conference held in 2007 in Turin and leading to “Better City, Better Life”, the slogan of the 2010 International Expo in Shanghai.

It will be a zero-emission event. In other words, the environmental impact of the Eco-Efficiency Biennial 2009 will be “measured” to identify and plan actions aimed at greenhouse gas effect compensation. EEB 2009 will also be the opportunity for a first assessment of the policies implemented by the Region of Piedmont with a view to reducing energy consumption, the so-called 20-20-20 targets – the aim of these policies is to reach 20% energy production from renewable sources, 20% energy saving and 20% CO2 reduction by 2020.

The Eco-Efficiency Biennial 2009 will be implemented in conjunction with other important events at the same location of Torino Esposizioni and the Valentino Park. They will include: “Uniamo le Energie”, Flor2009, Cinemambiente and the “Rivoluzione Vegetale” Project.
The initiative is one of the intermediate steps before the 2010 Universal Expo in Shanghai and the series of events celebrating the 150° anniversary of the Unification of Italy in 2011 as well as the Universal EXPO of 2015 in Milan on food and the environment, topics with strong similarities with those dealt with at the EEB.

The Eco-Efficiency Biennial will host a variety of meetings with the aim of assessing progress made in the most important areas of eco-efficiency and energy. Scientific congresses like Hysydays, the international  rendez-vous of young researchers on hydrogen; political and strategic events like the UNEP conference on sustainable cities or the World Political Forum on Energy organized in the framework of “Uniamo le energie”. The debates and workshops will also be addressed to citizens who are eager to know more about the technological, regulatory and institutional context they live in and about the policies implemented by the relevant political bodies.

Among the leading events addressed to the public at large it is worth mentioning “Formula O”, the first world hydrogen go-kart competition with the participation of some of the most renowned universities like the Imperial College  of London and UCLA, Los Angeles, and Sustainable Dance Floor, an eco-sustainable evening in a disco with a special platform that will turn the pressure produced by the dancers’ feet into the energy required for the building.